Pinnacles NM

November 2004

One of my hiking buddies was moving up from LA to San Jose during November and stopped by one weekend for a visit. The weather looked good and I had a photography itch to scratch. Pinnacles NM was on his way, so I suggested we stop on in for a Sunday of hiking. I hopped on my motorcycle and rode up north from Santa Barbara. It was the first long ride I'd done in quite some time, but the land was beautiful. The 101 ran through the large vinyards of SLO county and the dustbowl and the grape vines were turning, making the hillsides appear as if covered with gold. When we finally got to Pinnacles, it was getting a bit late and the sun had started to set. The red-orange sunlight was shining off the High Peaks making the rock glow as if it was on fire. I'd never seen a sunset on the West side, and it was amazing. By the time we had reached the top of the High Peaks the sun was setting so fast the light was changing in a matter of seconds, and I had to try to line up shots quicker then I had in a long time. Then it was a hike back down in the gloaming with the shilouettes of the rocks rising upwards on either side. It kind of makes me sad there's no camping there since I can just imagine how gorgeous the rocks must look like under a full moon.

The Photographs

The pictures were taken with my Minolta system on a roll of Kodachrome PKL 200. Click on "Next" in the upper right to begin.