Hiking the High Peak Loop at the Pinnacles
Sunday we hiked up to the High Peak Loop at The Pinnacles, aka Pinnacles National Park near the town of Soledad, south of Salinas in California's Central Coast region.
After starting off from the west side trailhead with a classic view of the mountain (previous blog) we started the climb. It would be about 1,200' vertical to the top. The trail starts out easy at first going through a canyon that had a bit of water flowing even in this dry year, then gets slightly steeper as it angles up the side of this ancient volcano.
Yes, the Pinnacles is a volcano. ...Actually, it's half a volcano. It sits on the San Andreas Fault. The tectonic plates at the fault slide past each other at an average rate of 1.3 inches per year. After 23 million years the other half of the volcano is now 195 miles away, near the town of Lancaster, California. What's left here are lots of oddly shaped spires of volcanic rock, mostly rhyolite.
The hike is up, up, up. Thankfully it's not merciless like the Koko Head Tramline trail on Oahu. OMG, that was an butt-kicker. This trail involves more ascent but is easier to manage. Soon enough we reached the split for the High Peaks Loop. We opted to start with the Tunnel Trail, which begins by going down slight. Yay, down... right?
Not so fast. The trail descends through the tunnel... but after that it's back to up, up, up.
The tunnel is deep underneath a towering rock. It's cool in there in the summer. That's a welcome break when the weather's hot. One thing about the Pinnacles is that even though it's in the Central Coast region, which has generally cool summers, the park is just enough inland in the rugged, remote Gabilan Mountains that it gets smokin' out here in the summer. Like, by the end of May temperatures break 100° pretty frequently. That's the main reason we've been trying to come out here for the past several weeks in March and April.
Anyway, once through the tunnel, it's up, up, up some more. ...Wait, I already said that. Well, it's up, up, up through crazy rock spires of this ancient half-volcano. ...Wait, I already said that, too. 🤣 Well, there are a lot of rock spires here.
Stay tuned, more to come!
UPDATE: We climb foot-holds blasted into bare rock!
After starting off from the west side trailhead with a classic view of the mountain (previous blog) we started the climb. It would be about 1,200' vertical to the top. The trail starts out easy at first going through a canyon that had a bit of water flowing even in this dry year, then gets slightly steeper as it angles up the side of this ancient volcano.
Yes, the Pinnacles is a volcano. ...Actually, it's half a volcano. It sits on the San Andreas Fault. The tectonic plates at the fault slide past each other at an average rate of 1.3 inches per year. After 23 million years the other half of the volcano is now 195 miles away, near the town of Lancaster, California. What's left here are lots of oddly shaped spires of volcanic rock, mostly rhyolite.
The hike is up, up, up. Thankfully it's not merciless like the Koko Head Tramline trail on Oahu. OMG, that was an butt-kicker. This trail involves more ascent but is easier to manage. Soon enough we reached the split for the High Peaks Loop. We opted to start with the Tunnel Trail, which begins by going down slight. Yay, down... right?
Not so fast. The trail descends through the tunnel... but after that it's back to up, up, up.
The tunnel is deep underneath a towering rock. It's cool in there in the summer. That's a welcome break when the weather's hot. One thing about the Pinnacles is that even though it's in the Central Coast region, which has generally cool summers, the park is just enough inland in the rugged, remote Gabilan Mountains that it gets smokin' out here in the summer. Like, by the end of May temperatures break 100° pretty frequently. That's the main reason we've been trying to come out here for the past several weeks in March and April.
Anyway, once through the tunnel, it's up, up, up some more. ...Wait, I already said that. Well, it's up, up, up through crazy rock spires of this ancient half-volcano. ...Wait, I already said that, too. 🤣 Well, there are a lot of rock spires here.
Stay tuned, more to come!
UPDATE: We climb foot-holds blasted into bare rock!