Go Around the Bend: Pinnacles National Park and Murphy's Law

Oh boy, do I have some stories to tell you. First though, I want to report on Pinnacles National Park. It is a beautiful park and there was plenty here to keep us busy. It deserves a blog post all its own, so I am going to save my weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth for my next post. (Now you have something to look forward to, right?)

Pinnacles was designated a National Monument in 1908 and proclaimed a National Park in 2013. In addition to its namesake geologic features (which are totally cool), it also has Talus caves that are home to several bat species including Townsend's big-eared bats, and it is a nesting area of the endangered California Condor. At one time, the condor population in the wild was reduced to 25 by habitat loss, shootings, and lead poisoning. An aggressive captive breeding and release program has brought those numbers up to about 500. Every single bird is tagged and tracked. Pinnacles is one of only a few release sites in the US and Mexico.

Pinnacles National Park

California Condor

We arrived on Sunday, 4/8, with reservations at the Pinnacles Campground for four nights. The campground is located right next to the visitor's center where you can access some of the trails or take the shuttle further into the park. One of the only downsides to this location is the complete and total lack of cell service. Of course, if things are going to go sideways, Murphy's law dictates you must not have easy access to civilization. That Murphy is such a sweetheart. Grrrrrrrrr.

Anyhow, sticking with our activities at Pinnacles, we managed to do three hikes during our stay. No doggies on the trails, so Riley got to chill in the RV while we hiked. We started off on Monday with the Moses Springs/Bear Gulch loop. One of the things we love about the National Parks is that we always seem to learn something new. You typically think of caves as being created by water eroding subterranean mazes in the rock. Talus caves are created by huge boulders forming a roof over narrow canyons. The caves were fun to navigate – narrow, twisty passages that required us to scramble over rocks in some places and duck walk through shallow water in others. Flashlights required. It was a lot like the slot canyons in Utah, but in the dark!

Rock formations on the Moses Springs trail.

Making friends with a blue bellied lizard.

The beautiful Bear Gulch Reservoir built by the CCC.

The trail tunnels through the rock face - more work of the CCC.

Rog heading into the Bear Gulch caves.

Still light enough for pictures - once we were in the dark, no photos!

Waterfall in the cave.

A spot where we had to duck walk under the boulders. Glad the water wasn't higher. :)

Back into the sunlight.

There are two areas of caves in the park. On our second hike we did the Old Pinnacles Trail to the Balconies Caves. This was a scenic hike with an even more extensive system of Talus caves to explore. We searched diligently, hoping to see one of the Townsend's big-eared bats but had no luck. Still, this is a great time of the year to be here, the weather was warm and sunny during the day and cool in the evenings, the surrounding hills were green and the wildflowers were blooming.

The Balconies formation.

Stone spires along the trail.

My hero!!

Into the Balconies caves.

Spring is beautiful here.

Wildflowers are blooming.

Our final hike was the most challenging – the Condor Gulch/High Peaks loop. No caves, but some crazy steep, narrow trail. In the nearly 6 miles I don't think there was 10 consecutive feet of level ground. Up – down – up – down – up – down. Lol.

View from the Condor Gulch Overlook.

We got a bird's eye view of the peaks.

I wasn't lying about the up, up, up!

Another spot of steep "stairs" (that's a generous term for these toe holds).

One of the highlights of this route is the likelihood of seeing condors. We did spot several, but they were always too far away to get a decent picture. The condors are BIG birds, weighing in at around 20 pounds with a wingspan of 9 1/2 feet, but they soar high on the thermal updrafts at speeds of 55 mph and altitudes of 15,000 feet - way too fast and too far for my little pocket camera!