Pinnacles National Park

Let me just say, California has a lot of national parks, it has the most of any state. Nine ! First of all, it is a very big state (even by western state standards) clocking in as the third largest state in the country. And it has incredibly diverse geologic terrain (sandy beaches, rocky beaches, bluffs and cliffs; volcanic mountains, glacially carved granite hewn mountains and deserts; green valleys, golden hillsides and acre upon acre of rich fertile soil). And unique flora (towering red woods, giant sequoias and spikey Joshua trees just to make a few). Of course, there are the well known national parks, like Yosemite, but there are also some less well known (at least I'd never heard of them …) and one of these less well known parks is Pinnacles. Pinnacles is slightly northeast of Big Sur, on the other side, the eastern side of the coastal mountain range, and it was our next destination. It just so happens that it's also pretty close to Gilroy, the garlic capital of the world where 50% of the country's garlic is grown and 90% of it is processed. (You know, just in case you need some garlic, or garlic popcorn or garlic jam or garlic ice cream...)

Pinnacles is east of the coastal mountains, so although it struggled to get above 60°F while we were along the coast, once we crossed those mountains it was in the 90s°. Fortunately, our campsite had some lovely shade and the NP campground had a pool! Unheard of for a NP campground. We made sure any hiking activities commenced and finished early, then spent the rest of the day enjoying our shade or the pool.

I had to have some oral surgery in Sacramento (more prep work for an implant) so we spent an afternoon exploring Sacramento, and when we got back I took it easy for a couple of days while Martin did some hiking on his own. It was an interesting park, but if I'm honest, I didn't think it was spectacular. It is one of the few places to see California Condors, but while we saw some big birds soaring…, we're quite certain they were turkey vultures not condors. Oh well.

We did see other birds, butterflies and flowers. So that's always a win in my book.

On to pics …

Some of the interesting rock formations, the pinnacles, the park's namesake. These are located at the higher elevations of the park (that is also where the condors hang out).

Not surprising, Pinnacles is a climbing mecca for those folks who like to do that sort of thing. We did not partake.

The reservoir

The lower elevation of the park had these dry "golden" hills and meadows. That was certainly appropriate, as California is the "golden state".

Lots of interesting flora

A type of larkspur

A Variable Checkerspot butterfly

a Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly

Venus Thistle. I thought it was beautiful.

Yellow flowers, pretty, but I'm not sure what they are (?)

Our first encounter with a Mariposa lily

These interesting flowers are Wooly Blue Curl

Yellow Sticky Monkey Flower

Pics from Sacramento

(don't worry, I didn't include any from the oral surgeons) :)

We went to Sutter's Fort.

Sutter, a Swiss immigrant, settled the first European community in Central California (which at that time was Mexico's Alta California). Eventually the land granted to him by Mexico was sold or taken (depending upon who is telling the history) by the US government and became the city of Sacramento.

The fort could garrison up to 1000 soldiers in its heyday.

And an interesting sidebar, (again you know how I like following through on stories) many of the guns and ammunitions, etc came from the fort the Russians had built, but were subsequently abandoning. This was the fort that made the Spanish so nervous back in the 1600s that they made their big trip up across Arizona and up California to San Francisco.

The kitchen

A garrison.

We had dinner on the Delta King, a paddlewheeler on the river.

Old Town Sacramento

Completing another story, a statue commemorating the last stop of the Pony Express run

And ending with a few pics of the fauna from the park, always my favorite part.

If you look closely at the next couple of pics, you'll see a yellow and black striped California kingsnake.

They are nonvenomous. And although it did startle me (something about coming upon a snake on the trail always gives me a surge of adrenaline) I did manage to get the camera out and take a few pics, even if you have to use your imagination a bit about where the snake actually is. Haha.

This turkey accompanied us as we headed out on an early morning hike, gobbling away and then we saw him on the way back. He trotted down the trail in front of us and was quite concerned anytime he thought we were too close. Of course, if he'd moved off the trail we'd have left him to himself much sooner. Silly goose, I mean, turkey.

An acorn woodpecker.

In the first pic he has the acorn in his mouth and in the second he is placing it in storage in the hole he previously made in the tree. Note all holes in the tree. He should get busy. There's room for a lot more acorns!