Wildflowers and Caves at Pinnacles National Monument

It was an extremely busy day yesterday. Brunch with mom and dad in Half Moon Bay, our son's Little League game, and later the Stanford Pow Wow. We were fairly well exhausted last night, but still when we got home, we readied our packs for today's hike at Pinnacles National Monument. We got our packs ready, bought some deli sandwiches from the grocery store, and put our clothes out. Duane was not feeling well with a worsening cold, so even though he got his pack ready, he wasn't sure he would go.

Along with my Thermarest pad and tent, I also added an extra 7 pounds to my pack for a total of 35 pounds of weight. What kind of insanity causes me to add barbells to my backpack? I'm conditioning to give Half Dome another try. I need to develop muscles that are capable of carrying 35-40 pounds without flinching by simulating the weight I would carry on the day we backpack into Little Yosemite Valley.

Because the drive to this hike from San Jose is about an hour and 45 minutes, we needed to get up really early in the morning. My alarm went off at 5:00 am. Yuck. Definitely not enough sleep last night. After determining that Duane wasn't going to go because his cold was worse than yesterday, I tried to convince our son to go with me. No dice. If Daddy wasn't going, he wasn't going. The lure of caves, lizards, wildflowers, big rocks to climb on, and possibly California Condors was not strong enough to get him out of bed at 5:00 am. So I showered, got dressed, and took off by myself to our carpool rendezvous at Santa Teresa Village Shopping Center, right in front of the Nob Hill Grocery Store. I made sure to check that it had coffee and was open at 6:00 am.

Unbeknownst to me, however, the invitation that I wrote up for posting to Deb's Evite hiking list, got slightly changed. She set the carpool rendezvous time for 7:00 am. So when fellow hiker Angela called me the night before to make arrangements to be picked up in Gilroy, she didn't understand why I wanted to pick her up 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave the parking lot in Santa Teresa. And when I texted fellow hiker Chris at 6:00 am, asking if he was up yet, he just about had a heart attack thinking he was late and high tailed it out of his house. (I've got to give him kudos for getting to the parking lot at 6:15 am. I don't think I could have done it!) We didn't figure this out until we were all in the car and on our way to Pinnacles.

I had time to buy some juice, coffee, and a cinnamon breakfast roll while waiting for Chris, and we shared this in the car on the ride down. Poor Angela had to put up with two amateur radio operators in the car, but hopefully we weren't too bad and didn't bore her. The ride was free of traffic and we made great time. We got to the Visitor Center on the east side of the park, which was then closed. We thought this would be a good time for a bathroom stop, but even that was closed. So we drove on to the Old Pinnacles trailhead. I stopped at the entrance gate and purchased a new National Parks pass as mine had expired eight days previously.

After finally making our bathroom stop, we readied our packs and hit the trail at about 8:30 am. The first part of the hike was over level terrain on the Old Pinnacles trail, which follows the West Fork of Chalone Creek. The Creek was mostly dry now, but what was immediately evident was the number and variety of wildflowers in bloom. Spring came late, but it has most definitely sprung! The first thing I noticed was a new variety of monkeyflower, Notch-petaled Monkeyflower, with bigger paler blooms than the regular variety. Among the most beautiful flowers we saw early on was Elegant Clarkia - just before a coyote crossed our path.

After the first mile, we began to have incredible views of the craggy rock formations that are the Pinnacles. We began to climb a rocky trail that all but disappeared into the boulders, then followed a creek bed right into the Balconies Cave. Had I know ahead of time what I signed us up for, I might have thought twice about taking a backpack in here. There were some low and tight spots which made getting through with a backpack exceedingly difficult. I took the pack off in several places in order to get through. Although flashlights are absolutely required, the trail inside the cave is well marked with numbered sign posts and, in a few places, railings.

