CONDORS, CRAGS AND CAVES
Spotlight: Pinnacles National Park
The fantastical spires and ramparts of Pinnacles National Park loom like a child’s clay creation writ large. On the drive along Highway 146 through rolling chaparral-covered hills, the only way a visitor would know that something significant lies ahead is from the occasional road sign.
Most visitors enter Pinnacles by the main entrance on the east side of the Galiban Range (near Hollister) for convenient access to the park’s only campground, but there are plenty of overlooked attractions on the western side if you don’t mind sleeping outside the park, in a comfortable bed.
The park’s west entrance is 14 miles from the town of Soledad in Monterey County. Soledad’s location along Highway 101 is convenient for travelers to get in and out of the area quickly, and is also convenient to a few rural, lowfrills attractions, including an overlooked mission and winery tasting rooms.
A view of the striking stone faces begins well before you reach the Pinnacles gate. Don’t stop to take pictures here, because it gets better. The west side offers spectacular views of the rock formations, even from your car window in the parking lot.
These rock spires are what’s left of a volcano heading north — at a rate of 3 to 6 centimeters per year. The Miocene-
era Neenach Volcano, which originated 195 miles to the southeast, straddles the San Andreas Fault. Every time the Pacific Plate creeps north, it pulls the volcano’s remains along on its journey. Adding to the geologic forces, erosion helped create the eerie-looking monoliths and crags of Pinnacles National Park.
Intermittently occupied by Indian groups (Chalone and Mutsun) in its earlier days, Pinnacles was established as a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. Since then, the monument has increased in size from 2,500 to 26,000 acres, and in 2013, President Obama designated the expansive terrain as a national park.
The park’s more than 30 miles of trails are often what first lure visitors. Routes range from flat stretches of grassland to uphill climbs through talus caves and up to the rock features that loom overhead. For a day trip, choose between the steep Juniper Canyon Loop, which runs through the spires of the High Peaks Trail, home to California condors, and the rolling Balconies Cave Trail, which leads to one of the park’s two talus caves: Balconies Cave. Adventure seekers can easily cover both in a day.
The other talus cave at Pinnacles, the Bear Gulch Cave, is home to a colony of Townsend’s big-eared bats, which rest there in winter and raise their young in late spring and summer. As a result, the cave has seasonal periods when it is closed to protect the sensitive species. Both caves can be closed suddenly because of storms and high water, so check with the ranger station before planning your trip, if the talus caves are high on your list.
The Pinnacles area became a part of the California Condor Recovery Program in 2003, and conservationists estimate there are 33 condors in the park. Climbing high into the rocky spires, hikers can often get views of soaring condors, or even condor nesting sites. Up to 181 other bird species have been documented in the park, and its location on the migratory Pacific Flyway — along with its varied habitats of chaparral, oak and pine woodland, riparian, grassland and scree communities — make it an optimal destination for birders.
At the end of your day, a short drive back to Soledad allows you to investigate a small handful of winery tasting rooms or the Mission Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, or merely collapse in your hotel room and be thankful you don’t have to cook up a campfire dinner.