We’d been half-heartedly trying to plan the trek to the Pinnacles National Park for several months — but never could pull all of the details together. Cindy must have gotten tired of waiting for she somehow managed to nail down a date and recruit one of her colleagues into joining her. Thankfully, she also threw the invitation my way as well.
As the day approached, the weather report was trending in a wet direction. In order to make it work, we’d have to get on the road early and keep our hiking pace at a steady clip. I was a wee bit nervous that my body would rebel; I’m used to ample time to stop, snap a photo, stretch, or snack along my hikes. Cindy’s friend was young, capable, and aggressive.
We were not far into our 1+ drive when the skies began opening up and dumping rain by the bucket. We contemplated turning back but the car kept rolling onward as we hemmed and hawed. Soon, we were past the midway point, making it even harder to turn back.
Our motto was “we won’t melt.” And still, I said a little prayer [in the interest of safety] that we’d get a little break from the rain.
We weren’t 3 miles from the gates when the rain magically stopped. It stayed dry for the entire 5 hours of hiking and then, as we were driving our weary bodies towards the nearest coffee shop, the rain returned with all the fierceness as before. We felt pretty lucky to have enjoyed the fabulous day of exploring the peaks, caves, and little reservoir.
I even tried to reenact young YaYa’s planking picture from years ago when I was there with him and theMAN.
It’s close but definitely not as cute as his picture.
