Taking the Long Way: From Old Pinnacles to Balconies

Dates: April 8 and 14
Place: Pinnacles National Park, Paicines, California
Coordinates: 36.494948, -121.172994
Length: 5.2 miles
Difficulty: moderate (passing through the cave requires flashlights and can be challenging to some)

Spring time is the optimal season to visit the Pinnacles National Park, and last spring I was fortunate to visit there several times. On two of these visits I hiked the trail from Old Pinnacles Road at the east side of the park to the Balconies Cave (and back). On the first hike I was on my own. A week later I was there with a group of families. On both hikes I had a superb time and the photos in this post are from both dates.

My Old Pinnacles to Balconies hike as captured by my GPS. 

After our untimely return from our 2015 spring break vacation Papa Quail decided to stay at home with the chikas and sent me off on my own to complete my vacation elsewhere. After been there on the previous day, I chose to go back to the Pinnacles National Park and get properly immersed in its Nature before taking my hiking group there on the following week. 

It was already afternoon when I arrived at the park and it took me some time to find a campsite - there were only a few vacant ones left. So by the time I started my hike the shadows were already getting long. 

At the trailhead

The entire hike is inside the Chalone Creek. The trailhead is at Old Pinnacles Road and has limited parking and no water or toilets except for a single porta-potty, so it is best to get ready in the Visitor Center area and arrive early enough at the trailhead to find a parking spot.

Bindweed (Calystegia sp.)

The trail itself is easy to walk. Wide, clear, and only mildly sloping as it gets nearer the Balconies. All along, the trail is within the Chalone Creek. Wide and sunny at first, the open creek bed is lined with riparian vegetation, including large oaks and pines. Wildflowers were everywhere along the path, unaware that the spring bloom had supposedly peaked a month ago. 

Wind Poppy (Papaver heterophyllum)

Before long the creek narrowed and I was walking in a deep gorge lined with steep rocky slopes that were covered with moss and lichen and patched with wildflowers.

Trees lined along the creek, casting cool shade on me and on the herbaceous vegetation below. In a hot Pinnacles day, the shade was a blessed thing.

Sticky Cinquefoil (Drymocallis glandulosa)

Not only flowers - there were many butterflies about. While I didn't get any gd butterfly photo, I did manage to photograph their much slower offspring: 

Chalone Creek was flowing still. Not much, but enough to enliven the scenery. Where the trail crossed the creek I stopped to inspect the vegetation. 

A common find near running water: the yellow monkeyflower. There  were a few of them right there, by the water. 

Common Yellow Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus)

Another nearby little yellow flower: a violet. There are quite a few yellow violets in California and at the Pinnacles. They look similar enough to one-another so I cannot tell the species of the one posted here by looking at six-months old photos.

Violet (Viola sp.)

Other flowers I saw there were much easier to identify.

Canyon Clarkia (Clarkia epilobioides) 

About mid way to the Balconies, the trail comes under full sun for a while. There I found more chaparral-like vegetation, including the familiar Indian Paintbrush.

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja affinis) 

That yellow, stringy stuff surrounding the indian paintbrush is a dodder plant - a parasitic, non-photosynthethic plant that sucks the life out of other plants. I saw a lot of dodder in the past year and I was sad to see it at the Pinnacles too. Part of Nature's cycle, I know, but also indicative of the environmental stress there.

Chaparral Dodder (Cuscuta californica)

Many lizards were sunbathing on rocks. They didn't even bother to skedaddle as I walked by. Here is one of them:

Western Fence Lizard

Crossing the creek again I came by a patch of white-flowering lupine. There are a few species of lupine with white bloom, but none of them listed in the Pinnacles area. There are also albino versions of normally blue species. As I am not sure which is this one, I leave it unnamed.

Lupine (Lupinus sp.) 

I continued with the trail, again under the shade. Mostly. Large volcanic rocks towering above the creek marked my nearing the Balconies.

And below: more flowers. Some I had not yet seen on the eastern side of the trail. Like this Golden Brodiaea.

Golden Brodiaea (Triteleia ixioides)

Or its relative - the Mexicali Onion.

Mexicali Onion (Allium peninsulare) 

Another familiar one - the common yarrow - I've seen it all along the trail. It was in full bloom and looked very inviting. For pollinators too.

Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) 

The rocky towers became larger and more distinct. I was getting very close now. As I often do (and by far not the first one to do so) I saw shapes in the rocks.