After emerging from the cave, we continued on the Balconies Trail until we reached the Chaparral Ranger Station. As one might expect from the name, this area is a chaparral microclimate. Views of the craggy peaks were much better on this west side of the range. From here, we hiked onto the Juniper Canyon Trail, which would take us into and up the side of the canyon traversing multiple switchbacks. From the base of the peaks, the climb looked very intimidating and even more so with me carrying my heaviest backpack to date. I wondered if it would be like the Half Dome trail out of Little Yosemite Falls with its seemingly interminable switchbacks. It was. We continued to see many beautiful wildflowers, including the Venus Thistle, Western Wallflower, Blue Dicks, and Cream Cups

About halfway up the side of the mountain, we turned onto the Tunnel Trail. This would take us up to the High Peaks Trail, avoiding the steep and narrow section while at the same heading in a direction that would complete our loop. Just before passing through the tunnel, we saw a bunch of California Condors, with their signature white beneath the wings, riding the rising air currents as they pushed up against the Pinnacles. Beautiful!

The terrain along this trail was also some of the most spectacular that I have seen on a local hike. As we rose higher and higher in the canyon, the views, both of the canyon and the Pinnacles themselves, became ever more grand. These grand rock formation are actually what remains of an ancient volcano. We had an excellent panorama view of the valley to the West towards Hollister.

The weather couldn't have been better. The average temperature for May 9th is 78 degrees, with the record high being 98 degrees. The Pinnacles is really a Spring hike as temperatures here can be as high as 110 degrees in the summer. As I planned this hike, I knew I would need to keep an eye on the weather and cancel if it got too hot. As it turned out, I didn't need to do that at all, since we've had an unseasonably cold and long winter. The temperature never got over 70 degrees. It was cloudy and overcast for much of the day. There was a small chance of rain, but so far the weather had held. We were very blessed!

Several switchbacks later after the tunnel, we reached the High Peaks trail and the ridgeline where we could see for miles in all directions. Here we sat down and ate our lunch and rested for a while. I took off my boots. My liner socks which were bunched up against my toes and causing some pain. What I needed was some Glide, but that had unfortunately been left at home. I decided to try using some chapstick instead, and that actually worked, though I think that tube is now a goner!

After lunch we continued on down the High Peaks trail towards the Old Pinnacles Trailhead. Although this trail runs through the High Peaks, it is fairly level to gently sloping in this area as it runs along the ridge line. We continued to see many beautiful wildflowers, including the Butterfly Mariposa Lily (isn't that redundant?), Indian Paintbrush, Bitter Root, the Blue Fiesta Flower and the Spreading Larkspur, which reminded me of an iris, although quite small.

Eventually, we reached a trail junction and had to decide whether to hike down the Condor Gulch Trail or keep hiking down the High Peaks Trail. Initially, I had planned to take the Condor Gulch Trail, but since Chris had a commitment after the hike and we had already seen several Condors, we opted to continue along the High Peaks trail. This shaved about one mile off the total distance of our hike, turing what would have been a nine mile hike into an eight mile hike. Given that we'd all acquitted ourselves admirably on the 1500 foot elevation change up those switchbacks, I wasn't too concerned.

The other consideration was that it was starting to sprinkle, and at times more than that. Fortunately, I had my rain poncho with me and I put it on. I still don't have a lightweight, waterproof backpacking jacket for which I've been contemplating another trip to REI.

Just as we were almost at the end of the High Peaks trail, who should we run into but Deb and her friend Roger! What a surprise! They hadn't planned to go on this hike because they had dome some very strenuous hiking the day before. What a hoot to run into them at the end of our hike.

About 200 more yards and we were back down to the flat, off the High Peaks trail and back onto the Old Pinnacles Trail that would take us back to the parking lot - and the bathroom! We stopped at the Visitor Center on the way out where I purchased a patch and book on Condors for our son.

What a magnificent and beautiful hike!

Tapering Down at Rancho San Antonio

Today, we tapered down, doing a shorter less strenuous hike at Rancho San Antonio. Our objective was to do the full PG&E Trail looping back down on the Wildcat Trail to Deer Hollow Farm and back to the parking lot. About eight miles long.

The hike itself was unremarkable, although I noticed that it was a lot easier than the first time I did it. That time we only did half the distance. I took half as much water as I usually do and I actually used very little of it. The weather cooperated and we had the marine layer which thinned into a high haze that kept temperatures lower than they otherwise would have been.

