Pinnacles National Park

Is Pinnacles the most underrated national park we’ve visited? It’s certainly a leading candidate, and though it is overshadowed by other California parks, this hidden gems holds it’s own and is actually more accessible than most.

I am often shocked when I talked to people I meet who live in the Bay Area and ask them about Pinnacles. “Have you been?” I’ll say, and a typical response is “No, where is it?” The answer is about 2.5 hours south of the city, and much closer if you’re in the Silicon Valley or Monterey areas. But it often goes over looked in NoCal in favor of Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Redwoods.

Just to give you an idea. We pulled into Pinnacles around 7:30pm—about 45 minutes before sunset. Before we went to bed, we’d seen the following animals: mule deer, turkey vultures, bats, a rabbit, humming birds, a stellar’s jay, and more raccoons than we’ve ever seen at once anywhere. (Seriously— don’t walk away from your snacks, or they won’t be there when you come back.)

The stargazing is phenomenal. We saw the Milky Way and multiple shooting stars, which kept us up later than expected, but we still had an early wake up. While we were prepping the van, one of the girls climbed down to the lower bed and fell back asleep. The tailgate was open and—guess what—a raccoon hopped right in, looking for breakfast no doubt. She didn’t even wake up, but it gave us a taste of how close the wildlife at Pinnacles can get.

We drove to Bear Gulch and had brekfast before our hike. The plan was High Ciff and Condor Gulch. The goal was to see a California Condor. This is probably the best place to see these birds.

Once on the brink of extinction, the California condor has made a remarkable comeback, with Pinnacles playing a pivotal role in its recovery. In 2003, the park became an official release site for captive-bred condors to reintroduce these majestic birds into the wild. The park's rugged cliffs and remote habitats offer ideal nesting and foraging grounds, In 2010 the first condor chick in over a century successfully fledged within the park. Though they are still few and far between, so sighting one is a treat.

The biggest impedement to seeing a condor is the huge population of turkey vultures in the area. They circle overhead constantly and roost in the trees at the campground (making very startling noises). I can’t tell you how many visitors we ran across who said “We saw dozens of condors.” No, no you didn’t, but I am glad the turkey vultures made you happy.

Here’s the thing. When you do see a condor, you feel stupid for every thinking a turkey vulture was a condor. They are so much biggest and so distinct. We were treated to condor #236 (yellow tag 36) a female who hatched in 2001, match with #240, and had had seven offspring. We saw her land on a branch and just sat and watch for a very long time, until she flew again. Then we stared through binoculars until she disappears toward the horizon. We reported our sighting to the ranger in the parking lot and got a bunch more information, as well as a Junior Ranger badge. They are so short staffed at Pinnacles that he said we might not see another Ranger, so we should take the book and badge now, and promise to do all the activities.

The hike we chose wasn’t just about the Condors. In fact, we’d have love every bit of this hike even if we’d seen no birds. These trails weave through the very rock formations that give the park it’s name. These pinnacles are a somewhat reminiscent of Joshua Tree, but steeper and higher and more craggy. We walked the maze of trails through them, sometimes stopping to think about who carved the stairs and installed the railing on the steepest parts. But we were glad they were there.

The 5.5-mile hike wasn’t enough, so we venture dinto Bear Gulch Cave, a 2-mile round trip venture through talus caves that was pretty spectacular. Back at camp the wildlife parade continued as a juvenille hawk (or perhaps a golden eagle) was tearing apart some prey on a limb above a gully just 20 feet from out campsite. We watched him and again sat in awe of Pinnacles.

The campground at Pinnacles has something that we haven’t often encountered at a NPS-run campground: a full sized pool. We took advantage and cooled ourselves after our day of hiking. It was a pretty popular spot to seek refuge from the late July heat.

That night we found our way to the star gazing program at the ampitheater, which the led out to a series of telescopes. It was just another example of the NPS Dark Skies program lighting up the night (figuratively only).

The next day would be our final day in a national park on this trip. We began our drive north from Pinnacles, through the East Bay, stopping overnight at Castle Crags State Park, before spending a few days driving up the Oregon Coast.

By day 30 of the trip, we’d be returning the van to Peace Vans in Seattle and calling it quits for this year. One more official venture on the Park-to-Park Tour, in less than 11 months, and we can’t wait!