Pinnacles National Park - part 1

We knew from campground reviews of our current location that we were near Pinnacles National Park, but we'd never really heard of that park, and didn't know what to expect. We did a little reading on it and found that it could be entered through either the east side (closest to where we are parked) or west side. One of the reviews on the campground reviews site (https://campgrounds.rvlife.com/regions/california/paicines/san-benito-preserve-8847) said, 

Tip for Other Campers:

Unless you're into long hikes, the East Entrance to Pinnacles NP closest to the park has very little to offer. If you want views of the iconic rocks with only a short walk, take the wonderfully scenic drive to the West Entrance.

We decided that we were up for a hike (maybe not a *long* hike) and it was a shorter drive (about 30 minutes) to the east entrance. Friday was supposed to be rainy in the morning, but we had also read that the parking areas often fill up by early morning, but sometimes those early hikers leave by soon after noon and more spaces open up. So, about noon, we drove to the east entrance of Pinnacles National Park, stopped at the Visitor Center to pick up a map, and drove toward Bear Gulch, with the plan to hike the Moses Spring Trail through the Bear Gulch Cave Trail to the Bear Gulch Reservoir, and return on the Rim Trail.

When we got to the parking areas around Bear Gulch, we found that the parking that was a little ways away from our desired trailhead appeared to be full, so we drove on to the parking *at* the trailhead and found it only had space for about 8 vehicles and was full. We returned to the other parking, and though it appeared to be full, we pulled into an area that we thought was all for handicapped vehicles, and found one spot open (non-handicapped) and pulled in!

Since we were further from the trail we had planned to take, we decided to take another trail we had considered that left from right near where we parked, Condor Gulch Trail, to a viewpoint. The brochure indicated:

Condor Gulch Trail (1.7 mi one-way, 1-1.5 hours, elevation change 1,100 ft): Moderate to overlook, strenuous beyond. This trail offers spectacular views of the High Peaks, whether you hike just a few minutes or the entire trail. The overlook is one mile from the trailhead.

Good! That information agrees with the brochure! (I took this picture at the end of the hike when the skies had cleared a lot!)

Starting up the trail - it was overcast but there were a few areas of blue sky peeking through.

This tree was riddled with holes...

We guess a bark borer beetle

A thistle along the path...

... and a Mariposa lily

So pretty and delicate (the cup was about 1.5" across)

We had a few sprinkles of rain along our hike, but the areas of blue were continuing to grow.

There were majestic rocks...

... all around us.

It is so hard to get a perspective of how magnificent they were.

When we got to the overlook, it overlooked the area where we had hiked up - and the sun was coming out to show us the area even more beautifully.

One picture from the hike down -- when we're heading back, we take fewer pictures because (1) we already saw this and figure that we already took pictures, and (2) we aren't needing to take as many rest stops which are generally our good opportunities for pictures!

A couple of screen captures from Carl's Fitbit app -- the route on the trail...

The bottom graph shows the elevation gain -- and correlates closely with heart rate and times of burning calories!

When we got back to the Jeep (about 3pm), there were a 2-3 available parking spots, so we wondered if there might be parking at the trailhead for the other trail we wanted to take... we decided that we would drive to the end of the road, and, *if* there was a spot available, we'd take the other hike, but if there weren't we'd be happy with what we'd done.

Check the next blog post for "part 2" of our visit to Pinnacles National Park!