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 12/18- Pinnacles National Park 

   Today was an amazing day! We left on a hike this morning that was full of promise and it did not disappoint. It was a long 2 miles of flat ground to get from the campsite to the trail head. From there it went up, passing through groves of huge live oaks as we climbed up the canyon. We followed a stream bed for a while before the mountain goat path began. Then it started winding through these huge boulders as we climbed higher and higher. The drop off off the trail is steep and deep and we even passed through a tunnel. The pinnacles soared above and around us making us feel quite puny. We then came to a cave section where the trail went into a cave formed by these house sized boulders. It was cool and dark but the path was well marked out. There were places where I had to get on my hands and knees to crawl through. This went winding on for about a half mile before we finally came out to gorgeous little lake.  After a nice lunch we followed another trail that led us around the rim of the canyon and finally back to the trail head. We had hiked about 6 miles.

Sorry for the interruption as the internet decided to take a hike itself and took with it some of the story. Never fear though I still remember everything (chuckle, chuckle). Now back to our regular scheduled program. 

   We did manage to scare up a condor on the walk up and did see several soaring in the canyon. This is some of the first real wildlife we’ve seen. There are all kinds of birds that I can’t identify. We saw deer and the campground is rife with turkeys and raccoons. 

   I did want to say a word about the showers. Most of the campgrounds we have been to have showers. Some are very primitive and others are luxurious. The one thing though is that they are all open to the air. In the summer when the temps are 100 or better it’s not much of an issue but now once the sun goes down it’s 40 degrees. That’s a little too chilly for me to get naked. 

    12/19-Paradise CA

   We left early this morning and drove through the heart of California. At first it was very pretty and winding and later once we hit I-5 it became very flat and straight. We drove over another pass in the mountains and saw San Luis reservoir. This is a very large reservoir that looked about 1/2 full. About this time the fog rolled in and any vistas we might have seen vanished. With the fog the sky clouded up and we were no longer in sunny California. 

   We past Sacramento and began the slow rise up to the top of the canyon where we drove into Paradise. Here we popped out above the clouds and were once more in sunny CA. The town still feels a little odd because of all the trees missing on account of the huge fire. 

   We pulled into Alayne’s sister’s house and we completed stage one of this adventure. I want to wish all my faithful readers a very Happy and safe Christmas. Thanks to all for following along and stay tuned!!