CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Jules’ Journal: Pinnacles National Park

By: Julianne Lillie, 3/24/23

We packed a picnic lunch for the day and were out the RV door by 8:30am. We drove one hour to Pinnacles National Park and arrived at 9:30am. We entered the East Entrance Gate where they gave us a map of the park & 2 Junior Ranger booklets.

The kids started on their booklets as we made our way to the Visitor Center. On our way, we saw a couple deer. Once we made it to the Visitor Center, we realized quickly this wasn’t your typical National Park Visitor Center. It consisted of a Park Store and a Campground store. There was a neighboring campground right there for tent & small RV camping. We stamped our passports & bought souvenirs. But we were disappointed there weren’t any exhibits or Park Video. It was a very small National Park in terms of size and # of staff. The National Park should pump some money in it to fix it up (including roads), expand parking lots, and put in a decent Visitor Center to accommodate the many visitors.

There were only 2 areas that were parking lots with trail heads. We went to Bear Gulch parking area & got lucky. We pulled in as soon as someone was leaving so, we got to pull right in and park. Again, tiny parking lot… maybe only 20 cars could fit. It was a beautiful view of some of the Pinnacles!

We learned that the Pinnacles are pink colored lava stone from an ancient volcano. The explosion caused rocks to be blasted out of the side of the already existing mountains and those large boulders, once landed, became lodged between other mountains creating the caves.

We bundled up since the temperature was in the high 40s and windy! Well, maybe only I bundled up!

We started on the Rim Trail up the Mountain. It was a beautiful trail! The bright green moss and colorful lichen on the pink lava rock made for a very colorful view everywhere you looked!

There was also a little stream strickling that we meandered along on our way up.

The higher in elevation we reached, the more scenic views we took in!

Jaycie saw a California Condor soaring high. (I somehow missed it!) We saw some pretty wildflowers along the trail also.

Then, just as we were approaching the top with steep views into the canyon, we rounded the corner and...

...saw the beautiful Reservoir and waterfall!

Jaycie also saw a not so timid squirrel who posed for us!

We then climbed across the reservoir and bouldered around for some more breathtaking views of the Pinnacles’ peaks & spires!

On top of the waterfall!

We then crossed back over and went down to explore Bear Gulch Cave. We got great views of the waterfall from the base of the cave.

We went through the top part of the cave only since the bottom parts were full of 3 feet of water!

There were some tricky parts due to all the water they've gotten lately!

We then hiked through the cave and merged into the Moses Spring trail which we took back to the parking area. It was a bit harder trail as there was more bouldering and scrambling. We saw another trickling tall waterfall!

Jaycie was able to get a photo of the bottom of it with a rainbow!

We also caught a glimpse of several very pretty mushrooms!

It was such an interesting and FUN hike! Jaycie said it was her most favorite hike ever! Total hike was a little over 2 miles down and back. And an extra .05 mile for bouldering & cave exploration. So, by now we are getting hungry! We found a nice picnic table and ate lunch.

Kids earned their 92nd Junior Ranger Badge!

We then drove 1 hour back to camp for a little rest before we headed back to Paso Robles for an evening in a field of lights!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: Field of Lights

By: Jaycie Lillie, 3/24/23

We went to see a field of lights in Paso Robles called Sensorio. The lights were all made of recycled plastic and hand placed.

There were SO many lights – over 100,000! Between light towers and fairy wands there was barely any grass. The light towers were made from bottles [glass] and LED lights.

The fairy wands were in the valley. They changed colors and one group went out. While maintenance was working on fixing it another group of lights went out! After a while all were back on. Here are what they looked like.

In the back of the field was magic grass [ya’ll know I made up these names.] But I can’t say lights for each one]. The magic grass swayed in the harsh, cold wind. There wasn’t very much magic grass.

Jett and I got hot chocolate. It tasted yummy. The wind made us so cold, but the hot chocolate warmed us up!

We would have stayed longer if not for the cold & windy weather.

Jett’s Wild Flight: The Place of CHAMPIONS!

By: Jett Lillie, 3/25/23

We awoke in the “car alarm campground.” It’s called the “car alarm campground” because 2 nights in a row our car alarm went off for no reason at 6am! We ate breakfast and left “car alarm campground” to drive 40 minutes to Garrapata Beach. We hiked down into the valley to see all the wild Cala Lilies.

Then we drove up Highway 1 and shopped at Carmel By-the-Sea. We got a yummy pretzel at a bakery; it was super salty. So good!

After we shopped, we drove to the most famous golf course in the US, PEBBLE BEACH! We ate a picnic lunch and drove on the 17-mile drive sight-seeing (and sometimes smelling the rotten seaweed) and feeling the ocean breeze.