The poison oak was itself spectacular today, giving us all quite the warning. Don't touch! As with many of the other parks we have hiked in this season, the wildflowers were in full display.


Clematis Vitalba, or Old Man's Beard, classified as a pest in New Zealand, is a fine with white fluffy flowers with tendril-like petals. Apparently this thing kills whatever it grows over.

Chamise is a very beautiful plant that throws up sprigs of tiny white flowers.

California Golden Poppies were ubiquitous. Also in view was the Blue Nightshade, (a relative of the tomato).
Blue Nightshade, a relative of the tomato with it's beautiful yellow centers, was also in evidence.

There were also some beautiful stands of Alstroemeria, commonly called the Lily of the Incas or the Peruvian Lily. Some of them appeared in orange, while there were others in a beautiful deep shade of red.

Also in evidence was the Pacific Monardella, a beautiful cornflower blue cluster of tiny flowers.

Perhaps the most stunning flower that we saw today was the Mariposa Lily. They come in a variety of colors and patters; today's version was basic white with green and red centers.

This beautiful flower is called Farewell to Spring, a Clarkia, presumably because it blooms at the end of spring. Its vibrant purple colors were absolutely stunning.



Do you have any idea how many yellow daisy-like flowers are out there? Lots of them! This one is called Curly Gumweed.

We reached Deer Hollow Farm near the end of our hike. Three of the female goats had just given birth to some kids and they were really cute, walking around awkwardly and unsteadily on their brand new legs. We hiked about 3.5 hours this morning, a little bit longer than our 2.5 hour goal, but by no means as long as we hiked on the previous two weekends.

Pole-less in Windy Hill

Packing your bags and making sure all is in ready is not fail safe. We left the house at 7:00 am this morning, only for me to discover, half way to the trail head, that I had forgotten my hiking poles. It was too late to return and retrieve them. Well, I've hiked before without poles, so I would hike this time without poles. More on that later... On the up side, at least I remembered toilet paper and, this time, I also brought Cottonelles.

We gathered at the trail head and got ready. Duane's birthday had passed, but he did not escape. He was given a plastic purple hardhat with a silver propeller to wear. I think it really works, don't you? The birthday boy today, however, was Reggie, who got to wear the same jester hat that I wore previously.

It was an absolutely gorgeous morning. Windy Hill got that name for a reason. It is often very windy and foggy and there is often a view similar to what we saw at El Corte de Madera Open Space Preserve last week. But not today. We had gorgeous views of the ocean on one side of Skyline, but than as we began to hike the trail down the east side of the mountains, we had gorgeous views of Stanford, the bay and parts of Silicon Valley.

The trail went down, via a series of switchbacks, from Skyline to Alpine Road - a distance of 5.2 miles (via the red trail on the map). I was enjoyed the scenery, but about two thirds of the way down the mountain it fast became apparent that something was wrong with my boots.

I had put "Superfeet" in my boots. These are a replacement insole that offers more arch support. These insoles are, however, a little bit thicker at the toe than the insoles that come with the boot. That left very little extra room in the toe box and, after all the downhill, my feet were really hurting by the time we reached Alpine Road. I began to realize that my boots were marginal, but that inserting the Superfeet had put them over the edge.

At the same time, having forgotten my poles, I discovered that my lower back muscles and my knees were starting to get a little sore. In a way, that was a good thing, because it really confirmed for me how much better it is to hike with poles. It obviously saves a lot of wear and tear on the body.

Duane was a real gentlemen, of course. He wanted to give me his poles for a while. I just didn't want to think about it, and I didn't want Duane to pay the consequences for my mistake, so I politely declined.

The wildflowers were a pleasant distraction. Duane took lots of photos. (See the Picasa album in the right hand sidebar for all of the photos of our hikes.) In addition, as we hiked we played "Who Am I?" A hiker would think of a famous person, and the rest of us would have to ask yes/no questions until one of us guessed the answer. The winner then got to think of another person, and so on. Reggie, the birthday boy, thought of Val Kilmer, but then misdirected us when he told us that he'd never had a leading role in a movie. Huh? I guess he's never seen Top Gun, Willow, Batman Forever, Tombstone, or The Doors. What's up with that?? When it was my turn to think of a famous person, I switched to history and thought of Alexander Hamilton. I think Duane got that one.

