American Travel Journal

Friday, April 27, 2018

Old Pinnacles Trail - Pinnacles National Park

Our March 2018 visit to Pinnacles National Park continued with a short walk along the Old Pinnacles Trail to its junction with the Bench Trail near Chalone Creek. To reach the trail head from the Visitor Center on the east side of the park, drive southwest on CA 146 for 1.9 miles. Just before the bridge over Chalone Creek, turn right onto Chalone Creek Road and drive 0.6 miles to the end of the road. While the road is paved, the parking area is gravel. Parking is available for about 15 passenger vehicles.

The trail begins at the north end of the parking area. The ¼ mile portion of the trail we walked is mostly level with a crushed or pea gravel packed surface. Even though we visited during the rainy season and had periods of rain all day, the trail surface was well-drained except for a couple of low-lying spots. While the trail didn't provide great scenic vistas, it did provide a nice walk on a dreary day through a riparian ecosystem.

Topographic map with GPS route

Rock outcrop on flank of Machete Ridge

Evidence of fire

Chalone Creek floodplain

Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii)

Standing water on the trail

Another view of the rock outcrop

Typical trail condition

Machete Ridge

Junction with Bench Trail new Chalone Creek

Looking upstream from the trail bridge

Bridge over Chalone Creek

Chalone Creek

One final look at the outcrop before turning back

More evidence of fire

Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia)

Entrance to Pinnacles National Park requires an entry fee of $25 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/pinn.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Visitor Center - Pinnacles National Park

We continued our March 2018 trip to California with a visit to Pinnacles National Park. Established as a national monument in 1908 by Theodore Roosevelt, it became the 59^th national park in 2013. At 26,686 acres (41.7 square miles), the park is the 6^th smallest. On average, about 222,000 visitors enter the park per year or just over 600 per day from 2007 through 2016.

The park is located about 70 miles southeast of San Jose and 40 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. There are two entrances to the park. The west entrance is on California highway 146 about 10 miles east of Soledad. The east entrance is also on CA 146 about 30 miles south of Hollister. Although both routes to the park are signed as CA 146, it is not a continuous route through the park. Driving from one side of the park around to the other side will take 1½ hours or longer. We chose to visit the more developed east side of the park.

The visitor center is located adjacent to CA 146 about two miles south of its junction with CA 25. The visitor center contains an information desk, book store and gift shop, and camp store for the adjacent campground. Restrooms and showers are located in a nearby building.

Visitor center parking

Campground store and visitor center

Entrance

Overview

Shirts and caps

Books and hats

More shirts and hats

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Joshua Tree Visitor Center - Joshua Tree National Park

Our final stop at Joshua Tree National Park during our March 2018 trip to California was at the Joshua Tree Visitor Center in the community of Joshua Tree. Located at 6554 Park Boulevard, the center is one block south of California 62 and five miles northwest of the West Entrance Station of the park. The visitor center contains the usual elements of an information desk, book store, exhibit area, and restrooms. The exhibit area has been remodeled and upgraded since our previous visit in February 2015. The small theater area is now part of the exhibit space. The 15-minute clip from the excellent 2011 park video, Joshua Tree: The Desert Forest, is no longer shown at any of the park's three visitor centers. The small paved parking area has spaces for two handicap placarded vehicles and about twenty passenger vehicles. An overflow gravel lot has space for another twenty vehicles. Free parallel parking on the street is also available. If space is available, RVs may be parked on the street as well.

Parking area

Entrance area

Information desk

Book store

More of the book store

Entering the exhibit area

Everything you wanted to know about the Joshua Tree

Rock climbing

Artists in Residence program

Habitats

The former theater corner now showcases a Mojave and Colorado Desert exhibit

Entrance to Joshua Tree National Park requires an entry fee of $25 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/jotr.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Oasis Visitor Center - Joshua Tree National Park

After leaving the park via the north entrance, we stopped at the Oasis Visitor Center in Twentynine Palms. On our previous visit in February 2015, the Oasis Visitor Center was undergoing seismic remediation. A double wide office trailer served as the temporary visitor center. The renovated visitor center is now open. It is located 3½ miles north of the North Entrance Station of the park and ½ mile south of California 62 on Utah Trail. Parking for two handicap placarded vehicles, two RVs or buses, and over 40 passenger vehicles has been provided.

The visitor center houses the usual components of a NPS visitor center, including an information desk, book store and gift shop, exhibits and artifacts, and restrooms. There is no theater and the excellent 2011 park video, Joshua Tree: The Desert Forest, is no longer shown at any of the visitor centers.

We visited in March 2018.