Pinnacles National Park

We don't typically travel just to see a National Park.  We aren't concisely "bagging" Parks, though if close we will always take the opportunity for a visit.  I will mark certain areas on Google Maps as places that we want to visit.  When planning a route, we look to see if we can include those "saved" places along the way.  Additionally, we learned that Pinnacles was a release location for the endangered California Condor.  A visit might include a sighting of this massive bird.

 The Bear Gulch Cave hike, in Pinnacles National Park, was one of those places.  It is also a Park that came highly recommended from travel friends who have visited.  They recommended the hiking.  We planned our route to allow a visit.

The Pinnacles is an interesting park in that you can access if from either the West or East sides but the only way through the park is via hiking trails.  We set up camp in Greenfield which is closer to the West entrance.  The Bear Gulch Cave hike is best accessed from the East entrance.  An hour drive away.  Luckily we booked a stay for three nights, giving us two full days to explore the park.

If you visit, understand that the park is small for the number of visitors.  While the managers haven't yet gone to a reserved entry system, they do limit access to parking lots and trailheads when parking lots fill.  This happens mostly on weekends and durning the high season.  They do use a shuttle, but this time of year only during the weekends.

We visited on a Monday but, as it turned out, during Spring Break.   We were told that we needed to park in the main lot and would have to hike up to the trailheads.  In our case it was about a four mile hike, one way, before we could hike Bear Gulch Cave, which is about a 2.5 mile hike on its own.  It would be an ambitious undertaking.

At first we decided to do a less ambitious hike and hope to see a Condor.  However, Steff began asking questions and learned that the road to the trailheads would open once enough cars had left.  Typically, this would happen around 1 or 2 PM.  It was nearly 12:30 and we chose to have a snack as wait.  The road opened an hour later and we drove to the trailhead.

Bear Gulch Cave

The hike to the entrance of the cave is about a half mile from were we parked.  It is a gentle uphill going through a narrow valley and at times squeezing through openings in the rock.  Tunnels give you a glimpse of things to come.

However once we entered it was clear that My Bride was not interested in continuing through the cave.  She is wise as the passage became more complex the farther one progressed.

The sign means everything that it says.  I took a headlamp, a good idea as it leaves your hands free to scramble over rocks when needed.

The trail inside the cave travels almost a half mile.  There are metal walkways that span more difficult terrain.  

There are areas that have steps carved out of rocks with handrails that span the more difficult spaces.

There were sections where I needed to crawl on my hands and knees to squeeze through.  There are directional arrows, painted in white that show you the way.  Another good reason to bring your headlamp. It was a good decision on Steff's part to wait on the trail for my return.

Finally, upon navigating all of this, which was quite a bit of fun, I came upon a long set of stairs that took me to the Bear Gulch Reservoir.  There is another trail from the parking lot that will take you here, but it isn't quite as much fun.

Once at the reservoir I began looking for my return along the Moses Springs Trail.  I could not find where to catch the trail.  I later realized that the return trial begins at a point before I climbed to the Reservoir.  As a result, I hiked the longer Rim Trail back to where My Bride was waiting from me.  The trail meandered through oak and sycamore and provided some great views in the sun.   

Our second day in the park was spent on the west side.  It is less busy than the east, and is accessed by a narrow winding road with the rolling hills.  The paved road often reduced to one lane so the limited traffic was nice.  There are several parking lots that give access to the west side hikes.  We were headed to the Chaparral lot.  Given yesterday's hike, Steff elected to stay in the picnic area and read while I hiked the Balconies Cave via the Balconies Cliff Trail.                                                              The length of the hike was similar to Bear Gulch Cave, just about 2.5 miles, but included an almost mile long trek through the cave.  It is a loop and the park recommended hiking it in a clock wise direction.

Balconies Cave via the Balconies Cliff Trail

The hike begins on the Valley floor with a gentle grade below the pinnacles where Condors live.  About a quarter mile along  brings you through a quiet oasis near the lower exit of the cave, and before you begin the climb and get amazing view of the cliffs and valley below

It is spring and the Indian Paintbrush were in bloom

The turn off to the Balconies Cave is at the junction of the Cliffs trail and the Old Pinnacles trail that comes up from the east side.  Access to the cave was similar to Bear Gulch in that you walk through a wall stream and scramble through narrow openings until you reach the gated entrance.

The same rules apply here.  Bring a flashlight or headlamp, expect to scramble and crawl through narrow passages, and plan on getting wet.

This is looking down where I just scrambled up.  I had difficulty figuring out the route until I saw the flashlights from hikers above me.

Just like the Bear Gulch Cave there were areas of constructed aids to help move through the cave.

The caves in Pinnacles are created by volcanic action and erosion.  Volcanic rocks are piled on top of each other and the caves are the eroded sections around them.  Toward the lower end of the Balconies Cave you can see how large boulders wedged against each other create the caves.

Upon returning to the trailhead, I found Steff enjoying her book in the shade of the picnic tables.  While I rested from the hike we looked above the nearby pinnacles and watched large birds soaring over the rocks and canyon.  One wonders if there are Condors with these birds.  Looking carefully, through binoculars we could see the difference between the numerous turkey vultures and the lone Condor soaring above.  The bird was too far away to capture with my iPhone camera, but the binoculars let us see the 9 foot wing span, unique wingtips and underwing markings that confirm the sighting.