I had not been to Pinnacles in a decade. The rocks, trails, and the infrastructure had not changed since, but its status shifted from a national monument to a national park, fueling increased visitation pressure on a small natural area with about 500 parking spaces in total. I had heard reports of multiple hour-long lines just to get into the park, and this being a prime holiday weekend in the spring, we were motivated to pack up camp in the dark, drive an hour to the smaller western entrance, and arrived before the 7:30a opening. We were maybe six in line with a long string of cars quickly forming behind us. This early start was critical to the success of our day and all that we were able to see. Within 10 minutes of parking we set off first for a 2.5 mile loop in the Balconies cave and cliff area as the parking lot was nearly already full. We were probably the second or third group of people on the trail so found it quiet and peaceful. And cold! The chill in the low spots was surprisingly strong at this early hour.
We entered the tilted slot canyon and clambered beneath the large chockstones to the dark hole of Balconies Cave. We descended downward in a spiral to gain the main floor then exited the other side of the cave where we picked up a trickle of water.
We looped back along the bench trail above the talus cave, enjoying the views of Machete Ridge and Balconies Cliff. In little time we closed our 2.5mi loop and swapped out some gear at a now full parking lot before heading back out for a longer hike.
We now went up the Juniper Canyon Trail towards the more popular central area of the park. Juniper Canyon was surprisingly green and pleasant. Soon enough the trail started switchbacking upwards into the pinnacles as the views improved with every bit of height gain. We veered left onto the Tunnel Trail with its neat combination of tunnel and bridge, then continued upward to the junction with the High peaks Trail.
The High Peaks Trail contoured for a while until we got to the carved stairway and railings leading up to the tallest pinnacle formation. Here we has a traffic jam with other groups talking themselves into continuing along the trail. Eventually we got through and continued on to the saddle near Scout Peak, where we had a snack and debated what to do next.
After some deliberation we decided to hike onward to Bear Gulch Reservior and Bear Gulch Cave, even though it meant dropping and regaining another 1000 feet of elevation. We made quick work of the downhill, and passed several groups climbing in the vicinity of Bear Gulch. We took the Rim Trail to the reservoir then went downward into Bear Gulch Cave. Although the upper talus cave portion was closed off, the lower cave was much more interesting than I recalled with bridges, waterfalls, rock arches, etc. in cool and dark passages.
We looped back to the reservoir on the Moses Spring Trail, a nice enough less busy bypass to the talus caves. Overall I thought the sunny and sweaty hike back up to the High Peaks saddle was not as punishing as it could have been. I think it was helpful that the trail had three distinct sections to help pass the time with a flatter ridgewalk section in the middle before the steepest switchbacks. Another quick snack break and we continued down the other side back to the parking lot.
Our heart of the Pinnacles loop was about 8miles and our Balconies loop was 2.5mi, not a bad overview of the park for the limited time we spent. We passed a long line of cars jockeying for parking as we exited and drove back home. All in all we had a nice day of hiking.
No comments:
Post a Comment