Pinnacles National Park

After the delightful wedding, Jeffery and I headed down to Pinnacles National Park so that I could get my new Park Passport stamped. (I bought it and stamped it at the Whiskeytown Lake, and also got my stamp at Mt. Lassen, but this would be my first stamp to be initialled by a co-hiker).  The photos I took do not even come close to showing how it felt to be in that marvelous place, but I share them anyway, because this National Park was made a NP in 2013.  It's been a National Monument up til now.

Turned south at Hollister

Wended into the morning sun through a huge "glen" that had me shouting with pleasure

There's the sign to the Park!

Turned onto the road to the Park, and it went from being a soft valley and became rugged terrain

Many places showed off this fine and amazing stone work done by human hands and ingenuity

Soft trail, slight slope.  It was 40 degrees when we started, and 92 degrees when we came down

Ah, some of the Pinnacles in the background

Zoomed up, it still doesn't do it justice

Loved the autumn foliages

This is where we stopped and peeled off some layers of clothing

rock, lichen, flora

We saw a flock of x-lg birds and thought they might be the California Condors, which this area is known for, but it turns out we were seeing turkey vultures.  (condors don't flaps their wings a lot; they soar)

Giant outcropping looks small

Jeffery by the boulders.  We chose not to go to the top to "walk among the giants", but this is what it probably would be like up along the ridge.

Another magnificent view who's scale is lost to comprehension.  There is a human in this shot.

The people at the Overlook begin to give scale to the scene

The traditional "Jeffery on a rock" photo!

Damn, this place is so cool.

See what I mean?

Loved these grasses in the sunlight.  I plucked one and stuck it in my cap as a decoration.

A blue bird that I've yet to look up and identify.

The view back toward the Valley above Condor Gulch.

Oops!  My hat decoration might get me into big trouble!

We chose to take the Cave Trail in Bear Gulch where it might be cooler.  See the stone restroom at the bottom of the photo?

These rocks, man, I just can't say the right words for the feeling I get when I look at them and remember being among them

See Jeffery?  This was the passage into another world

View as I emerge from the first cave passage-way

Brave Jeffery up in a grotto.  I went up there with great sweating and whimpering, just to say that I had.

We will descend into a cavern-world of stacks and tumbles of boulder.

My headlamp battery was dead, but a fellow traveller suggested using the cell-phone flashlight.

Here we go!

Loved this blue-green boulder that hung above our heads.  I had to hold the cave wall just to look up at it.

A view of one ceiling place

We tried to eat some gorp, but this little fellow looked ready to attack us, so we packed up and left him behind.

Rock climbing class

The lady in this photo gives perspective.  All my Dark Cave shots were too blurry to show, but we were in total darkness in many places, and all those places had stairs and paths built by the CCC crews

Here's the best of the lot, just to show you

We are leaving the caves and heading up the stairs that were carved from the rock itself.

Who cut and stacked these rocks?  This is way up in the middle of the mountains!!!

The Reservoir.

Above the reservoir is this iconic Pinnacle set.

See the face?

The dude got up the face of the rock, and he's FREE=HANDING!  I can't look any more.

The trail back to our car, above the caves we just wended through

Back out into the Valley.  Jeffery and I convoyed all the way back to Tobin (6 hours) and I get to keep him home now!

Building in Tres Pinos where we had lunch (3 crab cakes for $9!)

Jeffery writes in his National Parks Passport

Last view of San Luis Reservoir, which was completely full when I first began visiting Jeffery in Santa Cruz in May.

Sunset; California is burning.  Matt and Wendie are safe.

My National Parks Passport, with stamps and initials.  It got wet in my backpack (wah)

I will have more adventures to show in different places I'll be visiting, but for now, here you go!  Hope you enjoy!