Leaving Walnut Creek today the drive down the highway is very smoky. There are several fires around California and we are thinking of all the firefighters especially our friend Bill Moody.
The drive to The Pinnacles NP is very narrow and windy and I have to slow down quite a bit as the edge of the road is very close to the car.
We arrive at the visitor centre and are surprised to find they have 83 campsites so we find one and go back to the visitor centre to pay. The next surprise is that there are showers at this campground (very rare for US campgrounds) Happy Days!!!! Once we set up the tent we drive out to explore the park it's quite small compared to the other parks we have visited (our Annual pass has got a massive workout well worth the $80) and it does not have a road running all the way through so we drive out as far as we can and then hike up to check out the caves which have been formed by falling boulders. Just a short hike today.
At the visitors centre they warned us about the local raccoon population and reiterated keeping our tent closed storing our food either in the bearproof lockers (no bears though) or the car and keep all windows completely closed. I was quite worried about the raccoons and thought we would be overrun by them. We watched as the condors soared in and settled in nearby trees for the night we counted over 30 of them. As it got dark we were very vigilant and put all our food away. We decided to go for a walk with our torches and check things out....still no raccoons.....it was a very bright, moonlit night and perfect for a walk. As we got back to our tent we heard some rustling in a nearby tree and A raccoon climbed down and wandered off in the opposite direction ....so much for being overrun I had to laugh!!!
Another great camping experience and a little sad that it is our last for this trip. So looking forward to our next camping adventure whenever that may be.
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