BGuthrie Photos: CA -- Pinnacles National Park (West)

CA -- Pinnacles National Park (West):

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[1] PINNAC_130725_001_STITCH.JPG

[2] PINNAC_130725_003.JPG	[3] PINNAC_130725_007.JPG	[4] PINNAC_130725_009.JPG
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. PINNAC_130725_007.JPG: First People of Pinnacles For thousands of years, Chalon, Mutsun, Chapana, and Pagsin people (called Ohlone by others) lived in this area. Modern members of these tribes, still living in the reigon, work with park staff to expand knowledge of their ancestors' relationship with this land -- its plants, animals, and waters -- and how tey managed it for centuries.
2. PINNAC_130725_009.JPG: Era of Rapid Change: The people of this area saw many changes in the 1700s and 1800s. California became part of Spain, then Mexico, and finally the United States. Each change brought new waves of settlers. This devastated Native American populations through exotic diseases, disruption of traditional lifeways, and intentional persecution. Spanish Settlers: Just west of here in the Salinas Valley, the Spanish established Soledad Mission in 1791. Their quest was to convert local indigenous people to Christianity and to expand Spanish colonization. They abandoned the mission fifty years later. Frontier Seekers: Like many who followed the California Gold Rush, Henry Melville settled near here in 1874. His copper mining brought him no wealth, but it offers insight into ways people tried to make a living from this landscape. Homesteaders: Near where you stand, homesteaders once worked a small farm in this challenging arid climate. Harrison Lyons and his wife Margaret Onsott Lyons came from Ohio around 1885 and stayed for the next 25 years.
3. PINNAC_130725_012.JPG: Leaving and Legacy: Consider people who were influenced by the Pinnacles. Some of them shaped how we use and care for it today. With your visit, you benefit from the contributions of past generations. How does your care affect the next generation? Knowledge Preserved: Ascencion Solorsano de Cervantes, the last Mustan traditional doctor, gathered plant materials at Pinnacles. In 1929 at age 83, she provided information to Smithsonian linguist JP Harrington, leaving a priceless record of the Matsun language, plant uses, and ways. A National Monument formed: One prominent homesteader, Schuyler Hain, sought to set aside these lands for the American people. Hain worked tirelessly to enlist the interest of politicians and the public. His successful efforts led to the creation of the national monument in 1908. An Enduring Trail System: Have you visited the reservoir? Walked trails to the High Peaks or caves? The "boys of the CCC" (Civilian Conservation Corps) built these features during the Great Depression. They came from all over the country for jobs in national parks.
4. PINNAC_130725_039.JPG: Return to Condor Crags The rocky spires of Condor Crags are seen rising above you, named by those who once saw California condors soaring over these lofty formations. In 2003, Pinnacles National Monument became part of a cooperative program to restore these endangered birds back to their wild, ancestral home. The program's goal is to reestablish a wild, self-sustaining population of condors. The high rocks of Pinnacles National Monument were historically used as nest and roost sites for condors. As the recovery program increases the number of wild-living condors, these rocky areas will once again be home to this huge soaring bird.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Pinnacles National Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pinnacles National Park is a U.S. National Park protecting a mountainous area located east of the Salinas Valley in Central California, about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Soledad and 80 miles (130 km) southeast of San Jose. The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano that has moved 150 miles (240 km) from its original location on the San Andreas Fault, embedded in a portion of the California Pacific Coast Ranges. Pinnacles is managed by the National Park Service and the majority of the park is protected as wilderness.

The national park is divided by the rock formations into East and West Divisions, connected by foot trails; there is no through road that connects the east and west entrances to the park. The east side has shade and water, the west has high walls. The rock formations provide for spectacular pinnacles that attract rock climbers. The park features unusual talus caves that house at least thirteen species of bat. Pinnacles is most often visited in spring or fall because of the intense heat during the summer months. Park lands are prime habitat for prairie falcons, and are a release site for California Condors that have been hatched in captivity.

Pinnacles National Monument was established in 1908 by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Pinnacles National Park was created from the former Pinnacles National Monument by legislation passed by Congress in late 2012 and signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 10, 2013.

History

Native Americans in the Pinnacles region comprised the Chalon and Mutsun groups of the Ohlone people, who left stone artifacts in the park. These native people declined with the arrival of the Spanish in the 18th century, who brought novel diseases and changes to the natives' way of life. The last Chalon had died or departed from the area by 1810. From 1810 to 1865, when the first Anglo-American settlers arrived, the Pinnacles region was a wilderness without human use or habitation. The establishment of a Spanish mission at Soledad hastened the area's native depopulation through disease and dispersion. Archaeological surveys have found thirteen sites inhabited by native Americans, twelve of which post-date the establishment of the missions. One site is believed to be about 2000 years old.

By the 1880s the Pinnacles, then known as the Palisades, were visited by picnickers from the surrounding communities who would explore the caves and camp. The first account of the Pinnacles region appeared in print in 1881, describing the Balconies area. Between 1889 and 1891, newspaper articles shifted from describing excursions to the "Palisades" to calling them the "Pinnacles." Interest in the area rose to the point that the Hollister Free Lance sent a reporter to the Pinnacles, followed two months later by a party of local officials. Investors came from San Francisco to consider placing a resort hotel there, but the speculation came to nothing. In 1894 a post office was established in Bear Valley. Schuyler Hain was the postmaster. Since there was at least one other Bear Valley in California, the post office was named "Cook" after Mrs. Hain's maiden name. In 1924 the post office was renamed "Pinnacles."

