Pinnacles National Park
“It’s only 5 — you can’t possibly be hungry right now.” I hoarsely shouted. Cody leapt up and headbutted me, a typical sign that he wanted mom to feed him. Cody is my 70lbs Pointer rescue and he has quite the appetite. Upon stirring, a little head poked out from under the blankets: Rex heard the word ‘hungry’ and joined his brother in performing the breakfast dance. Rex is my 11lbs Chihuahua Dachshund rescue. Small, yet extremely mighty.
An hour later, after repeating the same routine every 10 minutes, I reluctantly rose out of bed. I had to get moving: today was the day I was finally headed to Pinnacles National Park.
I made my way into the kitchen to feed the dogs. As they ate, I washed the dishes and prepared a slow-cooker dinner of beef stew. I wanted to come back to a clean home and a hearty meal at the end of the day. How good did beef stew sound?
I got dressed. I knew I’d get hot walking, but knew I’d get cold and wet venturing through the caves. I threw on a t-shirt, fleece-lined leggings, light (quick-drying) socks and shoes, and a fleece zip-up.
I filled my backpack with my favorite things: two water bottles, snacks (including chocolate because life’s too short to not eat the chocolate), a sandwich, Dramamine, Advil, my wallet, two flashlights, and my Nikon D60. Dramamine might strike you as an odd favorite thing to have, but as someone who lives life with what seems to be chronic nausea, it’s essential I carry it with me.
Finally at 8am, I was off to meet my friend, Daniel, in a Target parking lot where we would embark on this adventure together.
“I just woke up. Sorry, sorry. I am super late. The alarm didn’t sound. I will leave home asap.” I’m usually the one who’s late, so I had no problem waiting for Daniel. In fact, I was in one of the best places to do so: Target. I perused the aisles of this retail heaven until Daniel showed up around 9am. We hopped into my car and began on our journey to Pinnacles.
We traveled south on Highway 101 for about 1.5 hours and drove through the charming town and countryside of Soledad for another 30 minutes. Although it may not always be happening in Soledad, there is a charming sign right before Exit 303 that says otherwise. There is something magical about this sign; something extremely relatable to a place named Solitude.
We spent another 15 minutes on a one-lane road, passing wineries and farmlands, before seeing a sign that indicated we were entering Pinnacles National Park.
Pinnacles National Park has fascinated me for quite some time. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared Pinnacles a National Monument thanks to the work of Schuyler Hain. Hain was a homesteader from Michigan that settled in the Pinnacles area. He lead groups into valleys and caves of the Pinnacles and became the unofficial caretaker of the land. He wrote and spoke about preserving the land until President Roosevelt declared it a National Monument. Over time, the protected land grew from several hundred acres to several thousand acres and was declared a National Park in 2013 by the Obama Administration. You can read more about the park and its history on the NPS website.
We stopped at the Visitor Center and bought our $15 pass. Although this sounds a bit pricey, you can re-enter the park up to seven days after purchasing the pass. Even more importantly, park fees generally go to the repair and maintenance of parks. This includes everything from trail maintenance and visitor services to law enforcement, habitat restoration, and more.
We were given a map with our pass. We had previously decided to hike to the Balconies Caves and back along the Balconies Cliffs trail. Roundtrip from the Visitor Center, this was 9.4 miles and could take anywhere from 4–6 hours. We drove up to the overflow parking area, parked our car, and made our way to the trailhead. It was around 11:30am.
The hike to the caves is fairly easy and flat. We passed a few streams and small waterfalls, went over very small bridges, and encountered enormous boulders. We finally found ourselves at the entrance of the caves.
We squeezed through a narrow passageway between boulders and came to a sign that said “Caution, Flashlights Required, Low Ceilings, Dangerous When Wet.” This was the entrance to the caves. I didn’t think we’d really need the flashlights but boy was I wrong. We got to some semi-dark areas and the light of the day was just enough to show us through the first set of caves. We crawled under large boulders and in streams, to get to the second set of caves. The second set of caves was dark and narrow and some boulders were quite high. I’m only 5’2” which can be extremely inconvenient at times. I slid down some boulders, jumped to others, and did some climbing where I had to. I knew I’d be experiencing that satisfying type of soreness sooner or later.
The third and final set of caves was my favorite: completely dark with several small waterfalls running through it. The route here was much more rugged than the other caves. Daniel and I helped each other navigate the trail. I’d go first (I mean it was my idea to drag us to these caves to begin with) and once I was on solid rock, I’d light his path with my flashlight. This cave was also the most popular, filled with lots of other hikers, including very young children, and tourists.
When we made it out of the caves, we found a small clearing where many groups were having lunch. We weren’t quite ready for our lunch yet, so we decided to beat the crowds and head up the Balconies Cliffs trail. It was a quick ascent, about 300 feet, but provided sweeping views of the Pinnacles. Once we arrived at the summit of this trail, we found a shady, flat area of rock and ate our lunch (and chocolate!); a perfect reward for reaching the highest part of the trail. We chatted and enjoyed panoramic views of the volcanic formations. Once we were ready, we snapped one photo together, packed up our trash, and headed back to the car.
The Balconies Caves loop took us three hours. This part of the park allowed us to get the most out of it in a short amount of time: caves, waterfalls, spectacular views of the Pinnacles. That said, I’m already planning my next trip back, when I can spend an entire day here, getting lost along the giant formations.
NPS #1: complete.
My name is Renee and I’m on a mission to visit as many National Park properties as I can. Join my journey at camphappytrail.com or instagram.com/camphappytrail.
