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| High Peaks view, Pinnacles National Park |
I think one is first drawn to the trails of Pinnacles for the high drama. It is especially gratifying to visit with those that have never been before---to witness the inevitable transition to discovery of the natural magic that lies within our nearest (and newest) National Park. Pinnacles unveils itself to its guests with style. My hiking buddy and Pinnacles initiate for this trip is Sarah, friend and former colleague from the sea otter days in SLO. Since this is her first visit, I insist that a trip to the High Peaks is in order, although I'm quite sure getting there will kick my butt about 25 years harder than hers. Sarah makes a fine substitute for Harry,who has to sit this one out---this National Park is particularly inhospitable to dogs.
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| Sarah on the wildflower rich Junction Canyon Trail |
Our mission, besides introducing Sarah to the park, is maximum wildflower exposure and we come armed with trail choice recommendations from the Pinnacles' biologist which include not only the most spectacular flowers and a first timer's must see spots, but strategies for navigating the weekend crowds. This will be my first time accessing the park from the West Entrance via Soledad---which has mercifully changed its city catch phrase from "It's happening in Soledad" (I'm pretty sure that I don't want to know what "it" is or why it's happening next to a correctional facility) to the much less arguable, "Gateway to the Pinnacles". You chose wisely, Soledad city council.
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| The transition: see story here. Photo KSBW |
We arrive at the West Entrance visitor's center before 9 and it's not yet open (probably because the ranger was stuck behind me up the very narrow entrance road to the park), so we self pay the entrance fee of $10, an incredible bargain that allows access for 7 days. Then we move on to the trail head at the Chaparral Ranger Station where the parking lot is already sparsely occupied by other early-start hikers wishing to make the summit in the cool air before noon. Plenty of water? Check. Snacks? Check. Trail Map? Check. Headlamps? Doh! And we head up the Juniper Canyon Trail on our way to the High Peaks.
We don't have to wait long for flowers and are knee deep in Clarkia and Delphinium within minutes. It was adrift in this intoxicating sea of pinks and purples, that I became aware of two types of hikers on the trail that morning: those who are goal oriented and those who are detail oriented. I suspect every individual is a little of both (unless the hiker is my sister Rebecca who will joyfully sacrifice the goal for the details) but, while I definitely want to get to the summit some time today, I refuse to do so at the expense of the Venus thistle or the blister beetle. Contributing to my baseline dawdling are two related factors: my increasing obsession with documenting wildlife observations photographically for iNaturalist (affectionately, iNat), and this day being Day 2 of a Global Bioblitz (May 15-25) for which iNat users and other nature enthusiasts all over the world are documenting biodiversity (see the results here). So, I'm taking my time and recording as many species as possible. Sarah, who has also brought her camera, is adopting this pace, at least in part, by association. But I think it can grow on you; Or wear on you; One of the two.
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| The elegant Clarkia, Clarkia unguiculata |
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| Larkspur violet against a pink Clarkia back drop |
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| Speckled Clarkia, Clarkia cylindrica |
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| The redundantly named butterfly mariposa lily, Calochortus venustus |
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| Variable checkerspot, Euphydryas chalcedona, nectaring on the Venus thistle, Cirsium occidentale var. venustum, one of our few native thistles |
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| Lytta blister beetles devouring a larkspur blossom |
And so we slowly wander, awash in wonder, while the summit seekers speed past. In one sunny spot in the trail, the brilliant blue Echo Azure butterflies cluster, perhaps on a needed patch of mineral. Movement transforms their pale grey underwing, visible as they perch, to a flurry of violet---the color for which they are named. Hiker after hiker walks by, their very passage agitating mini cyclones of blue---"How can they not look stop to look at this?!" I ask Sarah. But I'm sure they are wondering as they pass, "How can they not hurry to the top?"
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| Echo azure blues, Celastrina echo, showing their grey side in the trail |
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| A glimpse of the azure side |
Even with our dawdling, we make good time to the junction with the High Peaks trail and the road to the "Steep and Narrows", so nicknamed because of these (accurate) warning signs:
It is appropriate to be filled with gratitude to those that built this particular stretch of trail (Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933), making passable to the mere hiker what may have been left to the mountaineers.