Despite all of the distractions however, I was limping by the time I arrived at the second parking lot. I chose not to walk the last half mile to the first parking lot, so Duane got the car and came back for me. Fortunately, I had a pair of sandals in the car, which I put on and my feet began to feel much better. Clearly it was time to go back to REI and see if I could get a different, larger pair of boots.

After our hike, several of us drove the 1.8 miles back to La Honda for a refreshing lunch at Alice's Restaurant, a popular spot for motorcyclists who like to drive on Skyline.

First Ascent

On Saturday, our Team in Training Hiking group did our first actual on-the-trails practice hike. Two hours dashing around the hills of Edgewood Park, on the ridge between 280 and Redwood City, just north of Canada College.

The expected rainstorm held off for half a day, so we enjoyed sunshine instead of a drenching on this first hike. We woke up at 5:30 am (very, very early for me) to meet for carpooling at 6:45 am and and the whole team at trail head at 7:45 am.

I'd driven past this park many times but had never stopped there; didn't even know there was a park with trails. We both wore our new backpacks, and Christina her second pair of new hiking boots. And I tried out our new tiny camera. As directed, I drank lots and lots of water on the way to the hike. Bad idea!

Where's the bathroom??!! By the time we all got underway at 8:15, I badly needed to go, but there was nothing around except bushes. Uh Oh. Maybe there is a proper facility at the other end of the park, where the main public entrance is?

We divided into three groups, depending on what hiking pace we expected to match. Those of us who hope to qualify for the Half Dome hike were told to get into the fastest-pace group led by mentor Debra. We dashed off, with me trying to keep up. TnT hikers have a motto 'Hikers don't run!', but this was not walking like I'd ever done out in the woods. More like the fastest heal-to-toe scamper you can do without running, a bit like the Olympic walking race event.

We stopped at every trail intersection, to practice reading trail maps and getting un-lost. At our first break, another guy ran into the bushes to relieve himself, but I was too embarrassed to join, and we were soon on our way again. Debra reminded the group that we should aim to synchronize our pee breaks, so that we didn't need to wait for just one or two at every break. Two stops later, a second guy scampered into the bushes to pee, and I decided that just peeing was maybe better than nothing, so I found my own bushes and went. And went. And went. Longest pee in a couple of years. Ahhh, the relief! Thankfully, the need for #2 was now gone and I enjoyed the rest of the hike. I could even sip more water and try out the energy bar trail snacks.

I learned that this park is famous for massive displays of spring wildflowers and for butterflies. This early in the year, I spotted just isolated examples of four kinds of flowers: Lupine (Christina called these "blue ploopins" as a child), Hounds tooth, an unidentified tiny ground-level blue star, Indian Warrior. None of use knew what any of these were, but this page has helped me. We also saw a large jackrabbit 60 feet off the trail.

The fast hiking pace makes it hard to see what there is to see. If it weren't for the goal of getting up to Half Dome this spring and raising money this way, I would definitely not choose to be so hurried. I gather that TnT aims for a fast pace in the Half Dome hike partly because of the long duration of that hike, but mostly because of the traffic congestion that happens at the bottom of the final 45-degree 1050-ft-climb cables near the summit. We have to reach that point before the summertime crowds arrive: early birds, rush hour begins, and metered on ramp.
And so, I'll make a game of seeing what I can at speed, and stealing quick photos of what I've found. Others are already helping me at this.

Today, we both kept up with the fastest, fit hikers in our fastest group. It helps a lot to have long legs. This will hopefully get easier to sustain, as we drop weight and get in shape. I've lost 5.5 pounds of my -35 pounds target. Christina began earlier and has already lost even more. Fitness wise, I can already see and feel a huge difference from where we started and even since last week. No aches the day after! But I did have a three hour nap when I got home.