[conspire] Public hike: Pinnacles National Park, morning, Thu. Mar. 23, 2023

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Elise Scher (elise.scher01 at gmail.com):

> Hi Rick,
>      Thank you for inviting me. But I am hoping to substitute then. But it
> sounds like fun.

Which reminds me:  Once a driver has paid the $30 vehicle entrance fee
for Pinnacles National Park, the driver gets a receipt good for
additional vists for _a week_.  And so, it is extremely likely that I
will make at least one additional day-trip to either the east side of
the park (again), accessed from CA-25 south of Hollister, or to the
more-familiar-to-me west entrance, accessed from Soledad on the US-101
corridor in Salinas River Valley.

(Each of the two sides of the park has an access road and entrance
station.  The road does _not_ connect across the park, but hiking trails
do.)

Anyway, just to stress:  This is _the best_ time of year to visit
Pinnacles NP.  I've visited twice in past years in the summer:  Luckily,
I brought lots of drinking water, because it gets hot -- like, Danville
in August hot.


By the way, a side-trip is also possible from Pinnacles East, via a
drive of a bit over an hour on County Route J-1 (Panoche Road) to 
Mercey Hot Springs, a funky family-run historic resort built on a
natural hot springs, in a small valley just west of I-5 / Firebaugh.  A
day-pass to soak in the tubs and spring-fed swimming pool from noon to
5pm is currently $50/person.

I like hot springs (see: http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/hot-springs), and 
have never visited Mercey Hot Springs, even though it's almost the
closest hot springs to here, and certainly the most attractive and
accessible one nearby.

In theory, one could leave early, do the 99 mile drive to Pinnacles
East, finish up a hike by 11am, drive to Mercey Hot Springs, soak five
hours, and return home via I-5 and Pacheco Pass (CA-152).

Attractions nearby on the _West_ Pinnacles side include Chalone
Vineyard, just outside the park boundary -- apparently another nice
place to visit, and best known for white varietal wines.