August 24, 2011
August 24, 2011
From Los Banos, CA we head west up into California’s Coastal Range. Travel in California is easy parallel to the coast but difficult east and west. The Sierra Nevadas and the Coastal Mountains separate California into strips of land. We wind along a narrow twisting road till we arrive at Pinnacles National Monument. The Monument consists of the ragged remnants of a volcano that erupted millions of years ago here. Well not really here. It erupted near Los Angeles. Half the volcano slid up here with each earthquake along the San Andreas Fault. The rest is still in L.A.
From the Visitor Center we hike straight uphill to see the craggy peaks. They are not impressive. Even though Teddy Roosevelt proclaimed this a Monument in 1908, it seems a little weak. I was shocked when the ranger said Congress is thinking of elevating it to National Park status. Sounds like a political payoff!
Despite the visual weakness, Aimee and I do enjoy the unique flora and fauna of the Coastal Range. Aimee spots wild turkeys, several Acorn Woodpeckers and what we hope are three California Condors (and not Turkey Vultures). I myself am happy to have finally found a Coulter Pine. Despite being small and straggly, these trees produce the world’s heaviest pinecone. Plus the cones are armed with jagged spikes turning them into Nature’s Hand Grenade. We are thinking we need hard hats hiking around them.
Pinnacles is Tucson-like hot and dry, so we quit our hike after a couple hours and head out of the park along some more winding roads to the Salinas Valley where we link up with the 101. We are again in America’s garden although this time it is rabbit food, lettuce and broccoli. Nowhere else in the US will you find dozens of old school busses pulling port-a-potties cruising the highway. (They are carrying migrant workers picking the crops.)
Eventually we make it to Monterey where we make a hard left and head south along the coast. We are looking for Big Sur but a thick layer of fog covers almost all the coast. When we get to Big Sur State Park, the campground is full but they let us camp in the parking lot for $35. Welcome to California.
From Los Banos, CA we head west up into California’s Coastal Range. Travel in California is easy parallel to the coast but difficult east and west. The Sierra Nevadas and the Coastal Mountains separate California into strips of land. We wind along a narrow twisting road till we arrive at Pinnacles National Monument. The Monument consists of the ragged remnants of a volcano that erupted millions of years ago here. Well not really here. It erupted near Los Angeles. Half the volcano slid up here with each earthquake along the San Andreas Fault. The rest is still in L.A.
From the Visitor Center we hike straight uphill to see the craggy peaks. They are not impressive. Even though Teddy Roosevelt proclaimed this a Monument in 1908, it seems a little weak. I was shocked when the ranger said Congress is thinking of elevating it to National Park status. Sounds like a political payoff!
Despite the visual weakness, Aimee and I do enjoy the unique flora and fauna of the Coastal Range. Aimee spots wild turkeys, several Acorn Woodpeckers and what we hope are three California Condors (and not Turkey Vultures). I myself am happy to have finally found a Coulter Pine. Despite being small and straggly, these trees produce the world’s heaviest pinecone. Plus the cones are armed with jagged spikes turning them into Nature’s Hand Grenade. We are thinking we need hard hats hiking around them.
Pinnacles is Tucson-like hot and dry, so we quit our hike after a couple hours and head out of the park along some more winding roads to the Salinas Valley where we link up with the 101. We are again in America’s garden although this time it is rabbit food, lettuce and broccoli. Nowhere else in the US will you find dozens of old school busses pulling port-a-potties cruising the highway. (They are carrying migrant workers picking the crops.)
Eventually we make it to Monterey where we make a hard left and head south along the coast. We are looking for Big Sur but a thick layer of fog covers almost all the coast. When we get to Big Sur State Park, the campground is full but they let us camp in the parking lot for $35. Welcome to California.
posted by Mike and Aimee at 9:20 PM
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