High-Summer in Pinnacles

July 26th, 2015.  Sunday.  Kala started planning a little 3 hour hike in the Pinnacles National Monument.  This is probably our 10th trip to this Monument, an hour from home, and this time around we explored the Lower-Bear-Gulch-Caves.  We had never been here before, and this time, it was Gayathri's first visit to the National Park.  Boy!  It turned out to be a wonderful day in our life so far -- hot and dry, but still beautiful.  After slathering sun-screen all over us, we were ready for adventure.

 Kala and Gayathri fed Toby.  Now that the ferocious cat is on guard, we felt it was safe to venture out and drive to Pinnacles.  Kala packed some sandwiches.  We loaded our individual back-packs with water bottles, apples, and protein bars.  And we were ready to rock!

We had the typical argument about the eastern entrance or the western entrance to the part.  The western entrance is brand new and not many people know about the facilities available to visitors. There is also plenty of parking. The eastern entrance is well known and is documented in every tour guide and map. The result?  Makes for a very crowded parking lot.  But today, the eastern entrance was pretty empty and it was almost as if we were the only visitors to the park!

Now, about the park itself.  The Pinnacles Park has a unique look that was formed due to volcanic activity almost 23 million years ago.  The park is formed of granite rocks whose cousins can be found in Southern California and Baja California in Mexico.  It is as if a giant bird picked up these rocks carried them hundreds of miles north and dropped them where they are!  Not difficult to imagine given that the park is home to a family of California Condors!

On arrival, we were fortunate to find out that the Lower Bear Gulch caves were open.  You can see the entrance to the caves to on the left.  The caves are home to the protected Townsend large-ear bats.  The last time we were here were in March with Haree when we explored the upper caves. This time, the upper caves were locked away from visitors.  The next time they will be open would be sometime in October for a couple of weeks when the bats with their newly hatched young would be out gorging themselves before the annual hibernation.


To explore the caves you would need a flashlight.  Fortunately we were well prepared for the adventure.  There are 2 paths into and out of the caves.  We took the path more travelled.  The less-travelled path was wet, slippery, and in place you had to get on your bellies and crawl.  If Haree was here, he would have mocked our efforts!

We were warned about wild-life before we left on our hike.  Fortunately for us, we did not run into any of the rattlers.  We did see a water snake, but more on that later.

We needed both hands and in a couple of places we had to get down on our knees and crawl like babies to go under the rocks.  The caves were formed by water over the eons.  We started out at around 600 feet over sea level and steadily ascended to 1,900 feet within the cave system.  There is a reservoir at the top and the overflow carved a path thru the rocks creating the caves.  Even though we are in the worst drought in over a 100 years, we were able to hear the water dripping thru the caves -- imagine the water flowing here in full force!.
 Once we were out of the caves we had to reach the top.  It was climb of over 200 feet over some steps that have been carved out of the rock face.  In places the steps were eroded and were less than 12" across.  It made for a difficult climb, especially for someone like me who is afraid of heights.  On the left is a sheer drop of over 200 feet!  I was afraid to look, so no pictures!

 Once we reached the top, the view of the reservoir was spectacular!  The water level since March had dropped over 6'.  The water itself was green and slimy.  It is home to some local fish and swimming near us was a water snake -- 24" long, 1/2" thick. According to the park literature it was non-poisonous and lives off the frogs and the insects that calls the park home.  Talking of insects, the park is supposedly home to more varieties of bees that you can count!

All in all a wonderful day.   

The hike we took was called "medium" hike of 5 miles.  It tooks us nearly 4 hours to cover these 5 miles.  You climbed from about 600' to a little over 2,000 feet.  There were a couple of places where you had to go down on your knees and crawl.  Otherwise it was a pretty easy walk.  The day was hot -- when we arrived it was 89 degrees F and when we left, the temperature had climbed to 102.  One definitely needed to take water!  

Hiking the Pinnacles National Park

December 26, 2014.

