Pinnacles National Park

I got into the Cate School yukon and sat in the back with the Cate students. I left my school parking lot with Sam and we drove of into the afternoon sky. Mimi and Rosita were in our car as well, and so were their parents. It was October, and our annual Cate School Pinnacles trip was taking place.We stopped after a while in San Luis Obisbo to have dinner. The line there at Chipotle was super long, so we waited and got our food. Sam and I shared a quesadilla. Daddy drove the yukon now, and Anna-lee drove the other one. When we finally entered the National park of Pinnacles, our campground was in the middle of a bunch of RVs. 4 raccoons stole anna-lee’s food, but that didn’t matter. The next morning, we drove through the pines and chaparral where we stopped at Bear Gulch. Since we wanted to rock climb, we took our climbing gear. Our group split into two groups, one going one way and one going the other. We were to meet up at the summit of the mountain. We noticed a group of little kids with harnesses, so we raced them to the climbing spot, but those kids were part of a YMCA group that had reserved the place for themselves. We left the climbing gear in the bushes and hiked across the hillside. Strange rocks spires that looked like upside-down hats penetrated the sky as we trekked over the mountain. We came to a place where there were many switchbacks. We scanned the cliffs for the endangered California Condor. Near the top, we met with the other group and Sam played with his Cate student friend.

The other group decided to turn back to the top of the mountain with us to eat our lunch. They took the wrong trail, and had found a tarantula! We sat at the top and ate our lunch.

The other group moved on, and my group walked on a trail that required railings and stairs to access. debated over wether or not to take the normal route or walk over to the other road into the park, which does not connect with the one we used. 

We also found a man tracking condors.

Once we got to the turnoff, our group debated over wether or not to take the normal route or walk over to the other road into the park, which does not connect with the one we used. Mimi, Rosita, a Cate student, and Chris all walked on the normal trail, while the rest of us trotted down the hill. Once more, there were strange rocks.At the bottom of the hill, we crossed the road and looked at the mountains from the classic Pinnacles viewpoint.Someone noticed 4 black dots hovering high above the pinnacles. We looked at them through the binoculars, and they were condors! We made our way through another canyon. On the canyon walls was an unidentified type of succulent!We entered a cave so dark that we needed flashlights. when we came out, I spied 3 more condors. Anna-lee took us back to the campground. I was upset we didn’t get to go on the ranger-led walk to the barker dam. Later the next day, Daddy took us all to the climbing spot. There was no one their to mess up our climb. I couldn’t reach the top because I was’t tall enough.I went with Mimi, Sam and Rosita back to the car via the Barker Dam and the Bear Gulch Cave.Chris saw a badger on a rock run into a hole, and I found a pool filled with cyanobacteria and a log to walk over it with.Then, we drove back home, and it was raining.