Pinnacles National Monument

Today we traveled to the Pinnacles National Monument, which was only a few miles down the road.

On the way out of the TT Preserve, we saw a Bobcat sitting watching a ground squirrel hole very closely. It was almost like it was posing for us! I slowly got out of the car with my camera and was able to take some pictures as well as watch it closely. We were hoping that the squirrel would come out of the hole! It really was a beautiful animal. Just to think that "Gotee" is a relative (albeit distant) of this animal. It just sat and watched and we finally took off for the National Park.

Pinnacles National Monument was really a nice park. Most of it was accessed via hiking, but there were areas in which even Marcie and I could get to. It actually is best known for the protection efforts for the California Condors. They are birds with a wing span of up to 9 feet. They rehab injured ones and release them in the area. We were there a little late to see any, as the best viewing area was a good 5 mile hike, one way!

They had a nice trail into some caves. Some of the cave was closed off, protecting the breeding and birthing of a type of bat, but we could scramble thru the rest of it if we wanted. So off we went, after loading up the backpack with everything we thought we may need, including our lunch for the day. We actually DIDN'T have a flash light on us, so we had to purchase one for the caves, Now we only have 30-40 of them in the motor home, but none in the Jeep, what's wrong with THAT picture? We hiked for a little ways then stopped and had a nice lunch which Marcie had packed. The "Scrub Jays" were so bold here, that they actually climbed onto the picnic table and had lunch with us.

After lunch we took off again, the area was interesting and it started to get really rocky as we approached the cave area. I had thought that the cave would be a "normal" cave, that is an opening in a cliff or hillside in which we would enter. This cave was formed by the falling boulders, forming a sealed area in which a steam ran through. Now if you look closely at some of our pictures, you will realize that I was concerned about just HOW those boulders were secured. They were wedged, forming the cave. This type of cave is called a "talus cave".

Of course there was NO way that a earthquake would occur while we were in there, says my always optimistic wife .. ...

To enter the cave we had to actually crawl thru the opening. It was much cooler and damp inside and I am glad that we purchased the flashlight. There was a stream running thru it and had an interesting waterfall, although a little difficult to see with a flashlight.

Exiting from the cave we had to climb upwards and actually walked on top of the boulders that formed part of the cave. Oh IF ONLY those behind us knew ...