My husband and I just returned for a majestic hike through Pinnacles National Monument in Pacines, CA. All I can really say is - WOW! What a glorious testament to the natural beauty of God's creation.
Since it was closer to the cave we wanted to go through, we started at the East Entrances off of HWY 146, which you can get to from HWY 25. We arrived before the park was even officially open at 8:30, but rapped on a window so we could talk a ranger before going up the hill to the caves. At first, finding the trail head was a little confusing, but it turns out you are supposed to walk through a short trail that meanders along a creek next to a picnic area.
Just in the picnic area, we saw three black tail deer chewing on the vegetation near the bear gulch creek. We also saw beautiful scrub jays, woodpeckers, and little song birds. Oh, and a giant soaring bird - either an eagle or a turkey vulture.
After the picnic area we crossed the short road to start heading up towards the caves. My calves were burning a little bit, but not too bad. The first thing I remarked on was how well maintained the trails are in National Parks - it makes the county and state parks I've been through seem like bushwacking in comparison. Someone must take the effort to fill in the erosion gaps along the trail after the heavy rainy season.
The next thing I remarked on was how truly beautiful the talus peaks were as the sun was rising over the ridge line. Reds, oranges, yellows, blacks, all covered in lichens. We saw a couple brave souls out mountain climbing on the cliff faces. I think I want to get into that someday, but I'll have to save that for when I lose some weight first.
We reached the entrance to the caves after only .7 of a mile, and started navigating our way through. It was nice and cool in the caves. The creek wasn't too deep, so I think just having a bit of a splash guard on our shoes would be enough to keep our feet dry. My husband walked the whole trail in fivefingers and was fine. If the water was any higher, I'd really want to have some shoes other than my tennis sneakers.
We saw some neat little frogs along the creek, and did our best to watch out so we didn't accidentally step on one. There is also an underground river and waterfall, which was truly jaw-dropping. Some of the passages we have to almost crawl through on our bellies to be able to navigate, and if I was at all clumsy I'd want to have a helmet to protect my noggin in case I slipped or fell. Definitely glad we had our headlamps.
After we exited the cave, we decided to go towards the left instead of near the resevior. In retrospect, I wish we had gone over to the resevior, but we were running short on time. So, up over the ridgeline we went, and it was spectacular! Coming down the trail we had to cross the creek a few times, and since I am short I really wish that I had a trekking pole with me to help balance me going down. We eventually got back to the fork where we entered the cave and just walked back down to the parking area.
The whole trip was only ~6,000 steps for me and took us 2.5 hrs. I stop very frequently, so it probably took me more time. I am so glad we got there before the hoards of families with their kids showed up so we had the caves to ourselves.
OH, and we got home before kickoff!!!!!!!!
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