Camping at Pinnacles National Monument
We’ve just had a really pleasant camping weekend at Pinnacles National Monument, a park situated about 130 miles south of the city, on the San Andreas Fault, approx. 40 miles from the coast. Interestingly, the park is actually one half of an ancient volcano; the other half is some 200 miles south, and the two halves have been separated by plate tectonics – the Pacific and North American plates grinding past each other at a rate of a couple of centimetres per year. We knew it was going to be hot, but when we arrived, it was about 100 degrees in the shade (approx. 36.5 degrees C). We hastily erected the tent under a tree and planned our first excursion, which was necessarily short, namely a walk through Bear Gulch Cave to the tiny reservoir and back. The said cave was a talus cave, formed by huge boulders falling into a cleft and getting wedged. We saw a bat hanging down as we made our way through, then spotted several garter snakes swimming and trying desperately to cool off in the reservoir, which was also swarming with dragonflies. We made our way back via the rim trail, where we got to see some of the amazing rock formations up close.
On the way back to the campground, we saw a deer with two fawns in tow. Then, on arrival back at our campsite, we found that it had been invaded by a flock of California quail. These are sweet little birds – blue with black faces and tufts on their heads. It’s actually our state bird, but I was surprised how unsophisticated they were, scratching around like chickens, then running hither and thither as fast as their legs would carry them. We had a cold dinner, as we didn’t have a camping stove and open fires were not allowed with the current high wildfire risk, then had yet another visitor to the campground – this time a raccoon. He was a persistent little chap, looking very much the outlaw with his black mask, and had to be chased off.
Once it got dark, we marveled at the sky - far from light pollution and incredibly clear. We picked out Venus and Mars, and contemplated the Milky Way. I slept reasonably well that night – it did, at least, cool off. Jon didn’t sleep so well. He claimed that he kept waking up to the sounds of all the animals – possibly the raccoon again, and certainly the Western Scrub Jays that kept landing on the tent.
We had to get up early, as we planned to do a big hike, and it was essential we left while it was still cool enough. So, we packed up the tent and drove the short distance to the trailhead. The hike took us along a dry creek, up chaparral-covered hills for a fair distance, through the rock formations of the high peaks, down to the western side of the park, through another talus cave and along the same dry creek bed back to the car. Even though we set off early, it was still really tough-going with the heat. Overhead soared turkey vultures and even (possibly) the odd California condor. The second talus cave was pretty difficult to enter – the opening was tiny and the entry sloped down into the blackness – but we were out again before I could get really claustrophobic! We had less than two miles to go, when we suddenly heard a loud rattle to our right. We’d chanced upon a rattlesnake, lying just at the side of the path! We now had to get past it, but not before taking a few pictures!
After we’d finished our hike, we went to the pretty picnic spot by the visitor centre and had lunch while the Steller’s Jays, Western Scrub Jays, woodpeckers and tree creepers flitted around, with the squirrels trying desperately to scrounge a crumb or two. The temperature was hitting 34 degrees Celsius, so we beat a retreat and headed north to the historic village of San Juan Bautista. I’d wanted to visit it, as parts of Hitchcock’s Vertigo were filmed there. It also has lots of “historic” (read: "19th century") buildings and a 200-year-old mission church. Although it was certainly very pretty, I was disappointed not to find it more recognisable from the film. The all-important bell tower scenes must have been filmed somewhere else, as the mission has no bell tower and has never had one.
29 miles south of San Francisco, it was still 25 Celsius. However, we could see the tsunami of fog ahead of us, and once in it, the temperature dropped to 13. Over a 20 degree difference in less than a hundred miles! However, fortunately, our bit of San Francisco was still in the sunshine. Not today, though – it’s been thick, cold fog all day. Mark Twain said the coldest winter he’d ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco, and I’m beginning to know what he meant!
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