Pinnacles National Park and Pit Stop at Mare Island

Monterey, CA was in our rear view mirror as we headed east on narrow winding roads towards Pinnacles National Park. We were supposed to be driving to Yosemite National Park but a late winter snowfall required use of chains there so my lovely wife found an alternate choice with Pinnacles instead. It was a big disappointment for Bonnie because she has always wanted to visit Yosemite and got up in the middle of the night to get online for a reservation beating out others at 3am. We will try again some day in the future.

We arrived at Pinnacles and scored a “first come, first serve” RV site right inside the park which provided us with a 30 amp power hookup but no direct water or sewer connection. Several nearby potable water spigots enabled us to fill up our 37 gallon fresh water tank. This RV site also gave us easy access to nearby trails and provided a nice natural view from two sides inside our trailer.

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Unfortunately, the park’s bathroom and shower facilities were not usable due to a full septic tank but several “porta-o-john” toilets were available. Also, the RV dump station where we would normally empty our 39 gallon black tank wasn’t operational due to a collapsed septic tank that had to be replaced. This wasn’t an immediate problem because the Airstream has its own waste water tanks but it meant we must conserve water and find an alternate place to empty our grey and black water tanks. No one wants to burn expensive fuel (gas prices were as high as $4.59 a gallon in California) by carrying extra “dirty water” weight when you don’t have to !!!

Pinnacles National Park was designated as a national monument by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1908 and recently became a national park in 2013. The park’s extensive acreage preserves a mountainous wilderness area east of the Salinas Valley in Central California which is located about 80 miles southeast of San Jose. The park is named after tall mountain cliffs and spires that were created when an extinct volcano was moved 200 miles from its original location along the massive San Andreas Fault. It also provides critical nesting areas for the endangered California Condor and several species of bats. It is also a very popular place for rock climbing beginners.

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This national park offered many well marked trails along scenic streams, mountain hills, and rocky caverns. We hiked several times on trails that ran along the banks of beautiful Sandy Creek. We also hiked on the Bench Trail to explore caverns at Bear Gulch. The caves at Bear Gulch are talus caves which were formed when boulders fell and formed a stone roof over a narrow valley. Bonnie and I walked through dark, narrow, wet, and winding paths through several caves but decided we didn’t have bright enough flashlights with us to safely go further. So, we ended up back-tracking and temporarily got lost when we missed a critical turn on the trail. Luckily we had a paper map to figure out where we made a wrong turn because there was no cell service inside the park. Here are some great pics of the Pinnacles park that were captured while we hiked several trails…

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Eventually, we hiked our way out to another trail that took us back towards our campsite and we encountered some wild turkeys in our path. A large male turkey was hidden under a large tree next to the trail and we tried to get a good picture of him but didn’t have a good shot. I couldn’t stop thinking about delicious turkey at Thanksgiving when I saw how big this guy was !!! There was also an adult female turkey walking down the trail right towards us and she wasn’t sure what to do when another pair of hikers approached her from the opposite direction. I did my best to make a realistic turkey call but the big birds didn’t seem to understand what I was saying !!! We ended up seeing quite a few wild turkeys when traveling through the park. Check out these photos of the wild turkeys that Bonnie captured when we were hiking…

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California Condors are considered the largest land bird in North America with a wing span of almost 10 feet wide. In 1987, this bird was considered extinct in the wild but has been reintroduced at several national parks in an effort to save this critically endangered species. Condors are part of the vulture family of scavenger birds and we had hoped to spot some while visiting Pinnacles park. Oddly enough, a large pine tree directly behind our campsite provided a safe night-time roosting site for around 30 common vultures. Bonnie and I watched with amazement as each vulture would gracefully spiral down from the skies above and gently land on its assigned tree branch. This ritual went on for a couple of nights until the vultures decided there was too many people near their tree and they moved to another safe place. Unfortunately, it was too dark to get any photos of this mesmerizing evening event.

