Pinnacles! Third time for the boys.

My first impression of Pinnacles NP was not a great one.  I went down for a day trip to do some climbing.  That's when I realized not all National Parks are created equal and neither are the rock quality... 

Kai practicing his "big" unicycle (16 in wheels).  Still hasn't got a consistent free mount... 

Went on a morning run with Sam... turns out the "trail" is a fence line...

here's Sam's better track: https://www.strava.com/activities/1541995691

we were "running" late

but it was worth it

And our wives are cool.  They weren't (too) mad.  

Then we took the boys to the caves... 

Sara's ma

and ended up going on a long hike: https://www.strava.com/activities/1540336275

fun trails... 

the kids loved it.  The mamas and papas were on their toes

lunch at the reservoir

taking the high road

the kids in the lead

really helps if the kids can keep each other's morale high on these long hikes.  

Staring at the the Cali Condors

The view wasn't bad either...

and the scrambling was A+

Deia with a purple can.

Cali Condor

not sure why, but Nikko punch!

back at the car.  And the kids got pre-frozen snowcones for a treat (I've never seen those before)...

Sam the grillmaster wasting no time.. 

Nikko displaying proper dinner etiquette

The next day the kids got their Jr. Ranger badges.

and we took them climbing!

We stopped by Stefan's on the way home... 

Pano: N. Chalone Peak summit with Sam

Sam and I went on a morning run in Pinnacles on Sat.  The proposed route looked nice on paper.  A big 15 mile loop on trails up to S. Chalone and N. Chalone peak.  Plus we also heard that there is a nesting pair of California Condors on N. Chalone...

But the situation changed quite dramatically when the trail fizzled to nothing at mile 2 and we had to bushwack/walk up the creek for a mile or so.  Then we realized that the very straight trail turned out to be the barbed wire fence marking the boundary of the national park.  So the first 6 miles took 2 hours.  An hour or so behind schedule... and we didn't have time to mess around and look for the birdies... but all in all an adventure.  And we caught a beautiful sunrise, and had a great run on the second half.

From Sam's watch...

Back to Pinnacles!

nice view... over looking San Jose

Had a great time at Pinnacles NP over Turkey Week, so we decided to go back.  James booked a group site, and we were set for a hiking/biking/climbing weekend with the kiddos.

That Friday, I decided to get up early and pedal down.  I figured Kimbo would catch me somewhere near Gilroy, but she hit some major traffic.  The ride was fine... I got soaked in the rain... and the road after Gilroy down to Pinnacles is flat with lots of traffic and not a big shoulder.  Good ride to prep me for my up coming 600k and 400ks that I've previously posted about.

Sat was a really fun day, as we biked to a hike/climb and the kiddos did great!

 

made it! 160 miles later... that was slow.  

the pool... yup, it gets HOT here.

the crew biking up! Notice the shoulder... 

Otto Laurel

not sure what there are... can't find em here: https://www.nps.gov/pinn/learn/nature/plants.htm

Off the bike, and on to the hike!~

Go Kai Go!

dinner time!

Smore time!

Brekky time!

This is the barn with a brochure... not really worth checking out.

but this burl on this oak is...

on the way home, went directly up to Sibley.

and to Moses' to pick up Mingie.  Check out this crib that his dad made.  Amazing.  

Love this vid: