Chalone Peaks

DATE: Thursday, May 13, 2021
DISTANCE: 22km / 13.67 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 1047m / 3434'
TIME TAKEN: 9:30
PINNACLES NATIONAL PARK
SAN BENITO COUNTY, CA
CHALON, OHLONE, RUMSEN, AMAH MUTSEN STOLEN LAND
SOUNDTRACK: Church Of Misery: Cerebrate Pigs

SUMMITS:
• North Chalone Peak: 1007m / 3304'
• South Chalone Peak: 996m / 3269'


PHOTO ALBUM
MAP






I was embedded in a party camping trip to Pinnacles National Park, wherein most of the attendees were more interested in dropping acid and swimming in the campground pool. As this was my fourth visit to Pinnacles, I had something more profound in mind (not that dropping acid wouldn't have been profound in it's own way), visiting the high point of the park for the first time. Also, my friend Rob Coons was coming to meet up, and he suggested extending the hike to include the infamous "Pig Fence Trail." And so it was to be. I met up with Rob in the parking lot at about 7:00AM. I knew Rob as an avid photographer of many local punk and metal bands, but secondarily, I knew he was a big time hiker, so it was only a matter of time before we teamed up for an expedition, there being so few punks / metalheads around willing to hike more than a couple of miles or even get up early for that matter. And so, we were off. Going up Bear Gulch past the talus caves and through the patch of giant boulders to the reservoir. Past this point, to me, was new territory. The Chalone Peak Trail was well maintained, graded, and good time was made heading up. Now with elevation gain, views of the High Peaks, to the north, and Mount Defiance to the east. Views then opened up to the west of a thick fog belt settled down over the Salinas Valley. It was just after 9AM when we reached the lookout tower on Chalone Peak North. It was very civilized, for a mountaintop, with a bathroom even. But we were about to go beyond the civilized world to a realm of unspeakable cruelty. JK. Nice view now to South Chalone Peak, too, our next stop. The sign said 1.6 miles. The way that Rob wanted to go had us skipping Middle Chalone Peak, but I didn't lose too much sleep over that.  

We hiked down the fire road, and then cut up a steep brushy hillside to the true summit of South Chalone, where an assortment of unidentifiable garbage was strewn. Among it all, there was actually a small summit register. Nice view back to North Chalone now, and the fog was dissipating over Salinas valley. Just beyond South Chalone Peak was our entry point to the pig fence. It was now 10:30AM. We had discussed the pig fence, and were prepared. The leather gloves came on. There seemed to be a better trail on the other (south) side of the fence, so climbed over and followed it, almost straight due east. The fence is not the boundary of the park. We could see the fence plummeting east over the undulating hills, and we just followed along it. There was usually a trail alongside it, from people coming to work on the fence, presumably, but in some places that "trail" was so steep we had to cling to the fence for dear life. It was nearly 1:30PM by the time we got to the bottom of the thing, and it was hot, dry. We didn't have much water. We had been deposited in a dead zone at the eastern border of the national park, at dry Chalone Creek, there was supposedly a trail there, according to some maps, but it was hard to find or follow, and there was some blundering about. I had been hoping for the relief of a return to a real trail, but that did not come until almost 4PM, when we officially emerged onto to the South Wilderness Trail's dead end. 

It was now wide open to start trucking back ASAP, but it was hotter, we were out of water, and we still had several miles between us and the vehicles. Luckily, a water spigot was soon found when we got close to the road, and from there, refreshed, we continued west on the Bench Trail. Through the valley we went, then up through the Bear Gulch Trail, through a rocky ravine area that was dry now, but I imagined could be quite charming in the rainy season. Not long after that, we were back at the parking lot, it must have been 5 or 6PM, and we went back to snack and drink with the remaining stragglers back at the campground. Amber had already gone home, in disgust apparently: when I caught up with her later that night, I found myself in trouble, because I had basically been absent the whole camping trip by showing up late the night before, and then being gone on the hike all day that day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FURTHER READING
• North Chalone Peak on SUMMITPOST and PEAKBAGGER
• South Chalone Peak on SUMMITPOST and PEAKBAGGER
• Stav is Lost takes on Chalone Peaks

Pinnacles 2020

DATE: November 5-6, 2020
PINNACLES NATIONAL PARK
SAN BENITO COUNTY, CA
SOUNDTRACK: Chronaexus: The Breathing Pinnacle Of Existence

DAY ONE
DISTANCE: 16.3km / 10.13 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 683m / 2241’
TIME: 6:00
MAP

DAY TWO
DISTANCE: 9.65km / 6 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 519m / 1,702’
TIME TAKEN: 3:13
MAP

PHOTO ALBUM




It was the third annual visit to Pinnacles for me and Amber, a different season again, this time a very warm and dry early November. And a partial motivation to distance from society as a potentially disastrous election result was about to commence. This report will economically cover two days at Pinnacles, because there is really not much new territory covered different from the 2018 or 2019 visits. The "problem" with Pinnacles is you're either doing class one trail walking, or minimum class 4 climbing (or beyond my abilities, whatever that is,) if you want to get to most of the "peaks."