Schuyler Hain was a homesteader who arrived in the Pinnacles area in 1891 from Michigan, following his parents and eight siblings to Bear Valley. His cousin, A.W. White, was a student at Stanford University, and White brought one of his professors to see the Pinnacles in 1893. Dr. Gilbert was impressed by the scenery, and his comments inspired Hain to publicize the region. Hain led tours to Bear Valley and through the caves, advocating the preservation of the Pinnacles. Hain's efforts resulted in a 1904 visit by Stanford president David Starr Jordan, who contacted Fresno Congressman James C. Needham. Jordan and Needham in turn influenced Gifford Pinchot to advocate the establishment of the Pinnacles Forest Reserve to President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt proclaimed the establishment on July 8, 1906. Pinchot, who was primarily interested in the management of forests for productive use rather than for preservation, advocated the use of the recently passed Antiquities Act to designate the scenic core of the area as Pinnacles National Monument, which was done by Roosevelt on January 16, 1908. This designation nominally passed control of the Pinnacles from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Interior, but the U.S. Forest Service retained effective control of the area until circa 1911.

In his efforts to promote the Pinnacles, Hain became convinced that the Pinnacles were an "extraordinary mountain" described by Captain George Vancouver and pictured by John Sykes in his book Voyage of Discovery, which documented the Vancouver Expedition. Hain began to refer to the mountain as "Vancouver's Pinnacles," a term that was picked up by Sunset in a 1903 article. References to "Vancouver's Pinnacles" persisted until 1955, when analysis of the Sykes picture indicated that the mountain described by Vancouver was actually located near Fort Ord, within easy reach of the day trip described by Vancouver.

National Monument

First set aside as part of the Pinnacles Forest Reserve in 1906, Pinnacles has had several different federal management agencies, ranging from the U.S. Forest Service to the General Land Office and ultimately to the National Park Service. In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt created Pinnacles National Monument with the power given him in the Antiquities Act of 1906. The initial area designated under the Antiquities Act was 2,080 acres (840 ha). The Forest Service relinquished control of the monument circa 1911, but no operating agency yet existed to receive it. No drivable roads existed into the park from communities like Hollister. Hollister boosters campaigned for federal funds for road-building. Congressman Everis A. Hayes made a trip into the Pinnacles in 1913 as part of the campaign for road funds. By 1914 primitive roads extended to Bear Valley.

The National Park Service was finally established in 1916, but Pinnacles was not considered significant enough to command any Park Service resources at that time. In the meantime, a mining claim disrupted access to the traditional picnic grounds. In 1922, following repeated pleas from local residents for Park Service action, superintendent of Yosemite National Park, was directed to visit Pinnacles and report on the circumstances to Park Service director Stephen Mather. Lewis had a difficult trip and stayed only 45 minutes, and his report included a recommendation that the monument be abandoned, since the most scenic sections were in private hands. The General Land Office, which administered lands surrounding the national monument and what was then known as Monterey National Forest, also received complaints, and in December 1922 J.H. Favorite of the GLO made a thorough report which was copied to Mather. Favorite recommended that public domain lands be consolidated into the monument, and that a caretaker be appointed from a local homestead. In 1923 Herman Hermansen was appointed caretaker, and on May 7, 1923 the monument was enlarged by proclamation of President Warren G. Harding.

Mather finally visited the monument on March 28, 1924. A further proclamation, this time by Calvin Coolidge, enlarged the monument on July 2, 1924, securing water sources and campsites, was followed by a directive for a complete survey of the now-2,973-acre (1,203 ha) monument. Following a visit by NPS assistant director Horace M. Albright, money was appropriated to build a ranger's cabin, completed in 1929, while facilities within the caves were improved. Frank A. Kittredge, the Park Service chief of engineering and Thomas Chalmers Vint, Park Service landscape architect, conducted a survey for a five-year improvement plan in 1927. In 1929 condemnation proceedings were filed against private landowners in and around the park, including the mining company, seeking 1,286.27 acres (520.54 ha). An expansion proclamation by President Herbert Hoover added 1,926.35 acres (779.57 ha) in 1931 of land donated by San Benito County. Trail-building was expanded in the early 1930s, including a tunnel for the High Peaks Trail.

In 1933 a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was established for about 200 men who worked on additions to the trail network. After lengthy legal proceedings, the old mining claims were incorporated into the monument in 1958. CCC laborers improved the road in Bear Gulch, built tourist cabins, and constructed the dam at the Bear Gulch reservoir. A fire lookout was built by the CCC on Chalone Peak in 1935, but was destroyed by fire in 1951 and replaced by a frame structure the following year. The park's visitor center and headquarters were built in 1936-37 from local stone. A superintendent's residence was started in 1941 and completed in 1949. The Mission 66 project added lands and new projects, with an emphasis on development of the previously undeveloped west side of the park.

In 1975 the park comprised 16,721 acres (6,767 ha), growing to the present 26,606 acres (10,767 ha) through a series of additions including the 2,000-acre (810 ha) Pinnacles Ranch. The most recent addition to the Pinnacles National Monument was president Bill Clinton's Proclamation 7266 that increased the size of the monument by 7,900 acres (32 km2) and to include more caves.

National Park status

Legislation to make Pinnacles National Monument a national park passed the United States Senate on December 30, 2012, having passed the House in June 2012. The bill also designates the present Pinnacles Wilderness as the Hain Wilderness in commemoration of Schuyler Hain's efforts to establish the national monument. The legislation was signed by President Barack Obama on Thursday, January 10, 2013. The change in designation does not change the park's status, management, or purpose. Congress specified in the 1970 General Authorities Act and the 1978 Redwood Act that all units of the National Park System are to be treated on equal status, regardless of title. Pinnacles is the ninth unit in the National Park System in California to be named a national park.
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