We had a wedding ~40 minutes away from Pinnacles, so visited for a day trip to knock out another NP off our list. We got the National Parks Stamps Passport when S was born and have basically done everything on the east coast, so revel in the opportunity to get a stamp at a new west coast national park. I like the idea of getting a souvenir from each trip but don’t like having *stuff*, so we just get a magnet to add to our eclectic fridge and a stamp at each National Park.

Pinnacles is HOT. We arrived by 7:30 AM and by the time it was 9 AM, it was scorching. The area is extremely exposed and rocky, and we were there in late June, so the heat was brutal – not exactly kid-friendly. We felt like we spent enough time in the park for our needs though and got a taste of the uniqueness of the landscape. Pinnacles only became a national park in 2013, so is one of the newest (59th – Yosemite, which we visited later on this trip, is one of the oldest at #3!), and is most well known for being the habitat for the previously-extinct California condor. These birds were completely extinct in the wild but were rehabituated by zoo programs throughout the last 20 years, and now there’s a thriving colony up in the pinnacles.

While the park is small, there are two entrances to the park, and they are not connected to each other. We went to the East Entrance which was the most straightforward and had some of the more toddler-friendly hikes. Parking is a doozy, though. If you don’t get there super early, the parking lots fill up, and they are pretty sparse throughout the park so you may have to inadvertently add on another ~1-2 miles to your hike.

We attempted part of the Bear Gulch hike, and didn’t finish since it was really hot and S was getting tired. T slept in our Osprey the whole time, and for the parts that we did explore S was really excited by the huge pinecones and weird rocks. Our hiking strategy has changed drastically with young kids: while they are small enough to be carried, we are able to go almost as long as we want (just have to be cognizant of steep drops where we have to bend down with the carrier), but S is too big to be in a carrier but also not big enough where she can hike 3+ miles. So we tend to just find short, scenic walks where we can take our sweet time for her to stop, play in the dirt, pick up sticks, and throw acorns along the way. Of course, lots of snacks and water are a necessity!

We heard that night-hiking is amazing in Pinnacles, so that the weather isn’t as crazy hot and the stars are amazing in the desert. There are also a bunch of cool caves you can explore when the bat colonies aren’t breeding. We saw a bunch of people camping and I don’t understand how they did it in 115 degree temps, but they were probably able to take advantage of the night hikes.

Hiking with toddlers requires a lot of patience and rest stops!

I’m off to a short girlstrip this week to take advantage of my comparative free time this summer, so will hopefully upload Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Yosemite posts after I return. The summer is flying by – between life admin, kid stuff, interviewing, and traveling, I feel like we have become all booked up this summer already. A few of our favorite local friends have just announced big life changes like moving or new jobs, which has given us more impetus to be think more critically about not having to be “settled” just yet. I think I’ve come around to the fact that we will most likely move from our current house within the next 3-5 years rather than building it out, so am curious to see where we end up! A lot depends on if we end up changing jobs, and how we feel after our next kid (yikes). But for now, we’re just enjoying this time we have and the dog days of summer alternating between the pools and the beaches in our cute town.