Before I start talking about all the cool things I saw in this park – I have to say the drive there was absolutely stunning! The rolling hills with flowing tall green grass?? I felt like I was in a fairy tale. Windows rolled down, an audio book on, and a gentle breeze – I could have driven on this road for hours more and not complained! I arrived at the campground just after dinner – and I will say if you miss the visitors center there really isn’t ANYTHING around here. I ate goldfish crackers for dinner 🙂 The campground was packed out – but luckily I was able to snag a site pretty close to the front for the evening. I settled in for a peaceful night and woke up early to get started!
Now I had read a blog about taking the loop that I chose – the Bear Gulch Cave trail through to the High Peaks loop. I even remembered seeing pictures of this sign – and somehow I still turned the wrong way. So you won’t be seeing pictures of the caves until the end because I didn’t realize I had missed it until like the 8th switchback. At that point I definitely wasn’t turning back. One benefit to starting early AND missing the trail turn was that I had this trail almost entirely to myself. I didn’t run into my first person until I was coming back out the other end of the “steep and narrow section” – but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. This was a fairly decent climb! Good to get the blood pumping.
The views made the frequent breaks even more enjoyable! I finally reached the top of Scouts peak and got to begin the steep and narrow section of the High Peaks trail. Took a picture of the sign before I set off.
For those of you who may not be familiar – Pinnacles is famous for having some California Condors. Fun facts about Condors – they were almost extinct not too long ago, due to a rapid decline in their population (mostly our fault). The US government decided to step in and they caught the remaining birds (only 27!) and bred them. The condors were slowly re-released into the wild and the counts at the end of 2016 was around 450 total birds. So obviously I was hoping to see one in the wild – and I certainly wasn’t the only one! Many people come here trying to see these massive birds. Their wing span can be up to 10 feet long, and are one of the largest flying birds in the world.
As I was climbing around the edge of a very steep part of the trail, I caught a glimpse of a head that I thought at the time was a condor. I was excited at first, then terrified that if I startled it it would attack me. So I had my knife in one hand and my camera in the other and tried to make some noise.
Fortunately it was only a regular vulture! And it took off as soon as it saw me. BUT when I climbed the rest of the way around the corner guess what I saw?!?!
I took about 50 pictures of them hanging out on this log. I did wish they would have taken off but I was happy with what I got. As my step mom and grandmother say – this was a life bird for me!
I did get a few cool shots of the other vultures who were hanging out in their vicinity.
Once I had my fill I continue my arduous climb up the rest of the trail. They certainly were not kidding with the steep and narrow part. I was VERY winded when I got finished!
I met a TON of people on my way back down the mountain, and quite a few of them were envious of my condor encounter. I told them where I had seen them and I hope a few more of them were able to catch a glimpse of those beautiful birds.
Now after my 6 mile hike I had to hike back to the cave trail turn about! I dont have a ton of pictures from inside the caves because it was a lot more crowded than when I had begun. But I do have a few good ones.
I got back to my car and headed back to the visitor’s center to grab my magnet and the place was PACKED!!! All the parking lots were full and they were shuttling people into the park. I was certainly happy I had gotten such an early start. This park was a lot of fun, I bet I will come back just so I can make that drive again!!
Kelsey's Climb to 59 (+4) 