The day dawned cold and bright.  The temperature was around 33°F and bitingly cold.  However, Kala and Haree insisted that we go to Pinnacles State Park.  So we packed up some bread, jam, peanut butter, water bottles with water this time, pears, apples etc into 3 back packs and a simple carry on bag and decided to go hiking.  The question was where, oh where shall we go?  A flip of the pages of the National Geographic National Parks books pointed to Pinnacles National Park.

A view from the Balconies Trial

The park is pretty small for a national park, measuring less than 30,000 acres and pretty much located within a single county, except for a small piece.  It is about 75 minutes drive from home and located close to CA 101.  On CA 101, you take the CA 146, drive about 10 miles east and uphill and viola you are there at the Western Entrance to the park.  (There is also an Eastern Entrance at the other end).

The park is unique in the sense, the rock formation and the content is very very different from the surrounding country side.  The rocks and the formations has more in common with the area about 200 miles south of here, near Lancaster, CA.  It seems a gigantic volcano about 23 million years ago created the 30 mile wide volcanic field that forms the foundations of modern day Pinnacles Park.  Then earthquakes, water, and wind had a hand in moving this huge chunk of land 200 miles north and in forming the modern day park.

The park boasts several trials, caves, and the cliffs are there to be climbed!  It is home to a diverse variety of wild life, including the California Condors, although we did not see any this time around. We decided to hike the 5 mile balconies trial (2.5 miles each way).  After paying for the car parking and the park fees, we set off in high spirits.  The trial takes a winding path uphill most of the way past some majestic cliffs and valleys.  The up and hill movement, stopping frequently for pictures, and greeting other people on the trail took us to one of the major attractions in the park -- the Balconies Caves!

Along the way, there were areas that simply screamed to us to drop our backpacks and start climbing. Here you see Haree climbing up a not-so-steep cliff face.  He reached the top and skirted around the huge rock and reached it before we did, where we followed the trail.

The area has experienced close to 8" of rain in the month of December.  This rainfall is slowly helping us to recover from a record drought.  One result of the rainfall, is the legacy of colors in the park.  Here you see a rock face with brilliant dark green, red, russet, and brown colors all the result of plant and fungus growth due to the recent rains.

Most of the streams were flowing with water.  We were lucky in the sense, the Balconies caves were open.  The cave has been formed by the flow of water that has cut a hole thru the rocks and has tumbled over and eroded the rock face.  The water way so created and the rock falls within them has created several caves, and one such cave was the Balconies caves.  It was fortunate for us that the water level had receded to a level that was safe for human transit.  By the time we were at the opening of the caves, the weather had warmed up and it was around 60°F.  But the water in the stream inside the cave was close to freezing.

Haree was dressed for a summer hike, but then being active he did not feel the cold like I did.  We had to climb over slippery rocks.  Wade thru pools of rushing water.  And inside the caves, it was pitch black -- one does need a flashlight and both hands to navigate the caves.  We met a couple of girls who were brave enough to use their cell phones for light!  Fortunately we showed up with a couple of flashlights and they were able to clamber behind us, using the light we provided.

It took us more than 2 hours to complete the 5 mile trial of ups and downs, over creeks, into and out of caves, dodging between boulders, and dignity be damned, climbing hand over hip in the dark, with help with Haree, who constantly scouted in front to find us the easiest path -- although I have some doubts about that.  In places he found out paths that were more difficult than the ones marked on the guide map!

All in all a wonderful day.  We completed our hike around 1 PM for a well deserved lunch of sandwiches. As were getting ready to leave, the moon rose over the volcanic rocks and in the middle of the blue skies, it was a sight to behold!  It left us craving for more and we make a promise to come back towards the last week of March when the Bear Gulch Caves would be open.  Alas, these caves were closed this time around, since the endangered California Bats were hibernating in these caves and could not be disturbed.

My First iPhone

Yes. You can say it.  I have gone over to the dark side.  I have joined the dumb brigade.  I have finally given in and bought an iPhone.

