Milestones
- 16th camping trip in 16 months. SHOW ON MAP
- 3rd time camping in a National Park (SEE THE 2nd)
- Camped in 3 out of the 9 National Parks located in California (SEE THE PREVIOUS).
- 11th county in California solo-camped.
Driving to the Park (The GOOD)
The canyons, farmland and pastures along Highway 198 and especially SR-25 were some of the most beautiful countryside in Central California. April was a perfect time to go because we had a good rainy season, and everything was green. In short, the views were spectacular.
I kept stopping to take pictures. I couldn’t help myself.
The blue sky, green grass, and orange poppy’s were worth everything.
I was surprised at how small Pinnacles National Park was. I asked the park ranger to tell me what NOT to miss. He looked at me like I was an idiot. Drive up the one road, for a couple of miles, look at the rocks on the top of a hill, and …. well that’s all.
You see those 2-3 bumps along the farthest ridgeline, in the center of the picture below?… well that’s it.
There was an observation area (nice parking lot, toilet, and walking trail). So I stopped. It was pretty.
My favorite flower is the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica).
The stream was flowing. I’m not sure it has water in it year round.
Campground (The BAD)
I pulled into my campsite, and it was a disaster.
- The entire site was a muddy mess. The dirt was a black clay, very sticky, almost like what you would make adobe bricks out of. There were ruts leftover from the poor soul who preceded me. I don’t blame them, I just hope they made it out alive.
- 100 ft away was a swampy marsh. My campsite was at the very bottom of a small creek where the water stagnated. When I got out of my car, I was swarmed by dozens of mosquitos. That lasted until sundown.
I fought off mosquitos (and lost) while making dinner. I hurried. My plan was to put up my tent, then immediately jump in, and zip it up. I could take my time unpacking my sleeping bag, laying out my pad, blowing up my pillow, etc. I just needed to get inside the “protective dome” of my plastic fortress.
Nightime (The Ugly)
The campsite had a metal locker, for storing food and other items. I got lazy and decided not to put anything in it. I just left my stuff out on the picnic table. (STUPID, STUPID, STUPID). At 1:30am I heard an animal rummaging through my stuff, knocking things over and running away. Half-naked, I unzipped my tent and yelled at the beast to “get out of here“, in my most intimidating voice. I could tell that he was less than 20 ft away, in some thick bushes that were next to my car. I looked around at the picnic table and saw 3 bags of my stuff were thrown on the ground, but I didn’t see anything missing. I knew the cunning devil had taken something of mine because I could hear him crunching on something as he ate it. He was taunting me…. eating my stuff right in front of me. I went up to the edge of the bushes, and shined a light at him. His devilish eyes were nowhere to be seen. I picked up my 3 bags, put them in my car and locked the doors. After getting back in my tent, and inside my sleeping bag, I heard the brute make a final grunt and I never heard another noise for the rest of the night.
In the morning I took stock of everything. I couldn’t find anything missing. Not one solitary thing. I assumed a large bear had taken advantage of my bad camp management, but I couldn’t figure out what he had taken and eaten.
Epilogue (mystery solved)
After packing up and saying “good riddance” to my previous night’s adventure, I drove 3 hrs to Codorniz Recreational Area to camp a second night. As I started to make dinner, I found that one of my freeze-dried meals was missing. I had Spaghetti the night before. And, I was looking forward to Beef Stroganoff. As a backup, I had brought a third meal of Chicken and Rice. Guess which meal was gone? Yes!…. the Beef Stroganoff. It was then that I realized what had happened. The beast from the night before had stolen my favorite meal. The Devil had sent a monster, but what kind?
From hell’s heart I stab at thee !! (Mody Dick)
OPINIONS OF PINNACLES
Lee Abbamonte, a travel blogger who has been to all 63 US National Parks, had this to say, “Pinnacles is a letdown compared to other national parks in California“. (Business Insider article, 04-15-2024). I would have to agree. As a national park, it’s very small, unimpressive and disappointing. But, it would make a great county park.
FUN FACTS:
- Pinnacles has the greatest bee species diversity density on the planet,” explained Christopher Symons, lead ranger at the park. “Over 500 species of bees reside in the small boundary of Pinnacles National Park.”
- Pinnacles is known for California condors. As few as 22 California condors were in existence by the early 1980s. Pinnacles National Park is one place where captive-bred California condors are released to the wild.
Van:
Regardless of what is going on in our office or in our lives, your reports/travelogues ALWAYS provide a much needed break, and make me laugh — usually out loud!!! Love your zest for life, love of adventure, and sense of humor! Keep the trips going, and the news coming! Good for you!
Love reading of your adventures, glad you survived! I had no idea there WERE that many bee species! You make a point of helping us to new information like the botanical names of California Poppies… a truly worthy State Flower
The raccoons would have been much smarter to wait until you cooked the stroganoff before stealing it. I can’t imagine what a raccoon experiences when it bites into a packet of dehydrated beef seasoning.
Once when you were a little boy, we were car camping in the El Camino in the redwoods and a black bear wandered through the campground after dark. We were inside, buttoned up. And though he didn’t find anything to his liking and moved on, it was chilling – the stomping and lumbering about, …sounded like an elephant.
Two pieces of advice!
First, always put food in the provided lockers. I’ve known people who’ve put food in their cars, & discovered their cars opened like a can of tuna.
Second piece of advice, never underestimate a raccoon! On a bike camping trip in my twenties, I was awoken by a huge raccoon (4 inch fangs, 6 inch claws, yellow eyes that glowed in the dark) sitting on the picnic table inhaling my Cheetos. In my most intimidating voice, I yelled at him to beat it. He sat up on his back legs and gave me a look that very clearly asked “do I need to come over there.” I decided that a bag of Cheetos was actually a very reasonable price to pay for spending the night in his turf!
I’m sorry you did not have a great experience camping. A Beef Stroganoff stealing raccoon, and blood-thirsty mosquitos, were the clincher on top of a muddy campground! And, you didn’t even get to see condors.
I’m glad you enjoyed the beauty driving there!