It’s been a while since I’ve posted…..sorting, packing up, finishing renovating our house to put up for sale, the usual “life gets in the way” stuff.” I even had to put my bike in storage, managing some neighborhood runs to keep in shape. But things are quickly changing; due to our inability to travel, I pushed up the timetable by a few years to purchase a Class B RV, a Winnebago Solis. I drove down to California over 3 days to do a 2 week trip with my daughter, hitting Sequoia, Yosemite, and Lassen in lieu of climbing Kilimanjaro. That trip will start tomorrow, so this report on Pinnacles was on my way down.

*Winnebago Solis: everything I need and nothing I don’t*

Like myself, I imagine many people have never heard of this national park. It’s small, in the middle of nowhere, and was only recently established in 2013. I secured a spot in the RV park (which even has 30 amp service) early enough to set up and go for an evening walk of about 5 miles. The road is closed into the park on this east side entrance so anyone contemplating a hike on the 30 miles of trails must be prepared to walk a couple of miles just to get to the trailheads. My evening walk up the road and on the trail paralleling the road was very pleasant, and I stopped to watch turkeys scratching in the grass and quail scurrying over the fence posts. Once back at my van, I turned off all the lights and opened the rear doors (screened), put my pillow against the shower wall and sat on my bed, listening to a riot of crickets as I sipped some wine. This was probably the first time I’ve had to relax in this way in months; the wind down to retirement has started.

*Golden hour on the Sycamore Trail, Pinnacles National Park*

I set my alarm for 6. Despite being quite warm in the evening I got up at 4:30 and turned on the furnace, as the temperature in the van had dropped below 60. 66 degrees was just right. After a quick breakfast, I set out with cool temperatures and foggy vistas. I arrived at the closed visitor center at Bear Gulch and set off on my planned route, climbing and traversing the Pinnacles High Peaks trail and descending via the Condor Gulch trail. Needless to say, my lonely hike on a national park trail with nary a soul to be seen was delightful. The vistas were grand, and as I climbed higher I espied Turkey Vultures riding the early morning thermals. They clrcled about with nary a flap of their wings. This part of the trail is specified “steep and narrow”….in a few places it reminded me of Angel’s Landing in Zion, with metal handrails and steps cut into the rock., Narrow it was, with me having to hold my camera occasionally in front of me as I scooched past rock outcroppings. To my utter delight the trail climbed right into the midst of the soaring turkey vultures. Sometimes they flew so close I could hear the air pass over their wings, with some below me or eye level, with a layering of birds up above. I spent some time here amongst the flyers, doing my best to snap some photos and video, but mostly just enjoying the aerial company. My timing was perfect in that the birds started to thin, with some settling on rocks as the morning thermals abated. Like the crickets the night before, this was a special event for me, and only for me as there were no others around. Perfect.

I had to beat feet back to get packed up before 11, the camp check out time, and I also had 5 hours of driving to get to my daughter, so I trotted down the Condor Gulch trail and finally met some people starting their hikes near the visitor center. All told I probably saw 12 people, so still a pretty sparse scene. Of course, it is off season for hiking in the desert.

This made for a wonderful break on my trip to California and I was pleased to be able to hike in this small but beautiful national park. I actually liked the fact that the roads and facilities were closed, which undoubtedly thinned the crowds significantly. Stats: 11 miles/2000’

*Formations on the climb to the High Peaks trail*

*One of the vistas in Pinnacles National Park*