Monday, 30 April 2018
We heard about Pinnacles National Park while we were at Caltech -- specifically, it's where you might have a chance of seeing a California condor. Unfortunately, all we saw were turkey vultures -- the condors were hanging out on pinnacles one ridge over. But we did get a nice short hike out of our visit.
Pinnacles lies along a mountain ridge, and has the feel of a large state park rather than a national park. We literally drove up the San Andreas fault to get here. It's remote. The east side of the park is not accessible from the west side of the park, and the road to that side is only one to one-and-a-half lanes wide. (We visited the far more accessible west side!)
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| Near the top of our trail. |
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| These trees along the trail had gorgeous smooth red bark. I think they are manzanitas -- trees/shrubs in the Heath family (Ericaceae), genus Arctostaphylos. |
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| Some of the rocks were covered with brightly colored lichens. |
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| At the start of the trail was a dead tree riddled with woodpecker holes. |
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| Acorn woodpeckers were responsible for those holes. |
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