Monday, 10/3 - Pinnacles National Park and Kings Canyon National Park

Today was a long drive from Monterey up to Castroville (the Artichoke Capital of the World) and over to Pinnacles National Park (east entry) and then on to Kings Canyon National Park.


Again, there was a lot of development from Monterey to Castroville and then a lot of farms most of the way to Pinnacles, but then mostly ranch land.  

We had heard that the park was very crowded on weekends, so we decided to go on Monday.  But the rangers said we were in the low season and it really wasn't very busy any day of the week now.  And it certainly wasn't crowded when we were there.

The park is interesting in that there is no road that runs through it (the mountains make it difficult) and it is about a 100 mile trip to get from one side to the other.  So, we chose the east side which is more developed and did a hike around Bear Gulch.




We hoped to see the Pinnacles, but this was as close as we got.  The park is one of the release sites for the California Condor and they have about 25 in the park.  We saw some soaring birds, but we have no idea if they were condors or not.


Rock climbing is popular in the park.  I think this is one of the easier challenges...


After a stop at the Visitor Center for souvenirs, we headed for the Sierras.  We decided to take the scenic route south through the San Benito Valley (very empty with a few ranches) and then east over to Coalinga and into Fresno.  The stretch to Coalinga went over a low mountain range and was also pretty empty until Coalinga.

We had lunch in Coalinga.  Coalinga is in the news these days.  It was originally called Coaling Station A for the Southern Pacific Railroad.  But now, it is known as the city that is going to run out of water in two or three months.  Coalinga also has the largest cattle operation in California, the Harris ranch.  We smelled it before we got there.

The road to Fresno was mostly orchards and farms.  We're not totally sure what they were growing, but we think almonds were one of the crops, and obviously grapes, and some citrus crop (oranges, maybe??)  But lots and lots....

After Fresno, we headed into the mountains.  It was quite a climb up to the lodge at Kings Canyon.  Fresno is at 250 feet.  John Muir Lodge is at 6500 feet.  But it was mostly a gentle climb.

We got to the Lodge and checked out the visitor center, the camp store and the restaurant (grab and go only but nice places to eat).  The only real issue is that the visitor center/camp Store/Restaurant was about a quarter mile walk from the lodge.

So, we decided on a picnic/happy hour next to the lodge, where a local deer was browsing nearby.




Link to next post:  10/4 - Kings Canyon National Park

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