Pinnacles 2007
Saturday April 7th
      by Ed Martin               Click here for all photos
Georgiana Rudge does it again! She and Rich Fisher led a spectacular hike at the Pinnacles National Monument on Saturday April 7. She ordered the perfect weather of clear sunny skies but without any excessive heat.

5 of us met at the Ohlone/Chynoweth park and ride sharp at 7:30am for the 75 mile journey to the park. On arrival at the early bird parking lot we met 2 more to make our total of 7. After a brief look around the visitor center and chat to one on the park rangers we set off close to 9:30 on the Moses Spring Trail and Bear Gulch Cave Trail to visit Bear Cave, home to a colony of Townsend's big-eared bats. The lower portion of this cave was open but we didn't see any bats, presumably they were hiding in the gated off upper area. However it’s always fun hiking through a cave and although a notice reads that flashlights are required some light filters through the tumbled rock roof.
Ed, Carolyn, Ursula, Ed Pease, Georgiana, Mary Ann, Rich.
Immediately after passage through the cave we came across the pretty Bear Gulch Reservoir, it’s difficult not to hang out here for a while and take too many photographs.

Then onward climbing the High Peaks Trail to Scout Peak where we ate our lunch while admiring really great vistas of the valleys below. From there we split into two parties, a couple taking the easier Juniper Canyon and Tunnel trails while the rest of us enjoyed the slightly rougher continuation of the High Peaks Trail. We met successfully as these trails rejoined and continued until we found the Condor Gulch Trail back towards the visitor center. Descending to Bear Gulch was the warmest part of the hike and the conversation turned to the Margaritas waiting for us in San Juan Bautista. Although our total hike was just 6.1 miles long such was the variety of views, terrain and wild flowers it had the content of many longer treks.

We were especially fortunate to have Georgiana leading our hike with her knowledge of geology, flora and fauna. She seemed not only to know the name of every wild flower but where each might be located and possessed great spotting ability. Thanks again Georgiana.

Now to our reward, we chose the Doña Esther Restaurant on Franklin Street where we topped up with regular and strawberry Margaritas and enjoyed classic Mexican fare in a cute courtyard setting.

But that’s not all, a quick visit to the mission is almost mandatory and we strode the 100 yards to check it out, the great thing about this one is it’s location in an almost unchanged village setting. And yet there was another surprise, Georgiana spontaneously sang a short aria, which sounded beautiful in this church of echoes - is there no end to her talents? And further still, another surprise when her song was answered by a tenor singing from behind one of the pillars. What a delightful end to a day.