The Rhino

And all of a sudden, I found myself in familiar settings: the eastern intersection of the Balconies Loop Trail. 

The Balconies are most commonly accessible from the west side of the Pinnacles. The place I was at usually the half-way point. This time I was doing it the other way around.  

In the Neck of the Woods

On my former post about the Balconies Loop I showed a photo of fruiting clematis glowing in the sun. The clematis was there last April, too. The same plant. Now in bloom :-)  

Chaparral Clematis (Clematis lasiantha)

There is a low stone retaining wall there, right where the trail splits. That's a perfect spot to sit and relax before going on. 

California Manroot (Marah fabacea)

Then it was time to plunge into the cave. 

The caves at the Pinnacles NP are talus caves. That is, caves formed boulders fell atop the narrow gorge, thus creating a ceiling. There are two such caves in the park, one in the Bear Gulch area, and the other is at the Balconies, and the Chalone Creek runs through it. The Balconies Cave is the more challenging of the two, requiring some good rock scrambling in the dark. A good flashlight is necessary, a head lamp strongly recommended. At some points it would be good to take the backpack off in order to squeeze through. Babies should be held in a front pack or on hand and not on a back carrier.  

Eastern (downstream) opening of the Balconies Cave

The cave is gated on both ends. Seasonally, the cave will be closed to allow migratory bats some peace and quiet in there. On April it was open and the gate was open. 

And in the corner of the gate - a bird's nest. The nest's owner wasn't there. A pigeon, perhaps? 

There were some recent rains before I was there and the cave was all wet at the bottom, and dripping from the top in some places. Not that I needed the camera there, but I still had to shove it inside my short to protect it from the water. 

The Balconies Cave

A week later, when I was there with my group, the dripping had stopped almost completely, leaving only wet patches on the cave walls and puddles where the creek flowed.  

Outside the cave on the west end the canyon walls stretched on, endowing deep, cool shade that was completed by the trees on the other side.

Oaks, pines, and also California buckeye that was just starting to bud out its candle-like inflorescence. 

California Buckeye (Aesculus californica)

Below: shade-loving wildflowers. The elegant-looking hedgenettle and the very common blue fiesta that carpeted the small alluvium slopes at the rock base.

California Hedgenettle (Stachys bullata)

The blue Fiesta was so prevalent that I was sure it was an invasive species. It is California-native, however. A very pretty one with a (relatively) short season.

Blue Fiesta Flower (Pholistoma auritum)

Shortly beyond the cave's west opening there is the west intersection with the Balconies trail. This time I didn't stop for a rest: it was already getting late. So immediately I begun to ascend the switch-backing trail uphill, stopping only occasionally to photograph the upper rock vegetation.

Broadleaf Stonecrop (Sedum spathulifolium)

The Balconies, like the rest of the Pinnacles famous rock formations, are the remains of an eroded old volcano. The layers and conglomerates of volcanic ash and stones present a colorful and very impressive backdrop for the area's living Nature. Like the tall pine trees, for example. 
The vertical creases that run from top to bottom were cut by water running down the rock face. I wish to see them running in person one of these days!

The Balconies

The trail doesn't go all the way to the top rocks. After a short ascend, the trail levels out at the base of the Balconies rock. There, vegetation is chaparral.

Sticky Monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus)

A very common chaparral member is the chamise bush. On April it was blooming, too. A very delicate white bloom, giving the bush an angelic air.

Chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum)

Up on the Balconies there was still plenty of direct sunlight. As spirit-uplifting were the little yellow sun-like composites that were shining back at the sky.

Brewer's Ragwort (Packera brewri)

Up there I also got a closer view of some of those giant boulders that covered the creek below. I'm glad I wasn't there when they toppled from the mountain.

I walked down to the east trail intersection and turned left, heading back to the Old Pinnacles trailhead. 

Sunlight was waning fast. In the shaded trail segments it was already getting dark. I increased my pace. On the following week, however, when repeating that same trail with my group, I had more time and much more light to photograph what I had skipped on my solo hike. 

Sanddune Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum)

And it was also on the latter hike that the kids had found an interesting sight: a pair of beetles celebrating spring.

But on my earlier hike there, it was already quite late when I made it back to the Old Pinnacles trailhead. But the Indian tobacco I'd seen there, which was closed when I started my hike, had opened fully. Later that night I saw more tobacco bloom at the campground. Leave smoking associations aside,it is a very beautiful flower indeed.

