I was pleasantly surprised to find out about a new national park within a 5 hour drive radius of Los Angeles.
Pinnacles National Park was recently promoted from the status of National Monument to National Park. That was Brendan's, Chrissy's and my camping destination for Labor Day weekend 2013.
Day 1 Friday, 30 Aug 2013
I have always made campsite reservations in advance to avoid the situation where we get to a place at night and don't find a spot to pitch our tents. However, with Pinnacles, it was a little too late for reservation and all the reservable spots were taken since it was a long weekend. So we decided that we would take our chances and try to get there early and find a walk-in site.
After starting at around 4 pm and a short dinner break at Baja Fresh on the highway, we were at Pinnacles at around 9 pm. The campground wasn't crowded and we were lucky to find a campsite. Since the visitor center was closed, we had to drop our campsite fees in an envelope outside the center. While doing that we met this guy who looked like a homeless person, who was with a dog and a bicycle with a little cart. He did not occupy a campsite since he had no tent. So he was going to pay for just the entry fee (dropping it in the envelope outside the visitor center) and spend the night outside, next to his bicycle. I was wondering where he had come from since there was no town for many miles around. He said he had biked all the way from San Francisco (which is 120 miles away from Pinnacles) and was on his way to Las Vegas (another 450 miles further southeast) riding a bicycle with a dog! The world is an interesting place with interesting people.
The weather was just perfect in the evening. But we knew it was going to be sunny and very hot during the day (in the nineties). So we pitched our tents as close to the tree as possible so that we are not woken up by the heat of the sunlight in the morning. However, shortly after, we saw a raccoon walk down the tree heading to the open car trunk where we had all our food. And following it closely was another. And another. Just like that, a family of raccoons had descended down on us. We decided that pitching our tent next to the tree was not a good idea after all, and decided to move as far away from the tree as possible.
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| A raccoon family decided to join our party |
Day 2 Saturday, 31 Aug 2013
We woke up in the morning to find out that the raccoons were not the only ones sharing our campsite. In fact we were right next to the home of the pocket gopher.
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| A pocket gopher cleaning its home |
After a breakfast of oatmeal and bagels, we headed out for our hike to the Bear gulch area. It was a hot day and it wasn't too surprising that we were the only hikers on that trail.
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| Hike from the main campground to Bear Gulch area |
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| Our first view of Pinnacles |
The park gets its name from the rock formations created by erosion of ancient volcanic eruptions. We finally got to the Bear gulch area (where you can also get to on a shuttle from the main visitor center, if you don't want to do the hike). A short hike from there took us to the Bear gulch caves. These are talus caves formed not from limestone erosion but from falling rocks. The caves are open only part of the year, since they are a breeding ground for several species of bats during the rest of the year.
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| Bear gulch cave which is breeding ground to several species of bats |
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| The trail inside the cave is well maintained |
Just outside the Bear gulch cave is the Bear gulch reservoir which was a good lunch spot for us.
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| Bear gulch reservoir |
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| That rock looks like a face! |
Once we got back to the Bear gulch area, we decided to take the shuttle back to our camp. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the shade, playing gin rummy (a card game), and cooking pasta for dinner. After dinner, Brendan and I decided to do a night hike. The ranger at the visitor center had suggested doing the hike in the evening to the Condor gulch overlook, where if you are lucky, you might be able to spot California condors. By the time we headed out for our hike, it was pitch dark and I am sure the condors had gone to bed. We drove to the Bear gulch area, parked my car and started our night hike. It took some effort finding the trail head since it was absolutely dark and there was nobody around. The hike turned out to be a fun adventure where we were able to meet with a few nocturnal inhabitants of Pinnacles.
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| A tarantula - it was photo shy |
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| The scorpion king! |
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| A Jerusalem cricket, also commonly called a potato bug. |
We got to the overlook but were not able to see anything since it was pitch dark. Well, except for the beautiful star studded sky above.
Day 3 Sunday, 1 Sep 2013
A pleasant surprise in the morning included deer grazing and wild turkeys crossing, right next to our campsite.
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| Wild turkey run! |
We wanted to do another hike before heading back home. We decided we would hike up to the Condor Gulch overlook once again. But this time in the day to see what we were staring at, the night before.
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| The zig zagging Condor gulch trail - view from the Condor gulch overlook |
Hiking the same trail during the day was a whole different experience. No tarantulas or scorpions. But we the views around were great. We had walked the same path, a few hours ago, completely oblivious to what lay within a few feet from us.
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| Another view of Pinnacles from up closer |
The view from the Overlook was great. It was a panoramic view of a large section of the National Park.
That was the end of another fun camping trip. I would love to go back there in spring when the park is supposed to be covered in wildflowers.
