July 16
The sun was already up by 6 AM. I figured if I left this early for Pinnacles NP I would beat everyone to the parking lot for the Balconies Cliff and Cave trails. This being July and a Sunday, the NPS’s website said by 10 AM the place would be way past capacity. Well, the associated heat warning must have kept folks at home… temps were to get up to 110 deg F. When I left around 10 AM there were no crowds, just a few cars here and there. The early morning hours helped by having temps in the 70s. My plan was to take the Balconies Cave Trail (5.2 miles round-trip when combined with the Balconies Cliff Trail for the return). If you ever make it to this park, this is one of those must-take hikes. Be sure to bring some sort of light source. The two ends of the cave section have sunlight, but the center does not. A family of five from near Channel Islands NP in Southern California were going to spend the day hiking in the park. They had headlamps and flashlights. I asked if I could “bring up the rear” and off we went. No horizontal belly wiggling required, but there were some tight vertical spots, plus a bit of scrambling. There is also a tunnel section in the other main park hike, the High Peaks Trail. A ranger I talked to today said he prefers the Balconies Cave. But do both if you make it to the park. I saw my first Acorn Woodpecker. These guys do not fly around Ohio. The park has western (off highway US 101) and eastern (off route 25) entrances, but most people opt for the eastern portal, especially since the road on the west side is a bit nerve wracking. The VC shares a building with a general store. If you need food, ice, or other park-type items, this small shop has it. The city of Hollister, just north on route 25, has all the modern amenities you could want, so is a great place to stay before and/or after a visit to Pinnacles.
It is a 3.5-hour drive from Pinnacles to Cesar Chavez NMon. Just let Google Maps do the route planning. Many CA state routes are 4-lane and 65 mph, so you can get places pretty quickly. Granted, I was about the only one trying to adhere to the posted limits. 90 mph average was my estimate on CA 99 and CA 46. If Californians say they support combating climate change, wasting all that gasoline (and increased emissions) by driving so fast is not exactly fitting into the gameplan (and don’t forget the traffic jams on all the interstates around SF). As I reached the east side of Bakersfield, I checked the car’s ambient air temperature gauge. 113 deg F. Now that is hot. The Southwest for the past couple of weeks has had a heat dome sitting in the atmosphere. Southern Cal is definitely sweltering.
The monument is in a small town called Keene. Chavez had the United Farm Workers union move its headquarters from Delano to this town in 1971. The town was isolated, and the 187-acre section he bought had buildings for residences, kitchens, and a hospital. The reason for such accommodations is that the property had been a sanatorium for TB patients.
With an increase in elevation from the valley, the outside temp was only 106 degrees.
The UFW’’s old HQ building is now the park’s VC and museum. The lady at the front counter said Chavez’s office is still in the back corner of the building, looking exactly like it did when he left. When he died in 1993 due to unexplained natural causes, he was brought back to La Paz (the name of the property) for burial. He had been in Arizona helping to thwart a court case brought by Bruce Church and its Red Coach lettuce brand against the UFW.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Paul Chavez. He was with a friend, walking through the Museum and the compound explaining details. He asked me about my Quest tee-shirt. Paul has seven brothers and sisters. All continue the fight for which their dad campaigned during his life.
As for how important Cesar Chavez is to California, if not the entire country, the State of California has eleven holidays, with nine matching Federal holidays. One of the two state specific days is Cesar Chavez’s birthday, on March 31. Nothing else needs to be said.