Today we're heading down to Pinnacles National Monument with Karen, Valri, and George's family. I've ridden past this beautiful spot on the King City bike ride before, and I've always wanted to check it out more thoroughly. Time to load up the cars and head on out.

It's a great time of year to be making this road trip.

Luckily we've arrived early and have no trouble finding a great spot by the trailhead. Everyone looks like they're ready for fun.

The trail starts out pretty comfortably. But it is going up quite a way.

The first vista point offers great views, and I suspect many people turn around at this point. Our intrepid hikers endeavor to persevere.

What a great place to hang out.

A few group shots with the highest point of the route in the background. We manage to get some great views of some turkey vultures and one or two condors. The two rangers on lookout turned out to be a great help learning about what the park has to offer.

It would have been fun to have taken the whole loop, but it turns out to be way too big a hike for this large a group. Charlotte and I are definitely coming back for more. So back down the bunny trail we go.

We've got a few hungry kids to feed back at the bottom.

Hike number two for the day is out to the caves. We're lucky they're totally open today. This will be such a treat.

These caves were so much fun. Good thing George had a good flash on his camera. I couldn't see anything until he took a picture. My tiny flashlight was only good for making sure I wasn't going to smash my head.

Emerging from the cave presented us with another great view. All I wanted to do was keep going around the lake for another big hike. We are definitely coming back. What an awesome place.