Pinnacles National Park
Day 1 Sept. 20, 2023
I arrived in the evening and saw several tarantulas on the road on the way into the park, luckily none on the trail. There was also a turkey mama and her 4 babies. I only had time for a short hike which was Condor Gulch. The dry grasses made for pretty fall colors on the lower elevation. The top of the trail has cool rock formations that show where the water has eroded it when there is water. Everything was extremely dry including all the creek beds. Coming back down it was dusk and I heard several owls hooting. Plenty of tiny hopping frogs in the roads on the way out of the park.
Day 2 Sept. 21, 2023
The drive in this morning was arachnid-free so my hopes were high. I was originally going to hike to the Balconies Cave and turn around, but the map showed a potential loop that I could do, so why not do a longer hike. I started off on Old Pinnacles and saw a bunch of deer and a cute rabbit. Claustrophobia hit hard a short distance into the cave, so I turned around. The only other option was to back track to the cliffs route around the caves. Upset at first about the detour, I soon became elated when I saw two California condors soaring among the tall rock formations.
I continued on Balconies trail and Juniper Canyon trail. Next was Tunnel trail which has a short stretch through a tunnel. That trail joined High Peaks trail which had amazing views of rock formations. One more condor and a juvenile turkey vulture were spotted. This trail also offered the one and only tarantula that I saw for the day. The last section was Blue Oak trail which led back to the car after 9.5 miles. On the drive out of the park I saw a bald eagle and a prairie falcon that were dwarfed by the incredible condors. Pinnacles does everything big: birds, spiders and rocks.
Total Cost: $29.67
