Trip 12, Park 1: Pinnacles National Park

Pinnacles National Park is a rugged wilderness environment with just over 30 miles of hiking trails. There is no road that crosses the park; to see both the east and west sides of the park requires driving about two hours around the park. (We did the west side on the first day and the east side on the second day.) It is possible to hike across the park, with the Old Pinnacles Trail being the easiest way to do so. Pinnacles does not have much infrastructure, with no lodging, food or gas available in the park (the campground store has very limited groceries and drinks). In addition, during the time we were there, the visitor centers were not open and the entrance stations were not occupied, although we did encounter a ranger who roamed the park.

One of the highlights of Pinnacles National Park was hiking through the talus caves, which are created when boulders form a roof over a narrow canyon. Trails lead through Balconies Cave on the west side of the park and Bear Gulch Cave on the east side. The trail through Bear Gulch was improved by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s (CCC also built the reservoir), so it is much better developed than Balconies. The caves were dark (flashlights are mandatory!) and required squeezing through some tight spots and low ceilings, but were fun to navigate.

Other than the cave trails, we hiked the Condor Gulch Trail to the overlook, where we saw California condors circling above the peaks, the Rim Trail above Bear Gulch Cave (which included hiking by the reservoir), the Prewitt Trail (near the visitors center on the west side), and the Old Pinnacles Trail (which crosses between the east and west sides of the park).

We had two interesting wildlife encounters on the Old Pinnacles Trail--first, we hiked alongside a tarantula who happily shared the trail with us; second, we encountered a rattlesnake who was not happy about us being on the trail and was rattling and preparing to strike when Mike spotted him. Fortunately, we ran down the trail unscathed!

For brew pubs, we found La Cantina Brewing Company in Salinas and Mad Pursuit Brewing Company in Hollister. La Cantina did not have any IPAs or porter/stouts on their beer menu at the time, so Mike had their HD Double Black (a dark lager) and I had their Guava Fresca fruit beer. Both were very good. In addition, they had a nice food menu, to include several Blue Zone (plant-based) menu items. The street tacos and tacos de papa were quite tasty! We also really enjoyed Mad Pursuit Brewing Company in quaint downtown Hollister. The ambiance at the bar was great and we enjoyed talking with bartender Alex. Mike had The One New England IPA and I tried the Festivus Oktoberfest beer. Both were excellent and are highly recommended!