Pinnacles National Park
Rising out of the chaparral-covered Gabilan Mountains, east of central California's Salinas Valley, are the spectacular remains of an ancient volcanic field. Massive monoliths, spires, sheer-walled canyons and talus passages define millions of years of erosion, faulting and tectonic plate movement. ...
Pinnacles National Park is a protected mountainous area located east of central California's Salinas Valley, about 5 miles (8.0 km) east ofSoledad and about 80 miles (130 km) southeast of San Jose. The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinctvolcano 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. 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 forprairie 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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinnacles_National_Park
If you can, to get there I'd recommend taking California Highway 25, running semi-vertically to the east of the park. It is if someone had placed a two-lane blacktop in a remnant of Old California ranching country. Admittedly, it has been several years since I took that drive, but I am hoping there are enough sensible local people that the strip-malls, condos and federally mandated 'vibrant' third-world resettlement communities have yet to tsunami in.
Any season of the year would be beautiful, but I'd recommend spring or fall, unless you enjoy the dry shimmering desert-like heat among the volcanic boulder outcroppings in the summer. Also in the early spring the wildflowers should be blooming, swaying and beckoning you onward along the graceful curves of California 25/Airline Highway.
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