Pinnacles National Monument, California
Directions: For the east entrance, from Hwy 101 south of Gilroy take Hwy 25 south. On Hwy 25, go through the town of Hollister and continue about 30 miles to Hwy 146. Turn right on Hwy 146, and follow it to the Pinnacles entrance station.
Parking Fee: $5.00
Facilities: toilets
Bear Gulch Vistor Center
Parking
Rock climber
Heading into the cave
Bear Gulch Reservoir
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Salinas Valley Panorama
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Lunch break
Lookout on the North Chalone Peak
North Chalone Peak summit marker
South Chalone Peak panorama
South Chalone Peak
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South Chalone Peak summit marker
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On Sunday 20-April-2008, I joined in with the Stanford Outing Club for another great hike at the Pinnacles National Monument.
ROUTE SUMMARY: Bear Gulch visitor center > Bear gulch trail > Moses spring trail > Bear gulch caves trail > Chalone Peak Trail > North Chalone Peak > South Chalone Peak > retrace route back to return > End
National Geographic TOPO! software website:
GPS Stats
Distance hiked: 12.5 miles
Total ascent: 3618 ft
Trailhead Elevation: 2662 ft
Max Elevation: 3304 ft
Moving time: 5 hrs 15 min
Moving Average: 2.2 mph
Overall average: 1.5 mph
Time stopped: 2 hrs
Personal stats
Dates Hiked:
20-Apr-2008
Start time: 10:00 AM
Weather: Temperatures in the 60’s for the hike, cool, clear and sunny with a light breeze. Simply beautiful!
Water consumed: 2.5 liters
plus 600 ml Gatorade
Finish time: ~ 5:15 PM
Total time: ~ 7 hrs 15 min
Beauty: There was an abundance of wildflowers and bloom and the views were fabulous.
Wildlife seen: Birds and a probable condor soaring over the North Chalone peak.
Difficulty: This hike was generally moderate. The trail climbs steadily on the way out but the grade up is just easy enough to give it a moderate rating for most people. Not sure I would want to do it on a hot day though.
OK, this is cool. I did yet another hike with the Stanford Outing Club, this time at the Pinnacles. I got there a little bit early and went into the visitor center and talked with the rangers there for a bit. One of them, I didn't catch his name, took time to tell me a bit about the geology and history of the Pinnacles. Here I grew up in Salinas and had visited the Pinnacles as a child with my parents but I never knew this.
The Pinnacles is an extinct volcano. OK, I kind of figured that. It's only half if it. What? The Pinnacles is only half of the volcano. The other half known as the Neenach Formation is down south by LA. What?!!! Well, as it turns out, one half of it, the half by Salinas and Hollister, is on the west side of the San Andreas Fault. The fault spit the volcano in two and the western half has been creeping northwards all these millions of years. The eastern half on the other side of the fault has more or less stayed put.
Now that is cool but it still ain't the half of it. They figure the original volcano stood about 8000 feet tall whereas now the Pinnacles tops out at around 3300 feet. The other 5000 feet has simply eroded away over the eons. But it gets even cooler. The eastern half of the volcano has eroded pretty much down to nothing while the western half still has 3000 feet to it. Why? Because at one point it was completely under water and protected from the erosive forces that wore down the eastern half down by LA. Geologists know this because when they prospect around the Pinnacles, they find fossils of aquatic creatures all over it. Too me that is just too way cool! I can just imagine the geological forces involved that moved stuff around that much and knowing about that made this hike all the more interesting to me.
So this hike was again led by “V” and was simply an out and back hike from the Bear Gulch Visitor Center to the North and South Chalone Peaks and back again. The hike took us from the Bear Gulch Trail to the Moses Spring Trail and then through the Bear Gulch Caves where we emerged by the Bear Gulch Reservoir. A lot of bears though even though there are none in the park. Oh well.
Anyway, from there we caught the Chalone Peak Trail which rises steadily uphill over some 3.3 miles to the North Chalone Peak at 3304 feet. The grade of the trail uphill was certainly noticeable but while I don't think I would care to do that hike on a hot day, doing it on a cool day certainly made it a lot easier and I never needed much in the way of breaks or rest stops on the way up.
Once at the top of the North Chalone Peak, we took a lunch break while enjoying the views out east and out west over the Salinas Valley. And we could see our next objective to the south, the South Chalone Peak. Both peaks by the way, our ancient volcanic vents from the original volcano. I might also add that there is a little outhouse up on the North Chalone Peak, placed almost out of sight on the south side just down below the peak. There is a little trail down to it and it certainly came in handy for some people.
After lunch we backtracked a short distance back down the Chalone Peak Trail to hook up to the trail to the South Chalone Peak. That trail descends steadily down the west side of the peak offering some nice views into the Salinas Valley until it crosses behind a rise blocking that view and then bottoms out before rising again, this time around the east side of the South Chalone Peak. After a 1.6 mile hike from the North Chalone Peak, we made the summit of the South Chalone Peak at 3269 feet.
After a brief stop and celebration we headed back. Except for the climb back up to the North Chalone Peak, all the rest to the hike was downhill. The bad part about going steadily downhill though is that your feet and everything else takes more of a pounding. And so by the time I got back to my car, I was glad to take off my boots and sit down behind the wheel for the drive home. But nonetheless, this was a gorgeous hike out and made especially so with the spring wild flowers in bloom and the clear day with wide open views. Now lets see the pictures.
