After our first real cave experience as a family in South Dakotas wonderful Wind Cave I knew we wanted more. So when we decided to spend a few days in Pinnacles NP in California, and we found that there was a hike that included a cave, we decided to go for it. Now, this cave was very different than Wind Cave. It is much smaller, but you can do it on your own and do not need to join a guided tour. You have to bring your own light and it would not be possible to do this part of the hike without a flashlight. We made sure to bring a headlamp for each person that would walk on their own. Peter was still too little and had to be carried.
Emelie also got to be carried at times.
The hike was interesting enough but the highlight was definitely the cave. There were several narrow sections and also tunnels on the way to the cave.
At the entrance to one of the tunnles.
I remember Emelie thinking that she had already been in the cave after going through the tunnel. Her, and our, excitement when we finally got to the entrance was hard to contain.
Finallly time to enter the cave!
So we put on our headlamps and head into the darkness. Part of the cave had a more prepared path to follow that made it very easy to walk and we had decided to start with that since we did not really know what to expect of this cave. It was very easy and we wanted more so we went back to the longer and less prepared section of the cave. This was more to our liking and it made us feel like true cave explorers.
Feeling like true spelunkers!
Having Peter in a backpack made a few of the passages a little difficult. We often had to take the pack off and pass it through the narrower passages.
Here I decided that we would both fit as long as I crawled through.
In Wind Cave we walked the tour together with many other people but here we were all alone. It felt very good to be able to explore at our own pace and not have to keep times or stay with a group. We also managed to get a family photo without "that guy" that we got from Wind Cave.
Just the 4 of us this time.
This was a wonderful hike and we learned that we really like caves and the more independent we can be as we explore the better. The hike led us up to a reservoir where we ate lunch before going back down. If I remember correctly we decided to go through the cave on our way back too.
Narrow stairs leading up to the reservoir.
This day is actually one of my favorite memories o the whole 2012 trip. This hike fit us perfectly as a family. The freedom of exploring on our own was awesome. Unfortunately, we did not have a chance to come back this winter even though we stayed in California for several months. The trail, and the cav,e is still there and will be waiting for our next visit.
Tired after a long day of exploring!
as we travel and roadschool our kids around the USA.
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