Ok, so maybe this wasn't the highlight of the trip, but there were peaks. Literally, see the pictures below. Yesterday morning we woke up bright and early and started heading south. Before we got too far, we pit stopped in San Francisco one last time so that Carlos could meet an aunt of his for breakfast that he hasn't seen since he was 5! While he caught up with family, the rest of us killed time at Ghiredelli Square watching chocolate get made and checking out the street vendors. We also got to experience the trolly before leaving San Francisco for good.
We started toward Pinnacles National Park, which is a very hot, dry ranching area inland toward Death Valley. This park is famous for it's small, very rare population of endangered California condors, it's high rocks jetting out from the valley floor, and it's excellent rock climbing landscape. The entire park looks like it went on fire. It is covered with brown grass and shrubs. This type of biome is caled chaperrel, which means it is dominated by a few types of shrub plants under 3 ft tall. These specific plants thrive here because they have adaptations that allow them to survive without much water. For example, many of the plants have seeds that stay dormant in the soil until there is a fire. Fire actually "wakes" up these seeds to start growing. These plants are also able to store water for gradual use later on when it hasn't rained in a while. Pinnacles rarely gets rain, and with the plants that occupy the space, it all works out because these plants are meant to thrive in this environment. That is one part of what makes this particular ecosystem balanced. If it were to suddenly start raining in Pinnacles all the time, the ecosystem would collapse. The plants and animals are not adapted to withstand a lot of water. In my opinion, this area is gorgeous. At night you can see the Milky Way as clear as day, there are so many animals walking around you feel like you're in a Disney movie. Unfortunately our students didn't find PNP as breathtaking as I did.
We didn't end up arriving to our campsite until 5, so we didn't have many daylight hours to enjoy the park. The kids were tired, hungry, and ready to relax. As we cooked and set up tents, organisms started coming out of the woodwork. With hot, arid weather comes fire ants. With primitive campgrounds comes beggars like raccoons and squirrels. I made the mistake of telling the students there were mountain lions in the park. They barely slept the whole night in a panic that a raccoon, coyote or cougar was going to take one of their claws, find the zipper to their tent, open the zipper and proceed to attack them.
Luckily there were no fatalities that night :)
When we got to Pinnalces all they wanted to do was swim and all I wanted to find was a condor. The pool turned out to be closed, which worked well for me. I forced the students to go on a night hike with me to the pinnacles so we could get the data we needed for their habitat project. I thought they would fight me on that kicking and screaming, but they were actually pretty compliant. When we got to the trail head, we read that our hike would be two miles up hill to get to a cave we were interested in checking out. The kids were the first to take off on the hike. They were troopers, hiking at dusk, uphill for that matter. When we got to the cave it was closed. Long-eared bats that roost in the cave needed protection, so we weren't allowed in. The kids were bummed but I used it as an opportunity to remind them of the "balance of life", an ecology concept that is fitting to what they are learning about. Even the most annoying, most dangerous, grossest animals out there all have a role to play to keep the ecosystem healthy. Including bats. Because the main cave was closed, the kids ventured off and discovered their own nooks and crannies. They were troopers!
We never did see a condor. I was disappointed, the kids were indifferent. They just knew that these birds were huge, but had never experienced looking up to see a bird with a 10 ft wing span flying over them. It's an indescribable experience that I wanted them to have. The California condor population in Pinnacles is very small. These birds are highly endangered. They can be found only in California and near the Grand Canyon in Arizona. They are the largest bird in North America. Their numbers are threatened because they consume lead shot. California condors are vultures that only eat dead animals. A hunter may kill a deer with a lead bullet and then lose the deer. Eventually the condors will find it and have a feast. If the bullet the hunter used was lead, the condor will get lead poisoning from ingesting the lead bullet. This is how most of them die. Unfortunately California's policy makers have not yet made lead bullet illegal even though there are many alternatives like copper and bismuth bullets. The condor population is no longer self-sustaining. Their survival at this point is completely reliant on teams of conservationists and researchers to literally babysit these birds. The recovery program is very expensive, yet the complete loss of this species would be devastating, both ecologically and aesthetically. People drive long distances to Pinnacles National Park JUST to see these birds. If they disappear all together we lose a very special piece of the Pinnacles community.