California is full of wildflowers in the spring. This year because of much needed record rains and snowfall the flower blooms were off the charts. Unfortunately, we were too far north to experience the spectacle however Pinnacles NP had quite the variety along the trails. Here are a few colorful pics that Bonnie captured …

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One evening, we were talking about spotting condors with a new RV neighbor who occupied the site next to us. We all looked up in the sky to see several large birds flying very high above our heads. Common vultures had already nested in a nearby tree for the night so what birds were still flying so high up in the sky above us? Everyone grabbed binoculars and we collectively realized that these birds were actually a flock of rare California Condors soaring above our heads !!! It was amazing to see such a large group of critically endangered birds soaring free once again.

Pinnacles National Park isn’t as well known as many other national parks but it was definitely worth the visit. We left the park and headed further north towards Vallejo, CA where we planned on visiting with Bonnie’s cousin. Trish (Bonnie’s cousin) and Rick Gonzalez are two of our favorite people and we had previously enjoyed a visit to their home on Mare Island before we started full-time RV travel. As you can see from previous posts, they were a big part of our two months in CA, meeting us in Bakersfield and inviting us to join them for a party in Arroyo Grande.

Mare Island is a coastal peninsula located in the city of Vallejo, California, about 23 miles northeast of San Francisco. It was the site of the first U.S. Naval base and shipyard installation on the west coast and served the U.S. Navy for almost 150 years before closure in 1996. The ballistic missile submarine (USS Stonewall Jackson) that I served on in the 1980’s was built at Mare Island in 1962. Most of the island has been redeveloped for both residential and commercial use and daily ferries carry residents to/from San Francisco so it is a very desirable place to live !!!

Trish and Rick are fantastic hosts who had asked their neighbors if it was OK for us to park our Airstream trailer in front of their home for a week or two. This meant that the neighbors wouldn’t be able to park cars in front of their own homes and we didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. Rick insisted he had cleared everything with the neighbors and even cut off a low hanging tree branch so it wouldn’t be a problem when we parked (thanks again Rick). We carefully made our way across the bridge from Vallejo to Mare Island and made a “pit stop” at their house for almost a week. Trish is a great cook and Rick is awesome on the grill so we ate some delicious meals and enjoyed walking their spoiled pit bull dog, named Binky, who just loves to be petted and rubbed.

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One afternoon, Trish and Rick took us to Stags Leap Winery where we sampled great wines in an upscale tasting room and took in a scenic view of Napa Valley hills around the vineyard. Next, they treated us to a fantastic picnic lunch at Chateau Montelena Winery in Calistoga, CA. Trish had prepared a huge basket full of assorted meats, cheeses, hummus, olives, and vegetables along with a nice bottle of wine from Chateau Montelena vineyard. A lake and gardens around the chateau are beautiful and provided us with a great place to picnic and taste some great wines afterwards. Trish had a strange encounter with a large swan that decided it was going to block her path when we walked around the lake after lunch. I personally believe it was some type of mating ritual but Trish didn’t think it was that funny. Here are some pics of Stag’s Leap Vineyard…

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The Chateau Montelena Winery was constructed in 1888 and was originally called A.L. Tubbs winery after its founder Alfred Tubbs. It was intended as a barrel-aging facility but was converted into a modern winery in 1972. Rick and Trish are members of the chateau’s wine club so they had a nice supply of vintage wines to share with us. Here is a Wikipedia link to learn more about Chateau Montelena: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chateau_Montelena if you are interested in learning more. Here are a few pics of our visit and the beautiful grounds…

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Rick likes to drink good whiskey and he invited me to a tasting event at Savage & Cooke Distillery which recently opened its doors on Mare Island in 2018. The distillery is located at a former U.S. Navy supply building and the owner (winemaker David Phinney) spared no expense when restoring the historical building into a destination for whisky lovers. I much prefer single malt scotch whiskey over bourbons or ryes but I was happy to go along with Rick and try a sample flight of small batch whiskey. I enjoyed a guided tour of the building and Rick seemed to really enjoy the whiskey. Here is a photo of us at the distillery along with some cool photos of the building…

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Trish and Rick spoiled us so much that we spent Easter with them and enjoyed a visit to the farmer’s market in Vallejo. Trish took us to Mare Island Brewery where I sampled some local beers on a sunny afternoon along the Napa River. “Muchas Gracias” to Trish and Rick for taking such good care of us during our pit stop at their home – we love you guys !!!

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Next stop would be a Habitat for Humanity build in Dixon, CA which is near Napa Valley….