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canyonwalkerAs we were driving to Pinnacles National Park and starting our hike to the High Peaks Loop I was thinking about our past visits there... which stretch back 25 years! Our first visit to the park was in April 1997. Back then it was Pinnacles National Monument, or just "The Pinnacles". (Its upgrade to National Park status came years later, in 2013.)
Cast your memory back to Friday, April 4, 1997. We were reading the weekend section in the Mercury News. They had a big front-page article— well, it was the front page of the D section, but it was big and had color pictures— and yes, it was on paper. We're talking some serious memory lane shit, here!
Anyway, on page D1 there was a big article about The Pinnacles, 2 hours south of us. We loved hiking then, as we do now, and we were ecstatic for the info about the park. We planned to go the very next day, Saturday.
That Saturday the park was crowded. It was so crowded we had to park in an overflow parking lot, which added extra distance to our hiking just to get to the trailhead. The trails were crowded, too. It was like walking at the mall. And I swear every second person had a copy of the dratted Mercury News tucked under their arm.
We're pros at the park now. We don't need newspapers tucked under our arms, or even their modern equivalent: blogs and maps on our smartphones. We know several of the routes by heart.
Just before I took the picture above we passed another pair of hikers at a junction. They were first-timers. We recommended which trails they should take to have the most memorable hike. It reminded me of when we were first-timers. I wish we'd gotten slightly better recommendations about what to hike first. BTW, in the picture above we're on the High Peaks Loop. In the distance is the Salinas Valley. In the far distance are the coast range mountains of Big Sur.
On our first visit we didn't make it up here, to the High Peak Loop. We started with a trail lower down, the Balconies Cave hike. That was what the author of the article recommended to start. Of course, the writer was a body nazi who could hike 14 miles a day over a mountain with one bottle of water and probably no shirt. We weren't in as good shape, and it was a hot day and there was extra hiking due to the overflow. We were spent just doing that hike. It was a good hike; just not the signature hike.
The signature hike at Pinnacles is the High Peak Loop. It's the standout trail not just because of the amazing, far-off views from the high peaks— of which there are plenty— but because of the tough parts of the trail, where you climb footholds blasted into the granite.
Usually when I want to remember where I hiked and when, I consult my pictures. Oddly my pictures from 1997, my analog pictures on 4"x6" prints, are inconclusive. Some of them look like the high peaks... but there definitely aren't any pics of these footholds blasted into the bare rock. I don't think we made it up here until probably our third visit, which I think may have been in Spring 1998.
Plus, come on, once you've crouched over to climb through narrow spaces you remember it. At least I remember it. Especially when on the other side of that metal rail is a 1,200' drop to the valley below! That's where I'm practically certain we didn't make it up here until much later.
These tricky, stair-steppy parts of the trail aren't just one stretch but several, probably 4 or 5. This isn't a trail for the faint of heart! Though that said, it's also not a dangerous trail. The stairsteps in the rock make a huge difference. The metal rails do, too. It's just that they're both intimidating until you get used to how to use them.
By the time you get to the last rough stretch you might feel like a pro. Or you might feel like you've been put through the gauntlet. Or both!
And you'll probably start thinking ahead to the next time you can come back here.
In beauty I walk.
UPDATE: Up next: Up close with a California Condor!
Cast your memory back to Friday, April 4, 1997. We were reading the weekend section in the Mercury News. They had a big front-page article— well, it was the front page of the D section, but it was big and had color pictures— and yes, it was on paper. We're talking some serious memory lane shit, here!
Anyway, on page D1 there was a big article about The Pinnacles, 2 hours south of us. We loved hiking then, as we do now, and we were ecstatic for the info about the park. We planned to go the very next day, Saturday.
That Saturday the park was crowded. It was so crowded we had to park in an overflow parking lot, which added extra distance to our hiking just to get to the trailhead. The trails were crowded, too. It was like walking at the mall. And I swear every second person had a copy of the dratted Mercury News tucked under their arm.
We're pros at the park now. We don't need newspapers tucked under our arms, or even their modern equivalent: blogs and maps on our smartphones. We know several of the routes by heart.
Just before I took the picture above we passed another pair of hikers at a junction. They were first-timers. We recommended which trails they should take to have the most memorable hike. It reminded me of when we were first-timers. I wish we'd gotten slightly better recommendations about what to hike first. BTW, in the picture above we're on the High Peaks Loop. In the distance is the Salinas Valley. In the far distance are the coast range mountains of Big Sur.
On our first visit we didn't make it up here, to the High Peak Loop. We started with a trail lower down, the Balconies Cave hike. That was what the author of the article recommended to start. Of course, the writer was a body nazi who could hike 14 miles a day over a mountain with one bottle of water and probably no shirt. We weren't in as good shape, and it was a hot day and there was extra hiking due to the overflow. We were spent just doing that hike. It was a good hike; just not the signature hike.
The signature hike at Pinnacles is the High Peak Loop. It's the standout trail not just because of the amazing, far-off views from the high peaks— of which there are plenty— but because of the tough parts of the trail, where you climb footholds blasted into the granite.
Usually when I want to remember where I hiked and when, I consult my pictures. Oddly my pictures from 1997, my analog pictures on 4"x6" prints, are inconclusive. Some of them look like the high peaks... but there definitely aren't any pics of these footholds blasted into the bare rock. I don't think we made it up here until probably our third visit, which I think may have been in Spring 1998.
Plus, come on, once you've crouched over to climb through narrow spaces you remember it. At least I remember it. Especially when on the other side of that metal rail is a 1,200' drop to the valley below! That's where I'm practically certain we didn't make it up here until much later.
These tricky, stair-steppy parts of the trail aren't just one stretch but several, probably 4 or 5. This isn't a trail for the faint of heart! Though that said, it's also not a dangerous trail. The stairsteps in the rock make a huge difference. The metal rails do, too. It's just that they're both intimidating until you get used to how to use them.
By the time you get to the last rough stretch you might feel like a pro. Or you might feel like you've been put through the gauntlet. Or both!
And you'll probably start thinking ahead to the next time you can come back here.
In beauty I walk.
UPDATE: Up next: Up close with a California Condor!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-27 11:39 am (UTC)(I am less good at tracking peak names, and Acadia-trip was during the not-writing-every-day times, so I can't at all remember what exactly it was)
This is cool though! I feel like I should be making a little notes file from your posts for my own eventual "in beauty I walk" trip to California!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-27 02:58 pm (UTC)With the Pinnacles the fact that we read about it in the newspaper, went on a hot day, and the place was crowded with people toting around the same newspaper, are all crystallized memories. But exactly what did we do? When did we first do the high peaks loop? Those memories are fuzzier.
Old photos don't help as much as I hoped they would. I dug up my 1997 photos in writing this blog. They were definitely from The Pinnacles; it was obvious from the shape and texture of the rock spires. Also, I wrote "Pinnacles NF [sic]" on the backs. 🤣
It's easier to remember things for longer when I write about them. For example, I know that the steel staples rammed into the rock you're talking about is most likely The Beehive at Acadia. I visited there last summer on a thrice-delayed-by-Coronavirus trip.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-27 01:53 pm (UTC)