Table Mountain

Sorry for the delay on this but I have a brand new computer and am trying to understand what I am doing...hope this works...

Only 10 of us met on a Friday to take the long drive to Oroville. With us was a new (to us but not to hiking), Dave, a geologist. Clarence did an excellent job leading us in such a way that we saw 4 waterfalls, all the while warning us to not cross where the Meadow Foam was (white flowers) - as that usually said: "wet". Table Mountain did not disappoint as our pictures show. The usual vast displays of lupines, owl's clover, meadow foam, stone crop, poppies, along with a few bitter root, violets, buttercups, and other yellow flowers. You will see a few oddities among the flowers: a horny toad - never seen one of those before, a bumble bee that impaled itself on a barb of the barbed wire, and a swarm of flies or wasps who are fighting over the delicious morsel underneath: one of their own, dead and served up on a cow pattie. Another oddity was that the Coal Canyon falls were NOT running like last year, in spite of the increased water drainage. Once we walked away from the parking lot, the crowds thinned and we were the only the ones at Coal Canyon falls for lunch. Not many miles hiked (4) and they were slow as we thoroughly inspected the ground.

At Dave's suggestion, we went to the Chinese temple in Oroville on the way back. Although we arrived at closing time, the lady stayed open to give us a tour for another hour. A special place - quite a few buildings and some interesting plantings, carvings, and period embroidered clothing.

Pictures by Maureen, Clarence, and Elly (bottom to top...sorry for any duplicates)