After getting a good night's sleep at my hotel in Monterey, I decided to return to Pinnacles National Park, but to the western entrance, this time. While hiking trails do connect the two entrances, there are no roads between the two and my time constraints prevented me from hiking the entire distance. The drive was uneventful, but I was able to get my first real glimpse of the fertile cornucopia that is California's central valley. Agricultural products of ever kind can be seen growing and being harvested for miles upon miles upon miles. Leaving the valley floor, the jeep and I head into golden foothills to the east. The winding road climbs higher and higher into the hills and becomes narrower and narrower, eventually being reduced to a single lane road. Finally, I arrive at the park entrance and head to my Chaparrel Trailhead.
From the parking lot, I introduced to a magnificent view of one of the rugged group of rock spires (pinnacles, if you will) atop a small mountain in the distance. While there are trails that would take me into those hills, my trail heads the opposite direction to the Balconies Cliff and Cave system. The trail starts out pretty easy, but soon requires navigation in, around, under, and through more of the piled car and house-sized boulders that compromise the cave system. It's extremely pretty here though. The fall colors dance as orange and yellow on the deciduous trees, while the golden grasses extend to the horizon in nearly every direction.
The trail is also popular and I encounter a number of other hikers along the route, all very friendly. Eventually, I reach the actual entrance to the cave system. It's a number of natural stone steps leading into a dark abyss below me. White arrows painted on the boulders direct the traffic into the blackness below. I pull out my head lamp, which I didn't bring yesterday, and descend into the unknown. It's a bit precarious, but I manage okay and after dropping down about 10 feet, enter a large room between giant boulders. A few other explorers are coming from the opposite direction and I wait for them to pass.
Leaving this large room, I enter another dark passageway that curves down and around into another small room. Here again, I must make my way down a number of treacherous stone steps and slippery boulders, but I make to to the next room safely. This room is nearly as large as the previous one, but it opens up into a small canyon, itself defined by boulder walls on either side. Finally seeing daylight again, I turn off my headlamp and begin to make my way around to the cliff side, where the trail will presumably return me to the parking lot.
It requires a fair amount of uphill as it follows the twists and turns of the hillside, but eventually, I can see the entrance to the cave below me. A fellow hiker asks to confirm her directions with me and we quickly discover that she has taken a wrong turn. She thanks me and heads back the way we came.
As the trail drops back down to join the trail I came in on, I enjoy terrific views of the stone pinnacles rising from the ever-widening canyon. I search overhead for signs of the California Condor, of which several individuals have been re-released into the wilds of their natural habitat after suffering near extinction at the hands of my kind. Unfortunately, they must be flying circles in the sky or scavenging elsewhere, as I never catch a glimpse of any. I was lucky enough to see some in the Grand Canyon a few years ago though.
After rounding out the canyon, I finally see the parking lot and my jeep come into site. While very similar to my hike to Bear Gulch yesterday, I think this side of the park agrees with me more. The 'cave' is more interesting, the area is more remote and therefore less popular, and the canyon is more beautiful. In total, the hike was just over three miles, which is plenty since I'm running a half-marathon tomorrow.
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