Pinnacles National Monument

This weekend, I went somewhere I have wanted to go for a very long time. Pinnacles National Monument is probably best known as a rock climbers paradise, but it is also home of very interesting rock formations, and the recently re-introduced to the wild California Condor.

I've been trying to plan a trip here for a number of years, and It just has always fallen through. So when I saw a photography group on http://www.meetup.com was making a trip out there I decided to go.

Darla was into the trip as well, so we planned to drive there together eliminating the need to wake up at the crack of dawn to arrive with the group. We ended up on the opposite side of the park from where the group was meeting anyway(you can't drive through the park, you have to drive around it).

When we got to the ranger station, we got some good tips on where to go to view the condors, and also a warning on the strenuousness of the hike (with an overly concerned look on the rnagers face, like we looked like we might have heart attacks or something on the trail).

It is a strenous hike, but it's not that bad...we took it slow and stopped to take a lot of photos. The hike up was in full sun and was suprisingly hot for the middle of winter on a cloudy day with spotty sun. Around 2 or 3 p.m. we started spotting a lot of turkey vultures. Darla had her binoculars with her otherwise we never would have been able to tell the difference, as turkey vultures are similar is appearance to California Condors from far away.

It's a beautiful hike even if you are not into condors or climbing, but there are some rock-climing like areas where they have carved out steps in the rocks, and installed handrails.

we took a long rest at the top of the ridge, and I spotted a nest, it turned out to be a turkey vulture nest, but it was really cool to see it(hint look for bird poop running down the rocks, it indicated a place they hang out a lot).

We got about 3/4 through the trail and were feeling a little down since it wasn't looking like we'd see a condor that day, when Darla looked at what I was sure were more turkey vultures, when she said "these are different." then she said "they're condors!" and practically ripped herbinoculars off to hand them to me since the birds were flying behind a large rock formation. I caught a good look at a condor and then handed them back to her so she could look a tht elast of the three before it flew behind the rock formation and so I could get a photo. Unfortunatly, the battery in my camera decided to die at that moment when I turned the camera on.

Oh well, no photo, but it was really cool to see the condor!