TL;DR
Pinnacles is definitely worth a trip if you’re in the Bay Area. Nice campground and a variety of trails to choose from as well as climbing that I will for sure check out next time I visit. Summers will be hot. We went Thanksgiving weekend and ran into rain and night but otherwise pleasant days. Check out the caves at night to dodge the crowds and make it a bit more spooky.
Thoughts
I tend to get a bit obsessive when I start something. I enjoy research. Whether it be something something for work, or a sudden interest in geology I might have, or researching for a trip and making travel plans. I enjoy the hunt. And for a brief moment, as the Chrome tabs fly open, Google and I are one. I started my quest to visit the national parks in 2014. Just by happenstance, the planets aligned and I was presented the opportunity go on trips to Yosemite NP, Haleakala NP, and invited the Moab area. It was at the top of Haleakala in the visitor’s center, when I saw the National Parks passport. The little booklet that you can collect stamps and stickers in. And I started thinking, wow, there are a lot of national parks. And just comparing Yosemite and Haleakala they have absolutely nothing in common save they are beautiful in their own way and offer you a glimpse into something wild. If these two parks are so unique and amazing, what about the other 57? Once home, I proceeded to map out all 59 national parks. As a person who works 40+ hours a week in an office, my vacation time is precious, so the more I can do in a stretched 3 day weekend the better. Luckily, I live in California, home to 9 national parks, the newest of which, is just a few hours from the Bay Area. Pinnacles National Park.
When you think national parks, you think big, wide open spaces. I know not all of them are like this, but most are. I think Mt. Diablo State Park is larger than Pinnacles. But Pinnacles offers a bit more even though its small. There are two talus cave systems that you are able to hike through. One, Bear Gulch Cave, is home to a colony of Townsend’s big-eared bat. D and I decided to take a trip over Thanksgiving weekend. Pinnacles is noted for being excruciatingly hot during the summer so an early winter trip seemed perfect. We made reservations at the Pinnacles Campground. Plenty of spots were available. The campground offers various RV sites as well as car camping spots. Each campsite has its own fire pit and there are several potable water spouts as well as bathrooms spread out around the campground. We arrived just before sunset and just had enough time to eat some dinner and set up camp. The next day we set out to the Old Pinnacles Trailhead. Parking spots were pretty slim so we had to drive back and take part of the Bench Trail to get to the trailhead. From there was a leisurely flat hike to the Balconies Caves, the other talus cave system. The caves were formed from fallen rock. Despite this, they are pitch black inside. A headlamp was very useful. We continued past Balconies to the west Chaparral Trailhead and wrapped back around past High Peaks. The last half of the hike had a fair amount of elevation gain. Along the way we saw several climber-access points. Something that we definitely want to come back and check out. High Peaks is known for its climbing routes. We even saw a guy summit just before our decent. All-in-all about 6 or 7 miles. Good day hike.
But we weren’t done yet! We got a second wind when we got back to the car so we decided to drive over to the Bear Gulch Caves. The sun had set so we set off with our handy headlamps. Bear Gulch Caves has an upper and a lower section. The upper section is closed during the winter because of the bats. But the lower section was open for us to explore creepily by ourselves in the dark. It was a bit spooky but a good adventure.
Because of its proximity to urban areas, this park does attract a lot of day-hikers. The trails and caves can get pretty crowded and unfortunately, we ended up picking up quite a bit of trash that was discarded in the bushes. It was pretty sad to see but hopefully with the backing of being a national park, people will be more informed.
The next day we woke up to pouring rain and a cacophony of birds. Now, I’ve had my gripes about my Marmot Limelight tent which I’ve mentioned before. However, it slightly redeemed itself on this trip. The design of the base curves up slightly so that, even if water pools against the outside, it won’t run in. And for that I was grateful. The rain fly also did its job so I guess I can’t be too disappointed in it.
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