Pinnacles National Monument

On Tuesday, December 29, Jess and I drove from Monterey to Pinnacles National Monument. We had spent the last few days hiking and biking along the coast and were looking forward to a change of pace, from taking in endless beautiful ocean views on the central coast to scrambling up talus and chimney rock to spot the elusive and extremely rare California condor in the central valley.

After driving south on Hwy 101 from Salinas, we entered the park via Hwy 146 through its west entrance. Even though Pinnacles' main attraction, Bear Gulch Caves, is located near the the park's other entrance, the west and east entrances are not connected, and driving to the east side of the park would have taken an additional two hours on unpaved one-lane roads. Although I was disappointed to be missing the park's main attraction, the lack of a through-road was in fact a fortuitous sign -- the remoteness of the park means less traffic and more hiking trails and wildlife.

We planned the trip to Pinnacles in order to spot a California condor. We first saw the California Condor (spp. Gymnogyps californianus) a few months ago at the San Diego Zoo and were both impressed. This giant vulture has a wing span of 10 ft. -- they are the largest flying land bird in North America -- and a featherless noggin so it doesn't get too mussed up when it pokes its head in the guts of a dead carcass. It can fly 100 miles per day and live up to 60 years in the wild. Before the arrival of Western settlers, the California condor could be found throughout the US, from as far as California to Florida and Massachussetts. After its numbers dwindled to just 23 in 1981-82, the condor has made a modest comeback -- currently there are over 300 condors, with 90 living in the California wilderness.

Unfortunately, Jess and I weren't lucky enough to spot any condors. In hind sight, we probably had the best chance of seeing a condor in Big Sur, when we saw a researcher holding a giant antenna off a cliff near Hwy 1. Afterwards, we realized she was probably trying to track one of the condors, because they are all radio collared. Nevertheless, we were lucky to enjoy some fun hiking and great views on the Condor Gulch, High Peaks, and Balcony Cliffs trails. The highlight was definitely scrambling over, under, and between wedged rocks in the eery darkness of the Balconies Caves.