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Wild Recovery San Jose, California

March 10, 2007 Pinnacles National Monument (Hike Starts at 9AM)

The Place

        Pinnacles has dramatic rock formations, caves, wildflowers, and bits of California history. The caves were formed by rocks falling into the canyons, not your usual underground erosion by water. Not surprising, since Pinnacles is near the San Andreas Fault.

Getting There

        DIRECTIONS:  Take 101 South, Exit on Hwy 25, then go through the town of Hollister. Follow the signs carefully because in Hollister Hwy 25 turns left and then right. After you leave town, stay on Hwy 25 until you get to Hwy 146, which takes you to the park.

Pinnacles has two entrances, one on each end of the park. Use the directions above to find the East Entrance and the Chalone parking lot, otherwise you'll have a long crawl to the caves to find us.

*Remember the hike starts an hour earlier than usual at 9 AM.

Drive time is 2 hours – Parking $5 – Dogs not allowed

Walking the Walk

        (Level 4 - Miles: 7.3 - Elevation ~1900')   We will be starting down below at the Chalone trailhead parking area. We will hike .2 miles up the creek to the bridge then hike .2 miles back to the start of the high peaks trail. We then climb 2 miles to a fork with condor gulch trail where we head northwest and hike .6 miles to tunnel trail. We then take a right, hike .6 miles to juniper canyon trail and end up on the Soledad side of the park entrance. From there, we will hike .6 miles to balconies cliffs where .4 miles into the trail we will have our meeting. From this spot it is 2.7 miles back to Chalone parking lot via the old pinnacles trail..

Know Before You Go

        This is a Day Trip. We are starting at 9:00 AM instead of our normal 10AM, because this hike can take up to five hours, including our meeting, and it is a two-hour drive from San Jose. Also, it could be a pretty warm day, so we want to beat the heat for the first part of our hike, which is climbing up.  We will be hiking quite a lot before we break for our meeting and lunch, so bring snacks and PLENTY of Water, to keep refreshed. Bring Sunscreen and don't forget a flashlight for the caves.

*Remember the hike starts an hour earlier than usual at 9 AM.

Drive time is 2 hours – Parking $5 – Dogs not allowed