The idea for this trip started when Larry got back from Vietnam. On a Wednesday we went to the OC Fair with Peter. Larry said he wanted to go on a nature trip before he left for Arizona in a couple of weeks. After thinking of a few places, I mentioned some people I knew had been to Pinnacles National Monument which is near Salinas.
On Thursday of next week our trip started. We left around 9 at night. As always, I did the driving. It was around 3 in the morning when we pulled up to our campsite. Luckily we were the only ones in that area so we did not disturb anyone. It was good Peter and I had practiced pitching our big 4 person tent a few days earlier. Aside from being dark, it was 47 degrees out.
Around 7 in the morning we awoke. Larry cooked bacon and eggs on a stove, but the bacon did not work out well. It had a lot of fat but did not produce all the grease we wanted for cooking the eggs.
We started on the trail at 9. Both Larry and I were concerned about being out of shape. Larry did very little physical activity in Vietnam, while I was long out of my habit of bike riding or even walking. Looking the the maps, Larry had planned a dozen mile loop around the park. It would take us through both caves in the park and most of the noteworthy trails.
We started at the Bear Gulch day use area, which was a short drive from our campsite. We went 1.2 miles through the Moses Spring trail to end of the Bear Gulch Cave trail. The cave was not very exciting. It might have been better if it was not partially closed for bats.
We went for 1.9 miles on the Rim trail and High Peaks trail until we reached the start of the Juniper Canyon trail. We had to go uphill but from the top we could see the clouds settling over a valley in the distance.
After the entire 1.8 miles of the Juniper Canyon trail we reached the west entrance of the park, the Chaparral Parking Area. It was 90 degrees that day and we had hiked 4.9 miles, so we used the opportunity to fill up our water. Throughout the monument I saw a few California Condors flying around.
From there we followed the Balconies trail to the Balconies Cave trail. Peter was always leading the way.
After our trip to the Lava River Cave in Arizona, we were looking forward to the caves. We brought extra clothing, extra light sources, and even purchased headlamps. However, the caves were a big disappointment. They were more like very short narrow canyons where some big rocks had fallen in and blocked out some light from above. The picture below was taken in the best part of the caves. If it would have been like this a lot longer it would have been a real cave. I should have looked up what a talus cave was when I saw it on the website.
After eating in the cave, we took the Old Pinnacles trail for 2.3 miles. This was nice because it was flat. Then we had a choice; we could take the Bear Gulch Trail back for a flat 1.6 miles back to my car, or take the High Peaks trail to the Condor Gulch trail for 3.7 miles. Which one do you think we chose?
The High Peaks trail also went up 1,300 feet. I almost died going up this hill. I was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. Peter and Larry were doing OK, but I had to stop and rest a lot. At one point I laid down on the trail. However, I was worried the vultures I had seen earlier would start circling around me. I kept telling myself "If I can handle the Grand Canyon, I can handle this." When we got to the top we had this view.
We took the Condor Gulch trail down and back to my car. The hiking totaled 11.7 miles with a lot of ups and downs.
When we got back to our campsite we sat in the shade and waited for the sun to go down. For dinner we cooked pasta with a lot of spam and Vienna sausage.
Since the fire warning was at its highest possible level, they did not allow campfires. Using the showers at the campsite took a lot of time. Only one of the showers was working and it worked on quarters, with a four minute waiting time between uses.
The Drive
From Peter's house we took the 22 to the 5. We exited the 5 at Coalinga, then took the 198 to the 25 to the 146. The 198 and 25 were a lot of fun to drive at night. These winding hilly roads had turns that had to be taken at 25 or 30 MPH. There were very few other cars. My biggest concern was all the wildlife. There were rabbits all over; I ran over two or three of them driving. The entire trip took 636.7 miles. As with my earlier experiences, driving to the national park or monument is a bunch of fun.
We got back around 5 on Saturday afternoon. We had something important scheduled to do on Sunday, we went to Disneyland. The interesting things we did included going on the new Star Tours, which was not as good as I had hopped (I yelled at Jar Jar Binks). We also did the Toy Story Mania! shooting ride in California Adventure. You sit in a car that is taken to different places where you shoot at targets on 3D screens. Also seen was the show The World of Color in California Adventure, which you should get a Fastpass for early in the day to get into a viewing area. Imagine the Bellagio fountain show with lights and a lot of projected Disney characters and you get the idea. A couple hundred pictures of the day were posted online.
Overall the Pinnacles trip was good, but the place itself was not as good as our other National Park adventures.
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