Indian Tobacco (Nicotiana quadrivalvis)

With just enough daylight left, I made it back to the parking lot and took some time to sit on  large rock and relax before driving off to the campground. The morrow would be a long day: I was planning to go all the way up to the high peaks and I could use a good night sleep.

Black Sage (Salvia melifera)

Springtime at the West Pinnacles

Date: April 7, 2015
Place: Pinnacles National Park
Coordinates:  36.492010, -121.209701
Length: 1.5 miles
Level: easy

Our plans for the last spring break were to spend the first half of the week at Carizzo Plain National Monument and the second half in the area of Mount Pinos, southwest of Carizzo Plain. High on our wish list was observing condors at Bitter Creek State Park or otherwise, at Mt. Pinos Area, as both these places are sanctuaries for the reintroduced birds.
As it happened, we fulfilled only the first half of our plan. By the time we arrived at Mt. Pinos (after failing to observe any condors in the Bitter Creek area), we found out that a large weather system was rolling in. Our hopes of sneaking in a short hike were dispelled when a sharp, bitter-cold wind, blew our faces off when we exited the car. We decided that a good vacation need not include unnecessarily braving miserable weather, so we drove off the mountain, wondering where to go next.
Papa Quail suggested terminating our vacation on that day and swinging by the Pinnacles National Park on our way home. Having taken the entire week off already, he proposed to stay the last two days at home with the chikas while I would go somewhere else on my own.
I agreed and soon we were northbound.
It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at the Pinnacles, entering the park from the west. The sun was already low and we had only little daylight time left for a hike. A short hike it would have to be.
We hiked the familiar and always beautiful trail to the Balconies. A quick in and out, without going into the cave or up the Balconies cliffs.

Our hike to The Balconies as captured by Papa Quail's GPS

As always, the first spectacle awaiting us were the pinnacles themselves: those magnificent pillars of volcanic rock, older than the San Andreas Fault itself. The peaks, proud, naked rocks were poking out of a dark-green mantle of pine trees and chaparral bushes that looked lush and healthy. 

Pinnacles, west

Our previous hike to The Balconies, of which I posted here a while ago, had been in August. I was amazed at how different that place looked in April. Even after a whimpy winter. Even after being told by a local ranger that the wildflowers had peaked a month before.
There were lots of flowers everywhere. Some, indeed, were already on the decline, but many others appeared to have just begun their bloom.

Valley Lupine (Lupinus microcarpus var. microcarpus)

Leaving the parking lot, the trail leads onto the hillside, only a few feet high to bypass the large picnic area that's at the trailhead. The slope showed a rich display of vegetation: Between the sparse oaks an pines there were lush annual grasses and weeds and numerous shrubs that were far enough apart to have a cushion shape, yet near one another to provide good cover to rabbits and bush birds from potential predators and eager photographers.
And laced in all that green were numerous colorful wildflowers.

Western Larkspur (Delphinium hesperium ssp. hesperium)

If that was well past the peak bloom, I wish to see it when it is at peak!

Castilleja sp.

Despite the quickly-failing light we took our time going into the Chalone Creek, where The Balconies are. And not just because of me stopping for the wildflowers. As always,
Papa Quail was on the lookout for birds and my elder chika was pointing them to him.

Northern Flicker, western, male

But the prized sighting was way up, high in the sky: a California Condor circling above at high altitude.

California Condor

We arrived at the trail intersection where hikers chose if to go through the cave or up the Balconies. On that day we chose to turn around and go back whence we came.
At that point, Papa Quail was ready to just get to the car and drive off, but he yielded to elder chika who insisted he should photograph the bluebird  she saw.

Western Bluebird, male

And once the camera was out again, the rabbit behind the tree with the bluebird also got immortalized :-)

Cottontail

Because I already photographed all the bigger wildflowers on the way out I was now paying closer attention to the little ones.

Contorted Suncup (Camissonia contorta)

As we were leaving Chalone Creek the setting sun rays were lighting the rocks to their full magical appearance.

The trail leading into Chalone Creek

It is hard to leave a place when it's showing its best. So we lingered some more, until the sunlight faded even more.

A sole oak tree north of the trail

Eventually, however, we had to say goodbye to that beautiful place. I think it was at that time that I decided to go back there on my own on on the days Papa Quail was giving me. I had another excellent reason too: on the following week I had planned to take my hiking group there for a three-day camping trip and although I knew my planned trails well, more preparation is always good.

California Quail, male

We drove off into the sunset. On the following evening I would arrive back at the Pinnacles, at the east side of the park.