First thing on our agenda: find food. Second thing: figure out how to take the cable car to Ghirardelli Square. Can you believe I’ve been to San Francisco 6 or 7 times and I’ve never ridden the cable car?  We had breakfast and coffee at a café on Union Square, just a couple of blocks from our hotel. We found the cable car stop on the Square and waited patiently for one to come our way. The next conductor to pull up yelled, “Come on tourists! Get on board!” He was hilarious, cracking jokes the whole time. By the halfway point, the car was so full, we couldn’t let any new passengers on.  He said, “Sorry, tourists! I have the heart of George Bush and Dick Cheney. No one’s getting on this stop!”  Katie and I decided to get off a Lombard Street and walk to Ghirardelli Square from there. It was a beautiful day for San Fran – breezy and perfectly sunny. We stopped at the Ghirardelli chocolate store for obvious reasons, popped into a couple of shops, then proceeded down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant in the Cannery called the Blue Mermaid. I ordered the lobster bisque and an amazing tuna steak sandwich. Katie found the best cioppino in the city.

After lunch we wandered down to Pier 39 with the sea lions. We got some clear pics of Alcatraz, but the Golden Gate bridge was completely obscured by thick clouds of fog. Around 2:00 we parted ways. I had to get on the road if I wanted to get a hike in today!

I had bought a book titled “250 Great Hikes in California’s National Parks,” on which I based my trip. My first stop was Pinnacles National Monument to hike the Bear Gulch Caves. By the time I made it there (around 4:30/5:00), it was quite a while until sunset, but it was definitely on the way to dusk. I stopped to take photos of the Pinnacles themselves, dubbed “Condor Crags” for the endangered birds being rehabilitated on this protected land. The pinnacles rocks were formed about 23 million years ago when the San Andreas Fault split the Neenach Volacano and the Pacific Plate moved north, carrying the Pinnacles. Further erosion by wind and water created the unusual formations seen today.

I strapped on my pack and began my solo hike to the caves. There were only 2 other cars in the parking lot, and not another soul in sight. To be honest, I was a little creeped out, so I was on my guard for strange animals (or people) along the trail. I follow the trail directions until I came to the fork to the caves. That trail was blocked by a gate with a sign reading “The Bear Gulch Cave is closed each year from mid-May through mid-July. The cave is used by Townsend’s Big-eared bats as a place to raise their young.” Okay… so I guess I won’t be hiking the caves after all!

I continued down the open trail for another 20 minutes or so, then decided to head back. I stopped to take photos of cool rock formations and flowers (for you, Carey!) along the way. Roundtrip, my hike last a little over an hour and a half. I left the park without seeing any birds, which I thought was odd. About two miles south of the park entrance, I passed a flock of big black birds with white and red markings under their wings feeding on roadkill. I later figured out that they were condors! Go figure – I had to leave the park to see a flock of them in the wild.

I made my way down this beautiful, winding back-country road. The sunset was spectacular. I finally made it to my hotel in Paso Robles safely around 11pm.