OK, actually, there really isn't too much going on here that wasn't covered in the PINNACLES 2018 report, and especially the detailed PINNACLES 2019 report, so I'll leave you to check those out, so I don't have to write about basically the same hikes all over again! I'm feeling lazy. See ya!

Pinnacles 2019

Approaching Balconies Cave

DATE: Monday, May 20, 2019

HIKE ONE
DISTANCE: 3.8 MILES
ELEVATION GAIN: 495 FEET
TIME TAKEN: 2 HOURS

HIKE TWO
DISTANCE: 6.6 MILES
ELEVATION GAIN: 1591 FEET
TIME TAKEN: 3.5 HOURS
SUMMIT: Hawkin's Peak 2,720 ft. (did not reach top)

PINNACLES NATIONAL PARK
SAN BENITO COUNTY, CA 

PREVIOUSLY VISITED: February 11, 2018

AH! My second of what hopefully will now become an annual trip to Pinnacles National Park! It was a little late in the season ( I don't want to go when it's hot), but we got the perfect storm (really!) when a late season rain squall blew through Northern California over the weekend, giving everything a decent soak, and cooling the temperatures in The Bay and beyond. I had a few days off work, Amber snagged a campsite, and we plunged into what ended up being perfect Pinnacles conditions. Got a nice little crew together too. My brother Alex came with me from Oakland, and we met Amber and Scarlett in San Jose, loaded up on snacks and headed down toward the park on the evening of Sunday, May 19th. The valley walls glowed faintly in the twilight as we cruised South into increasingly desolate territory. Aside from being hedged in by poison oak, it was a pretty nice campsite, and the ever wandering Dave Nelson appeared within minutes of our arrival, as if summoned from the ether. The crew was complete!

Old Pinnacles Trail

Dinner and drinks at the campsite slowly faded to black, and a little more rain came in late… and then the sun faded in, along with a rather nasty hangover. Perhaps I had taken things too far. Refusing to let the hammering in my skull get in the way of a great day on the trail, I forced myself upright at about 7AM, and Alex, Dave and I headed out for an appetizer hike. The goal was to check out a new area that I hadn't seen on the previous trip: Balconies. We saw one coyote on the way to Old Pinnacles trailhead, and soon were following that well worn track along Chalone creek, through the boulder strewn canyon. The recent rain had freshened everything up, and I was amazed at the intensity and variety of vegetation, in a park that can seem borderline arid at times.




We followed the trail to the namesake Balconies cliff, which towers monumentally above. Then through the talus cave, which was dark and cool, thrilling to suddenly plug into darkness. Out the other side, we opened up into the canyon again, and looped back around on the Balconies Cliffs Trail, this time looking down into the canyon, and up to a fine view of Machete Ridge. Completing the loop, we retraced our steps on the Old Pinnacles trail back to the parking lot and returned to the campground. The fresh air and brisk walk were starting to clear the hangover from my head, and we enjoyed some brunch at camp.

Now for round two, we rallied the entire crew, including Amber and Scarlett, and headed for the Condor Gulch trailhead to begin the ascent into the High Peaks. This was the route I had taken on my previous visit to the park, and I was excited to repeat. Going up into the Pinnacles almost felt like ascending to some kind of religious temple the last time, and the emotion returned with vigor. There were a bunch of British (probably) university students at the overlook. It's pretty cool that Pinnacles is an internationally known destination.

High Peaks

Up, up and around to the top of High Peaks, rocks upon rocks. At one point a sweeping view to the South East opened up, and I saw a prominent peak. After some later research, I still couldn't figure out what it is. Bending South on the trail, other views came into sight. I identified Ventana Cone and Double Cone in the Coast Range at one point. Rocks were abundant and time was taken for scrambling and scary looking photo opportunities. The trail is pretty spectacular it's self, being carved into the rock at some points, and including some very steep staircases and handrails. The high point is known as Hawkins Peak, but it is a class 4 climb to the true summit, and we did not attempt. After reaching the bathroom at the High Peaks / Juniper Canyon intersection, the girls opted to head back to the van, and the boys made a quick side trip down Juniper Canyon to the Tunnel Trail and back, which proved to be very fruitful. It was another area I hadn't seen before, and in addition to a great view of Resurrection Wall, the manmade tunnel and a cool footbridge, there were some of the best rock formations in the whole place. Backtracked up Juniper Canyon Trail to High Peaks Trail and made the south easterly descent back to the parking area, completing the loop. This is another one of my favorite parts of the hike because it involves another small manmade tunnel and a pleasantly forested area.

And that was it! The light was fading, Dave Nelson remained behind to continue his vision quest, and the rest of us piled into Amber's van. Back to San Jose. I took Alex to Fremont BART so he could go home to Oakland, and I returned to San Jose for Deathgrave practice, but somehow my cymbals were forgotten, so we just went as a band to drink at Trials.

Trail Map

CLICK "READ MORE" TO SEE ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Pinnacles 2018

DATE: Sunday, February 11, 2018
DISTANCE: 5.4 miles
ELEVATION GAIN: 1,591 ft.
SUMMIT: Hawkin's Peak 2,720 ft. (did not reach top)
PINNACLES NATIONAL PARK
SAN BENITO COUNTY, CA

First visit to Pinnacles, February 2018. For a comprehensive report, and more photographs check out the entry for Pinnacles 2019!