Pinnacles

On the drive back to San Jose I saw a sign for Pinnacles National Monument. On Sunday I looked on the National Parks web page and decided this would be worth checking out. It was a pleasant hour and ½ drive to reach the park and I was happily surprised when I got there that this was a free day for entering the park. I parked and started up the Condor Gulch Trail. It was bit of a climb to get up to the overlook but it there was a great view of the peak from trail.

The park seems very different from the surrounding landscape. The surrounding landscape is gentle rolling hills but the park is full of rock formations and rugged terrain.

It took me a bit of time to get to the overlook which was where I planned to turn around but decided to walk a little bit higher just to get a picture. I ask someone that was on their way down the path to take a picture of me.

I walk a little bit further up and then walked back down to the car. It seemed like a bit of a hard climb and also pretty hot. I set at a picnic table and enjoyed some water and watched a woodpecker going to work on one of the trees. When I got into the car for the drive back I noticed the temperature reading said it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the car was setting in the shade. No wonder I found the hike a bit hot. I found it strange that as I drove back to San Jose the temperature dropped over 20 degrees.