Saturday 18 August 2018
At 4:30 am O’s alarm sounds. It is still very dark. The stars are brilliant and the Milky Way spills across the sky. We have a small snack of Kind bars and cookies and pack up 3 liters of water each and the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I prepared last night for today’s breakfast. We drive the road to Bear Gulch Trailhead once more. There are already two other cars in the parking lot. By the time we pack our backpacks, apply sunscreen (which seems kind of odd since it’s still dark) and get our boots on, it is just before 6 am. The morning sky is turning gray. We will not need our headlamps for long. We climb up the trail as the day grows brighter, trying to get as far as possible before the sun starts heating the rocks on the ridges. The sun finally peeks over the ridge far to the east close to 7 am. Thankfully we remain mostly in shadows as we hike upward. By a bit past 7 we have already gone 2 miles.
We now find a sign on the trail warning, “High Peaks Trail, Steep and Narrow!” We have caught up to the occupants of one of the other cars in the lot below. They decide to take the slightly longer trail that does not have a warning sign. O and I proceed. At first the trail is not much different from what we have already climbed. We pass another couple, one of whom looks decidedly unhappy about the choice of trails. Finally we find the steep and narrow section. It is indeed as described. All I can say is thank goodness for the CCC. Back in the 1930’s they cut steep steps up the boulders and installed sturdy steel handrails. There are places where I have difficulty passing through due to my camera bumping into boulders on my left and my water bottle hitting the rail on my right. The rails, themselves, are already getting quite hot to the touch in the morning sun. I am pleased to note that I do not have any anxiety on this trail. I’m much too busy making sure to place my feet precisely in each rock cut. This steep section goes on for 0.7 miles. When we finally arrive at more normal trail we note we are about to lose the shade of the ridges. We sit down beside the trail in the last bit of shadow and eat our breakfast PBJ’s.
From here the path heads predominantly downhill. As O and I round a bend we meet a man in a grey T-shirt that says ‘Pinnacles Condor Crew.’ He is deploying some kind of antenna. O asks what he is up to. He explains that he climbs up here about twice a month to track the park’s condors. California condors were released into this area about 20 years ago. The flock has now grown to 90 birds. They interact with condors released at Big Sur. He tells us there is currently a breeding pair in the park. One parent is from the Big Sur flock and the other is from Pinnacles.
O and I pause in our hike to watch him work. He gets no radio signals today. This is unusual, but not too surprising. The birds, like people, prefer the cool air of the coast. Big Sur is a short trip for a condor. The only big birds we see as we watch are the turkey vultures soaring over the High Peaks trail.
O and I complete our hike. As we descend on the last leg of the trail, we see many hikers just beginning their trek. One comments on our early start. O says it’s the only way to do it. The other hiker replies, “It’s not the only way, but it’s the smart way!” We stop at the nature center at Bear Gulch and talk to the ranger there. He is standing in for the day. We note that the flower we found last night at the reservoir is not on the poster of common flowers at Pinnacles. I show him the photo on my camera. He is stumped, but says he will climb up there this evening to take a look. (I later find the flower in our Wildflowers of the Eastern Sierra book. It appears to be alkali heliotrope.)
From the nature center, O and I head to the campground showers, and from there to King’s City to pick up a few more supplies, fuel Vincent and stop in for a late lunch at Cork and Plough. Then it’s back to the park where we share a pint of Rocky Road ice cream and return to camp to read and journal.