We have now left sunny Arizona. We have traveled to Sunny California and we are now in the “Bay Area” in Gilroy visiting our son, Glen’s, family. So what do they greet us here with? Hail, sleet, snow and rain, oh yes a little sun, but temperatures are 10 to 20 degrees below normal this week.
Saturday we joined the Gilroy Scout Troops to make and assault on The Pinnacles. This is a National Monument about 35 miles from Gilroy in the Santa Cruz Mountains. They have wonderfully developed hiking trails and we had an enthusiastic troop of boys to challenge them. We arrived and were on the trails by 10:00 am. We spent nearly five hours on the trails hiking almost six miles and climbing 1300 elevation gain. The reward was a spectacular view of the peaks and spires that make up the Pinnacles.
We made our first assent in bright warm sunshine. Everyone was in good spirits. Suddenly a dark cloud shouldered its way over the edge of the hill we were climbing and b-b sized hail began to fall through the bright sunshine. Things deteriorated from there. Coats, sweatshirts and ponchos came out and we continued to trudge through the ice pellets that were accumulating on the trail.
We finished the Condor Gulch Trail in good order and continued on the High Peaks Trail to High Peak. We stopped for a lunch and a short rest. The sunshine had returned, but it was now much cooler. In several places the trail became a series of alternating foot holds chiseled out of the granite and a near vertical handrail to cling to.
After lunch we continued by descending a similar series of chiseled steps and worked our way on around the High Peaks to Bear Gulch Reservoir. That lead us to the Bear Gulch Cave Trail. This is where things became interesting. We only had enough flashlights for about every third member of the party. Second the cave has some very narrow and constricted spots that allowed only one person at a time to pass. I myself nearly plugged the smallest passage by having the back pack on my back. I would have been much better sliding it along ahead of me. Once I got stuck I couldn’t get if off and couldn’t go forward nor back out. As you can guess I did manage to wriggle and scrunch; jiggle and schooch my way through. At the next wide spot I got the pack off my back.
I was also carrying the GPS and as you might imagine it did not work inside the caves. It did come in very handy, however. Punching any button on the GPS causes the backlight to glow for 15 seconds so you can navigate at night. When you are in the pitch black of a cave, it is surprising how little light it takes to give you a perfect view of your path.
Over the course of the day’s outing we experienced the full range if weather from sunshine to rain to hail, sleet and snow. Fortunately we were in the car headed home when the real gully-washer cut loose. Our entire party of five made the whole trek without incident. Out of our troop of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts we had one parent turn back from the vertical staircase and two Cub Scouts and their parents turned around half way through the cave. Interestingly they had made it through the narrowest place (where I got stuck) before the claustrophobia overcame them.
Today, Sunday, is turning sunny with warmer weather predicted. Perhaps we towed some of that warm Arizona weather out here to California.
I have a couple photos below.
And my son, Glen, has posted a video on You-Tube.
Bye now, and love to all from “Sunny California.”
Gary and Judy
