The peaks and ridges of Table Mountain loom over the quiet community of Wrightwood at the east end of the Angeles Crest Highway, with views north to the flat expanse of the Antelope Valley and south to the adjacent Blue Ridge. It rises just west of the line between Los Angeles and San Bernardino Counties. From the higher points the visitor can enjoy the mighty bulk of Mt. Baden-Powell in all its glory. There is a lovely campground on the north flank of the mountain, a frisbee golf course, and a ski area originally called Table Mountain Ski Area which opened in 1938. It became Ski Sunrise in 1975 and was sold in 2004 to the company that owns and operates the main Mountain High Ski Resort on the south side of the Angeles Crest Highway. Near the higher of the two peaks of Table Mountain there is an observatory originally operated by the Smithsonian Institution but since 1962 by JPL. There is a 40-inch telescope there that was built by and is operated by Pomona College. The elevation of the two peaks is 7,516' and 7,473'. The lower peak, East Peak, has a telecommunications facility on it. Just five days after our last visit on August 7, 2015, the lightning-caused Pines fire forced the evacuation of the Observatory and burned at least part of the area we had just botanized along the 4N21 road. This gallery reflects the botanical investigations of Tom Chester, Adrienne Ballwey, James Dillane, RT and Shaun Hawke, Jane Tirrell, Nancy Accola, Keir Morse and yours truly which took place over ten visits. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native taxon.

With Tom Chester's permission, I am including here the introduction from his Flora of Table Mountain: "Table Mountain is an unusual place in the San Gabriel Mountains, since it is a high-elevation terrain on the other side of the San Andreas Fault from the rest of the San Gabriel Mountains. Most of the San Gabriel Mountains belongs to the Pacific plate, consisting of highly-fractured plutonic and metamorphic bedrock transported on the southwest side of the San Andreas Fault from roughly the Salton Sea area, over one hundred miles to the southeast of its current location. In contrast, Table Mountain is a piece of the Mojave Desert province of the North American Plate that has been mostly uplifted in place by vertical movement along the San Andreas Fault, making it similar in origin to the northern part of the San Bernardino Mountains that are also on the north side of the San Andreas Fault. In fact, recent evidence shows that the exposed Holcomb Ridge-Table Mountain rocks were formerly south of the same rocks in the western San Bernardino Mountains that are about 17 miles to the east, that were displaced along the Cajon Valley Fault prior to the presence of the San Andreas Fault in this area. Table Mountain consists of plutonic rocks and gneiss that includes some carbonate rocks that support some plant species not found elsewhere in the San Gabriel Mountains, or have a very limited distribution elsewhere in the San Gabriels."

Fremont's phacelia
Phacelia fremontii
Boraginaceae
March-May

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