Distance: 9.1 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 2600'
Elevation Gain: 2100'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.7
Round trip time: 5 hours
Recommended water: 72 oz.
Parking/Fees: $35 National Parks Fee (or annual pass)
Difficulty: Moderate
On our third day in Pinnacles, Leisa and I planned a counterclockwise loop along the High Peaks trail, back through the Balconies Cave and Old Pinnacles trail. We started at the Old Pinnacles trailhead, then east on the High Peaks trail. After we reached the ridge line, the Tunnel Trail split right, but we continued on High Peaks. There is a scramble section on this trail going half way up a major pinnacle where steps have been cut into the rock. Railings were also installed, so nothing was difficult. We climbed rock ladders and skirted ledges with railings.
Coming down from the steep and narrow section, we met a group of California condors in the middle of the trail. They stopped traffic in both directions. We saw five rare condors up close and spent about 10 minutes just watching them wander around and interact. I learned that condors don't make cawing sounds like other birds. They grunt and hiss. When they spread their wings or flew, you really got a sense of their size. They are still extremely endangered so it was probably a once in a lifetime encounter. Most had tags and the Pinnacles web site has a bio for each tagged bird. We took the Juniper Canyon trail north to the Balconies trail and took a break. The cave was not far from the junction so we prepped our headlamps.
The Balconies Cave has a narrow entrance and we were shin deep in col, running water again. The cave had traffic going both directions. White arrows painted on the rocks pointed the way through. We ran into a group of three women (grandma, daughter and granddaughter) all trying to navigate through with a single flashlight. They struggled to stay close enough to see where to go and also were not good at following the arrows. I grew frustrated and semi-scolded the grandma (she was my age) for not having her own light source. Lucky for them, the cave was only about 500' long. It had a single waterfall inside near the end. After leaving the cave, you hike through a creek before the trail starts up again. We completed our loop, then packed up and started home. We had the camp site for one more night, but rain was forecast for the morning and we didn't want to be packing up in the weather. Pinnacles is the newest national park and small, but didn't do any rock climbing so there is plenty more to explore.
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