Hike the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve

Get Your Lands Pass

When vis­it­ing Table Moun­tain, a CDFW Lands Pass must be car­ried by each vis­i­tor who is 16 years of age or older. 

Vis­i­tors who are car­ry­ing a valid Cal­i­for­nia hunt­ing or fish­ing license in their name are exempt from this require­ment. Lands pass­es may be pur­chased online, by phone at (800) 565‑1458, or in-per­son at loca­tions wher­ev­er hunt­ing and fish­ing licens­es are sold. Lands pass­es can­not be sub­sti­tut­ed for Wildlife Area Hunt­ing Pass­es, which are required for adult hunters on Type‑A and Type‑B wildlife areas.

Park­ing

Park­ing is avail­able in a grav­el lot on the west side of Chero­kee Road. The lot has a lim­it­ed num­ber of spaces, so please plan to arrive ear­ly for the best oppor­tu­ni­ties to park.

No park­ing on the pave­ment is allowed along the paved por­tion of Chero­kee Road, begin­ning approx­i­mate­ly 3.0 miles north of the inter­sec­tion of Ore­gon Gulch Road (large park­ing turnout near the crest of Chero­kee Road) to Der­rick Road (map). Vehi­cles park­ing on the shoul­der must be parked com­plete­ly off the pave­ment; vio­la­tors are sub­ject to tow.

With trail updates by CDFW, the hike to Phan­tom Falls is now a fair­ly easy one. The water­fall runs dur­ing the rainy sea­son, and in the spring, wild­flow­ers car­pet the North Table Moun­tain Eco­log­i­cal Reserve. There’s no shade, so make sure to wear a hat and sun­screen, and you’ll def­i­nite­ly want to go ear­ly to avoid the crowds dur­ing peak wild­flower season. 

From the park­ing area, fol­low the trail head­ing north­west — it’s a straight trail to Rav­ing Falls. Start look­ing for a path lead­ing down­hill into the ravine. Depend­ing on what sea­son you go, Ravine Falls might be dried up but there is a clear sig­nage for it when you get there. Then you will make your way up a mild incline and across the rolling hills towards Phan­tom Falls. Even if Phan­tom Falls is dry, you’ll know you’ve arrived because of the panoram­ic views of the canyon. 

It’s easy to get lost on the cross-coun­try trail, so we rec­om­mend down­load­ing the free Aven­za Maps app and the Phan­tom Falls map before your hike so that you can fol­low the GPS coor­di­nates in real-time on your hike (you can also view a PDF ver­sion here).

The Beat­son and Phan­tom Falls Loop offers views of not only the afore­men­tioned Phan­tom Falls, but also four oth­er water­falls (dur­ing the rainy sea­son and ear­ly spring, that is). You’ll also get great wild­flower views late Feb­ru­ary through April, and graz­ing cat­tle all-year round — just give them space (at least 300 feet), espe­cial­ly the occa­sion­al bull. Make sure to wear stur­dy hik­ing boots, as part of the loop has no estab­lished trail and thus requires a lit­tle cross-coun­try travel.

The Many Water­falls Cross-Coun­try Loop is not the trail for any­one not will­ing to get wet and muddy…but they’ll be miss­ing out on a seri­ous­ly beau­ti­ful hike. Tak­ing you around Table Moun­tain dur­ing the rainy sea­son, this loop will have at least nine water­falls, with 14 flow­ing with­in a few days of a major rain­storm and all of them dry dur­ing the sum­mer. It’s a fleet­ing beau­ty worth see­ing. Enjoy the most water­falls Jan­u­ary and Feb­ru­ary and then the wild­flow­ers Feb­ru­ary through mid-April. It is easy to get lost on the cross-coun­try trail, so we rec­om­mend down­load­ing the free Aven­za Maps app and the Many Water­falls Loop trail map before your hike so that you can fol­low the GPS coor­di­nates in real-time on your hike.

Dri­ving Directions

From Oroville, head­ing north on Hwy 70 and exit at Grand Ave. (Exit 48). Go east (right) on Grand Ave. for 1 mile. Left on Table Moun­tain Blvd for a tenth of a mile. Right on Chero­kee Road 6.3 miles north to the reserve. Offi­cial access is through a small park­ing lot on the west side of Chero­kee Road. From Chico, head south on Hwy 70 and exit at Grand Ave (Exit 48). Con­tin­ue onto 4^th St. and then turn Left onto Grand Ave., and then fol­low the rest of the direc­tions from above.