In our ongoing effort to get caught up with our own lives we are doing these little retrospective blogs of some of the places we had seen before we began “blogging” on a regular basis and after we returned to our home state to become more ‘grounded’. So here is one about a magical place that we explored on our way home in February 2009, Pinnacles National Monument, California. Located east of the Salinas Valley in central California, these rock spires, crags, caves and massive monoliths demonstrate how millions of years of erosion, faulting and tectonic plate movement can twist and shape a landscape. This region is part of an ancient volcano, a portion of which is now located 195 miles southeast!
How did this happen? Thank the millions of years of activity on the San Andreas Fault.
Pinnacles NM was proclaimed a National Monument in 1908 and now encompasses 26,000 acres of protected plants, animals and unique geologic features. It is a critical nesting habitat for the nearly extinct California condor, one of the largest birds in North America. There are over 400 species of bees here, the largest diversity of bees in one place in the country.
Well I guess you get the picture, so here are some more pictures to set the tone of this unusual and otherworldly place.Highway 146 to the Monument
Pinnacles Campground
Bear Gulch Cave Trail
Bear Gulch Reservoir
Pinnacles, Peaks and Rocks
....and critters
After a fun visit with Scott in San Diego we began a curiosity tour northward toward Long Beach and San Pedro. We have become sensitized to how much of this beautiful country there is to see and the fact that we will never live long enough to see it all. So we have made a contract between ourselves that we will explore more of our own backyard here in California and try to appreciate its diversity and beauty. One of the fun things we discovered in our 77,000 mile journey across the U.S. was that some of the nicest places to camp are in the city and county parks that have their own developed campgrounds. After we left San Diego we began winding our way along Hwy. 74, the Ortega Highway, into one of Orange County’s finest – the Ronald W. Casper Wilderness Park. This is an n 8,000 acre park in the western Santa Ana Mountains, noted for its groves of native coast live oaks and sycamore trees as well as several hiking, biking and equestrian trails. We found it to be quiet and refreshing after the bustle of the urban areas.
Next stop was overnight in Long Beach to be awed by the changes in Kae’s youngest grand nephew, Kai. Last time we saw him he was a very new and somewhat sickly newborn. That was a universe ago as he is now a chatty, high speed, confident three year old! Wow!
Then it was up the coast to San Pedro to visit with Cokie’s grammar school buddy Leslie and a quick visit to a couple of Leslie’s favorite spots – Point Fermin with its wonderful specimen trees, lighthouse and ocean views. San Pedro
Point Fermin
Then over to Angel’s Gate Park, home of the Korean Friendship Bell. This bell was presented to the United States in our bicentennial year 1976, as a token of friendship between the two nations. It is housed in a pagoda-style belfry set atop a carved stone foundation and is struck only four times a year – July 4th, Aug. 15, Korean Liberation Day, Sept. 17, American Constitution Day and New Year’s Day.
We ambled up the coast for a few days but with the Pinnacles National Monument near Soledad as our destination.
....and critters