The point of the Pinnacles stop was to show them just how quickly the landscape, climate and dominant plant and animals species can change in just a short drive, and what variables create those differences. I'd say in that way the detour was a success.
We started toward Pinnacles National Park, which is a very hot, dry ranching area inland toward Death Valley. This park is famous for it's small, very rare population of endangered California condors, it's high rocks jetting out from the valley floor, and it's excellent rock climbing landscape. The entire park looks like it went on fire. It is covered with brown grass and shrubs. This type of biome is caled chaperrel, which means it is dominated by a few types of shrub plants under 3 ft tall. These specific plants thrive here because they have adaptations that allow them to survive without much water. For example, many of the plants have seeds that stay dormant in the soil until there is a fire. Fire actually "wakes" up these seeds to start growing. These plants are also able to store water for gradual use later on when it hasn't rained in a while. Pinnacles rarely gets rain, and with the plants that occupy the space, it all works out because these plants are meant to thrive in this environment. That is one part of what makes this particular ecosystem balanced. If it were to suddenly start raining in Pinnacles all the time, the ecosystem would collapse. The plants and animals are not adapted to withstand a lot of water. In my opinion, this area is gorgeous. At night you can see the Milky Way as clear as day, there are so many animals walking around you feel like you're in a Disney movie. Unfortunately our students didn't find PNP as breathtaking as I did.
We didn't end up arriving to our campsite until 5, so we didn't have many daylight hours to enjoy the park. The kids were tired, hungry, and ready to relax. As we cooked and set up tents, organisms started coming out of the woodwork. With hot, arid weather comes fire ants. With primitive campgrounds comes beggars like raccoons and squirrels. I made the mistake of telling the students there were mountain lions in the park. They barely slept the whole night in a panic that a raccoon, coyote or cougar was going to take one of their claws, find the zipper to their tent, open the zipper and proceed to attack them.
Luckily there were no fatalities that night :)
When we got to Pinnalces all they wanted to do was swim and all I wanted to find was a condor. The pool turned out to be closed, which worked well for me. I forced the students to go on a night hike with me to the pinnacles so we could get the data we needed for their habitat project. I thought they would fight me on that kicking and screaming, but they were actually pretty compliant. When we got to the trail head, we read that our hike would be two miles up hill to get to a cave we were interested in checking out. The kids were the first to take off on the hike. They were troopers, hiking at dusk, uphill for that matter. When we got to the cave it was closed. Long-eared bats that roost in the cave needed protection, so we weren't allowed in. The kids were bummed but I used it as an opportunity to remind them of the "balance of life", an ecology concept that is fitting to what they are learning about. Even the most annoying, most dangerous, grossest animals out there all have a role to play to keep the ecosystem healthy. Including bats. Because the main cave was closed, the kids ventured off and discovered their own nooks and crannies. They were troopers!
We never did see a condor. I was disappointed, the kids were indifferent. They just knew that these birds were huge, but had never experienced looking up to see a bird with a 10 ft wing span flying over them. It's an indescribable experience that I wanted them to have. The California condor population in Pinnacles is very small. These birds are highly endangered. They can be found only in California and near the Grand Canyon in Arizona. They are the largest bird in North America. Their numbers are threatened because they consume lead shot. California condors are vultures that only eat dead animals. A hunter may kill a deer with a lead bullet and then lose the deer. Eventually the condors will find it and have a feast. If the bullet the hunter used was lead, the condor will get lead poisoning from ingesting the lead bullet. This is how most of them die. Unfortunately California's policy makers have not yet made lead bullet illegal even though there are many alternatives like copper and bismuth bullets. The condor population is no longer self-sustaining. Their survival at this point is completely reliant on teams of conservationists and researchers to literally babysit these birds. The recovery program is very expensive, yet the complete loss of this species would be devastating, both ecologically and aesthetically. People drive long distances to Pinnacles National Park JUST to see these birds. If they disappear all together we lose a very special piece of the Pinnacles community.
The point of the Pinnacles stop was to show them just how quickly the landscape, climate and dominant plant and animals species can change in just a short drive, and what variables create those differences. I'd say in that way the detour was a success.