Pinnacles National Park Hike
No. of days: ½
No. of miles: Around 10miles
Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
Date: 18 May 2013
Picasa link here
This was my first hike with a meetup group. I hadn’t met anyone in the group previously. Jateen organized this hike from the Bay Area Hikers (20’s and 30’s) meetup group. I was supposed to meet Jateen in the city at 6:30am but I slept late due to a very demanding 6 mile jog the previous evening. I got up late and went to Portola. I got a ride (carpool) for this hike by the man himself (Jateen). We reached the West entrance of the park, which is now the new entrance. The rock structures were magnificent which is the least to say. It is a great place for rock climbing. I wanted to try my new backpack so I decided to wear that instead of a smaller one. I had all the “almost” necessary stuff for camping in my backpack. We met the others of the group and began our hike at 10:05am along the Juniper Canyon Trail. The switchbacks were pretty steep but were awesome fun. We took the trail that took us to the High Peaks followed by photography.
After a very brief break we hiked to the reservoir and then through the caves to the old east park entrance. The east park entrance is equipped with toilet and water fountain. We filled our water supplies and took the balconies cave loop to the starting point at the west entrance. The caves were dark, cool and tight at some places. Having carried my backpack, I had to crawl at certain spots (well, that was because I was too lazy to actually remove the backpack and push it to the other side first J) Tasty watermelon was a treat after the hike thanks to Mark. We went to Chevy’s for dinner. I got back home at 10:00pm after which I coordinated a hike to Point Reyes the next day. Picasa link here
Info:
Best time to visit: Winter (Nov - Apr)
Activities: Rock climbing, Camping, Hiking