So why did I buy an iPhone after nearly 8 years of sticking with the Android?  I finally got fed up with the antics of the Carriers and the Phone manufacturers.  The Android platform considered at any given point in time is very good.  But, and this is where things gets interesting, the platform is not a stand still environment.  It is a moving target and it simply does not work for me any more.  I am fed up, disgusted, and simply cannot put up with the antics of Google, the phone manufacturers, and the carriers.

1.    My entire family is on Apple.  Even my father in India has an Apple.  They are able to facetime with each other and I got left behind.  While Google Hangout works, it is a new solution for all of them (Kids, Spouse, and Parents) and I need to teach them.  I give up.  I cannot teach them anymore. The Apple IOS interface is so simple that even my 2 year old nephew knows how to use it.

2.    When you buy an Android phone, you are buying a brick.  The phone comes with an OS installed on it.  The manufacturer does not support any updates to the OS.  Even if the manufacturer supports it, the carrier will not permit you to upgrade!  I know, I can hear the geeks yelling at me telling me to "root" the phone.  You know what guys?  I am a user.  I am not going to "root" anything.  I simply want the phone to work. Period.  The life of the hardware is 5 years.  So support the damn brick for 5 years!  The manufacturers and the carriers make a bundle by selling me a new gadget every 2 years.  So in a 5 year time period I can either buy 1 Apple device or I can buy 4 Android devices and pay 4 times as much.  Why would I do that?

3.   I have not even come to the biggest problem yet -- crapware!  The phone is mine.  I paid for it.  If I want to load crapware from the carriers (Verizon and AT&T are the biggest culprits here), I should make that choice.  All the carriers load their crapware and for the most part they do not add any value!  Why would I pay $10 per month for VZMaps when I can get Google Maps for free?  What is wrong with them?  And to top it all, you cannot even delete the crapware without "rooting".

I finally gave up.  I thought OnePlusOne would be my answer, but those phones are almost impossible to come by.  I don't even know if that company is real or is a teaser to get your basic information.  So welcome to the brand new iPhone6Plus.

After my initial adjustment period, I have been happy so far.  It is amazing how quickly I can get adjusted to the phone.  Did I tell you that I have mostly "free" applications running?  BGR.COM has been a cornucopia of information on applications that I can download for "free" periodically.  I can do amazing things with the camera.  I can take notes and frequently do.  Thanks to Microsoft I can edit Spreadsheets and Powerpoint.  Email works like a charm.  Facetime and Groupme is great.  And best of all there is no "crapware" -- well not really, Apple does want me to join something called Gametime that I never use.  Wish that would go away.

Goodbye Android.  It was nice knowing you.  But I am now going to give the iPhone a ride!

May 25, 2014 -- Hiking in BigSur

Pfeiffer BigSur state park is only about 80 miles from home.  On the spur of the moment, without too much thought we decided to just go for a drive.  There was no thought of hikes.  We had a couple of water bottles with us and a bag with some apples and fruit bars.

The day was very pleasant.  The temperature was around 75 F, and very bright.  Not a cloud in the sky.  Left home around 9:30 AM, which was pretty late for a 2 hour drive, but then we did not know where the park was!  After a delightful drive on CA Highway 1, we hit the gateway to the park around 11:45 AM.  By then of course we had to stop for lunch -- couple of sandwiches later we were well fortified for an afternoon of adventure and fun.

This beautiful park features redwoods, conifers, oaks, sycamores, cottonwoods, maples, aiders, and willows.  It is on the coast and the drive down south on CA 1 is wonderful twisting and curving drive along the Pacific coast.  Given that this is possibly the 1st week of summer, the park was crowded.  We had to drive to the last parking lot for a parking space.

The park is dominated by the BigSur river.  We followed the Gorge Trail, where the original homestead established by John Pfeiffer (after whom the park is names) has been re-constructed.  The trail leads into the Valley View trail and ends at the Pfeiffer Falls.  The valley views of the mountains on the easter side are spectacular.  Looking at the green mountains you would never guess that California is suffering from its worst drought in nearly a century.  The waterfall itself was loud, and lovely.  There was a stream of water flowing over the falls.  We were left wondering how the falls would look when it is in full flow, if not for the drought.  We were told by a ranger that a mountain lion was sighted in the park earlier that day but we were not able to see anything among the thick foliage.

