Table mt

North Table Mountain, at 39°38′10″N 121°33′00″W, is mostly private, but includes a small portion which is a wildlife area, and contains several vernal pools and waterfalls, including Phantom Falls, and Beatson Falls. There are trails, so people who want to hike to the waterfalls have to find their own way. The best time to view the waterfalls is winter to early spring. They are usually dry during the summer months. Everything east of Cherokee Road in Morris Ravine is on private property and is off limits to visitors unless given specific permission. But now the state of California offers access for flower walks, there is a daily use fee.
Being an ecological preserve makes it special, but so do many other things. For starters, it is an icon from an era long past. The structure is vast, meandering, and is topped by a semi-flat surface. If you watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you have sort of seen the basic shape. The difference between that mountain and Table Mountain is how it was created. The mountain in Close Encounters is the magma chamber of an old volcano; the mountain around the volcano eroded leaving only the old solidified magma. Table Mountain is lava, not magma. Magma is never extruded from a volcano; once a volcano erupts, the magma forced out of it becomes lava, with a different texture. The crystals or grains within magma are larger because of the extended period of time they spend at high temperature. Lava, though super-hot, cools off really rapidly compared to magma. So when you look at an igneous rock, you can usually tell how it was formed. Small grains mean it cooled off quickly as lava; larger crystals usually mean the magma cooled off slowly, deep underground. Granite is a good example of solidified magma.

Table Mountain is made up of fine-grained basalt, the same rock type that makes up much of the ocean floor. Table Mountain is the geological result of an enormous volcanic eruption. The lava spewed forth and filled up the valley between mountains. Those mountains are long gone, thanks to erosion of their softer rock, and what remains is a table-like structure made up of extruded lava. Basalt is fairly hard and it erodes away slowly. As you look through the pictures, notice the size of the rocks. This is a remarkable site, not just because it is an ecological preserve, but because it has a vast and wonderful history.