Table Rock State Park

A CCC-built park below Table Rock Mountain offers lakes, historic structures, waterfalls, and strenuous routes to Table Rock, Pinnacle Mountain, and the Foothills Trail.

Artwork inspired by Merton Simpson

Table Rock State Park offers several scales of understanding, from reflective lake views and CCC-built structures to stream cascades and demanding mountain routes. The granite face is more than a summit backdrop: dome ecology, wildfire history, and rapidly changing weather all shape the mountain, while Carrick Creek provides a substantial alternative for visitors not attempting the ascent.

See the mountain from the lake before choosing a route, since the six-mile summit trip’s roughly two-thousand-foot gain, rock, roots, and sustained climbing make mileage a poor measure of difficulty. Mountain hikers must register, carry sufficient water, and preserve time for the descent; wet stone, fog, heat, or storms should determine the turnaround point rather than proximity to the top.

Table Rock face: Granite mountain landmark
Carrick Creek falls: Waterfall access route
summit trail register: Strenuous summit approach

Quick guide

Best first visit: Lake view plus Carrick Creek gives strong landscape context without requiring the summit.
Summit rule: Turn around for weather or time even when the destination appears close.

Choose lake, foothill, or summit scale

Begin at the lake: Reflections and open views establish the granite face before forest closes around the trail.
Read the route profile: The summit hike is sustained and rocky; mileage alone understates the effort.
Use Carrick Creek: Shorter cascades and stream forest provide a complete alternative to the mountain ascent.
Watch mountain weather: Heat, storms, fog, and wet rock can make the return more consequential than the climb.

Good to know

Notice these

Table Rock face
Carrick Creek falls
summit trail register

Official information

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