Hike to a Cave

Currently In:  Hollister, CA
Heading to Yosemite
Next Up:  Redding, CA and then to Redwood National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Portland and Seattle


We are making good use of our National Park Annual Pass!  I don't have an actual count of all the Parks, Monuments and Forts we have been to, but it's quite a few.

Add Pinnacles National Park to the list.

First, we took a look at the actual pinnacles themselves, which were formed by the San Andreas Fault, volcanos and heat, frost, water and wind wearing away at the rock.   We did not hike to the top where the condors hang out, so we missed seeing them.  It was a hot day and that hike was 7 miles.

We chose instead the Bear Gulch Cave Trail - just a couple miles.   Still has some great views along this trail.

Once we got to the caves, we were crawling around in the dark!  The spring created water falls in the cave, so we had to be careful where we stepped.  

A piece of ice in the cave!

We made it to the Bear Gulch Reservoir!  The water looked really clear, and it was not too cold.

We took the Rim Trail back to the car.  And saw lots of great wildflowers.

Sticky monkeyflower

Larkspur

Johnny really liked this building.  It's the Nature Center now, but it used to be the Visitor Center.  I couldn't figure out how old it is, but I'm saying somewhere in the 1930s.

Couple of other things to mention in this post:  this area of California is so beautiful - the rolling hills, trees, and little farms we saw along the way.

There are also many fruit stands along several of the roadsides.  Our RV park, Casa de Fruta,  started as a fruit stand in 1908.   Later they added a restaurant, bakery, winery and deli.  There are also kiddie rides in the retail area.   Eventually they added an RV park (more like a parking lot) in the back.  Very different from the other places we have stayed in the last several months.