BigSur river empties itself into the Pacific about 5 miles downstream. After about 3 hours of hiking up and down the trails we called it quits and decided to follow the river to the ocean.  A 10 minute drive and there we were at the beech where salt water and fresh water meet!.  The sound of the waves hitting the headlands and the rocky coast line was a sight to behold.  The waters of the blue Pacific were still cold.  Given the crowd in the park, we were ready for a crowded beech, but surprisingly it was empty.  It was very windy and Kala's hat was blown away.  We spent a merry hour at the beech just gazing at the birds riding the waves, wading in the waters of the BigSur river and enjoying the antics of a toddler trying to walk in the river waters.  Given the drought, the river water was only ankle deep and the fresh water was quite warm compared to the ocean water.

BigSur, another of the hiking areas we need to visit more often.....

Wildflowers in Pacheco State Park

March 22nd, 2014


The day dawned bright and clear.  According to the Morgan Hill Times, there was a nature hike to view the wild flowers in Pacheco State Park.  Accordingly we planned to spend a good part of the day hiking in the Pacheco State Park.


The weather was bright a sunny.  Spring was in the air.  But it was still very very cold and breezy.  We left home around 8 AM and after a drive of about an hour on Highway 152 we were there.  Could not believe this is so close to home.

The land was owned by the Pacheco family and Paula Fatjo, a 5th generation descendent of the original Pacheco family, donated the ranch to the state in 1992.  The state park is right on top of the Pacheco pass and has wonderful vistas in rolling hills.

We saw wild flowers in plenty.  Most of them, including the wild California Poppy pictured here grew is crags and on the hill sides.  We must have hiked up and down about 5 miles that day.

The Spikes Peak Trail bends west and leads to a little pond called Pig Pond.  The path climbs grassy hills, with views of the Pacheco Pass where you can see a dozen windmills turning lazily in the breeze. We went around Pig Pond, so names because of the feral porkers that supposedly inhabit this space. We did not meet any of the porkers. We did try to emulate James Belford (Pig-Hoooo-ey from P.G.Wodehouse) and issued the pig call but to no avail.

After about 3 hours of walking up and down in the biting cold and windy terrain, we had enough and it was time to say goodbye.  We stopped for a late breakfast or an early lunch at the Casa de Fruta restaurant in Hollister for a well deserved feast of pancakes with fresh strawberries.

More details on this little known state park is available here: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25154.

All in all a very enjoyable day.

Hiking Henry Coe State Park -- Feb 22nd, 2014

We recently moved to Morgan Hill and found that one of the largest state parks is literally at our door step!  So on a beautiful spring morning we decided to go up and see what it the park is all about!.

A 20 minute car ride around beautiful Anderson Lake and up winding East Dunne and we were at the entrance to the park. The weather was like a dream -- in the 60s and very pleasant.  There was absolutely no breeze.

Paid the $8 entrance fee and found out that the park is huge!  We were not prepared for the size of the park.  We had a small bottle of water between the 2 of us.  So any large hikes would have to wait for a future date.  In spite of this, we did go out on a small hike that lasted all of an hour and a half.  We went up a ridge and saw some spectacular views of the Diablo range.

We learnt after our hike that the 3.5 mile route we took is called the Forest Trail.  It involved a climb of ~350 feet, but the climb itself was a gradual one.  A simple loop at the top and then it was time to head back.   Alas, there was no water in the Lion Spring due to the California drought.

We made a promise that we would go back again for a longer hike, this time to Frog Pond, hoping that there would be water in the pond.

The sky was so clear we could see a long long way in the valleys.  The area was so quite, we could hear sounds from a long way off!  We did not meet anyone in our 90 minutes of walking and climbing and were amazed that such a huge state park could be so quite and peaceful so close to home!