the pinnacles (of achievement)

so, I am awaiting photos from when my family came to visit, but until them, I will write about last weekend's venture out to Pinnacles National Monument. I found out that Pinnacles National Monument began as a volcano that first erupted about 195 miles south of its present location.

Jeremy, Mari and I headed out there Saturday afternoon and arrived around dusk. We set up camp and proceeded with some beers and chips.


We weren't able to have any fires, so we decided to try and see the sunset before it went down. Unfortunately the sun had already set down behind the area that we could get to via car. On the way we saw some wild boars, and made up our own fun.



In the morning we set off to the Old Pinnacles Trail Head to do a hike to the Balconies Cave. Basically at this point, I'll just share some photos of the hike. Btw, it was HOT! In the 90s.

Really cool, multi-colored rocks

Cool mossy rocks

Pinecones!
Rawr!

We stopped for a leisurely rest
(No, it was not in the least bit comfortable) Altho look for Jeremy's 2009 Calendar soon to be on the shelves!


Another fun fact is that Pinnacles NM is home to 14 of the 24 bat species in California. Actually, Bear Gulch Cave was closed due to bats raising their young. Luckily we still got to enjoy Balconies Cave. (Mari was really excited! Actually, she was running from us so we couldn't get a picture of her with the headlamp on, teehee)
Inside the caves...
Spooky dark caves See, we still got a headlamp photo! And this was a close call! Cool flowers
This looked like a man (Elvis) lying on his back
I believe this is Machete Ridge
This guy joined us while we ate our lunch

Between hikes, Jeremy and I got IT'S-IT ice cream sandwiches, a local specialty, while Mari got a popsicle and we enjoyed some much deserved pool time.

We were told to go on the reservoir hike before we left by our friendly camping neighbors, so Jeremy and I set off to do the Moses Spring - Rim Trail Loop before heading home.
This is one of my favorite pictures, I like that it's a tad blurry, it helps you imagine the heat
Jeremy "Badass" Sell
Jeremy "Crack Navigator" Sell
Fun trees that had red and black bark
Here's my shining moment, I saved an entire girl scout troop from being crushed under this boulder! They tried to give me a medal and some trail mix, but I declined...all in a days work
Stairs carved into the rock Oh and this is where you can turn the water on and off (Just kidding!)
It was pretty cool though because once we got to the top of the steps we turned to our left and looked over the reservoir

Coming up this weekend is King's Canyon/Sequoia National Park then Yosemite in August!