As we pass through the High Peaks, another hiker enthusiastically informs us that there is a condor perched just ahead and another soaring in the canyon below. Though hopeful, perhaps it is the biologists in us that consider it likely the condor will turn out to be a turkey vulture---in much the way a stranded sea otter turns out to be a harbor seal. What can I say? Ya get skeptical. We were wrong:
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| Pinnacles is one of a handful of release sites for captive bred California condors, one of the mightiest(and most imperiled) birds in the world. |
Here's a turkey vulture for comparison---I'll add insult to injury by making the picture smaller.
Even in the jagged, dramatic landscape of the High Peaks, born of geological forces volcanic, tectonic and climatic, one can look low and find beauty.
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| Dudleya cymosa and lichen decorate a fissure in the rhyolite wall |
But it sure doesn't hurt to look high...
After snacks and a rest on a rocky ledge with a view suitable for a condor, we take the aptly named Tunnel Trail back to Juniper Canyon. As we began our descent we were overtaken by a lone boy scout who had missed a critical trial junction on his way to the summit and had lost his troop. "Is this the trail to the summit?" he asked, red-faced with exertion. "You're heading down the west side---you missed the High Peaks junction...We passed your troop up top." He would have been in for a major bummer if he hadn't run into us. Aren't boy scouts trained to stay in herds?
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| Tunnel Trail: "Go towards the light, boyscout..." |
Full disclosure: there are a number of drawbacks to dawdling over details on the trail. You may get a better look at some of the flora and fauna than the speed hikers, but there are some things that you will miss simply because you have allowed others to go ahead and flush them from the trail. Sarah and I, most unfortunately, did not see any of Pinnacles' lovely reptiles this day and we saw few birds. Sometimes being first helps. As we found on our supplementary hike of the Balconies Cave Loop, dawdling also allows you to be overtaken by large groups of shrieking 5-year-old girls.
There is always an unsettling notion when scrambling though the talus caves at Pinnacles, that these are passages built by the tumbling of massive boulders into canyons from the cliffs above. The caves are the offspring of deadly avalanches and we are teetering on the edge of the San Andreas Fault. Best not to think about it too much while gazing at the boulder ceiling overhead.
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| The San Andreas Fault has left Pinnacles sister half back in southern California. Image NPS |
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| Above the caves |
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| And inside--this is the Bear Gulch Cave in April of 2011 |
As we approached the Balconies Cave, I realized that I had not told Sarah to bring the necessary head lamp. Oops. Fortunately, all iPhone users come equipped with flashlights---the Swiss army tool of the digital age. We have the CCC to thank once again for building the trails through the caves, a pretty descent scrabble up,down and under boulders in some places. At least one bump of the head is inevitable. Some spots are so low as to make passage with a backpack challenging, and a pack bearer can find themselves wedged if they don't limbo quite low enough---a feature that might be troubling for the infant in a baby backpack we spot just heading in as we exit. "Should we have warned her mum?"
It was bumper to bumper hikers going through Balconies on this Saturday afternoon. Misanthrope that I am, I'd much prefer to navigate these passages in lighter traffic. If you're a mysophobe, consider bringing hand sanitizer as you will be squeezing through where many have squeezed before. This is probably only one on a long list of phobias that you might want to address before visiting the caves.
From the east side you can access the beautiful Bear Gulch Caves (my favorite), but only when they are not being used by Townsend's big-eared bats. During pupping season, bats are give the right of way and exclusive access so be sure to check the Pinnacle NP website for cave status if you are especially keen to explore them on your visit. Since I am a chirophile (and not a chirophobe---add this to the list), I am drawn to the idea of seeing and hearing bats. I highly recommend a night hike to the Bear Gulch Reservoir if you are similarly enamored.
And so we are back in the west side parking lot and loading into Emmy (who is a good 200 degrees inside). Time to stretch the muscles and make a stop in Soledad for ice cream (which I should have applied to my quads instead of my belly). The next day I send Sarah a text message:
G: "How are your quads feeling today?"
S:"They are fine....I've been working out a lot...."Oh shut up.
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| Happiness at the High Peaks |
