PlantWorld: Pinnacles National Monument

One of the best day trips so far this wildflower season has been to Pinnacles National Monument, about 2.5 hours south of San Francisco. Pinnacles is the highly eroded partial remains of a volcano that erupted directly on the San Andreas fault over 20 million years ago. In the intervening time, the volcano was split in two by the northerly motion of the Pacific Plate sliding past the North America plate and the two halves are now approx 120 miles apart!

Pinnacles is most famous for being a reintroduction site for the California Condor and as a destination for rock climbing. Less known but just as important is the wide variety of plant species found in the Monument.

Wyethia helenioides

Nhu and I entered from the less crowded West entrance, and before we even entered the monument we were stopping to photograph Wyethia helenioides, Allium crispum, Viola pedunculata, Pholistoma auritum, and Collinsia heterophylla.

Once we stopped and paid the day fee at the Ranger's Station we headed for the main loop trail. We encountered fading Castilleja exserta ssp. exserta at the start of the trail, still looking really attractive. There were brilliant white trumpets of Calystegia subacaulis ssp. subacaulis in spots along the start of the trail. Next we started seeing Clarkia modesta and various Delphinium species, including Delphinium parryi ssp. parryi. The most exciting find early in the trail for Nhu was a waning bloom of Allium fimbriatum var. fimbriatum. There were even more Clarkias, including Clarkia epilobioides and lots of intensely deep rich purple Clarkia purpurea ssp. quadrivulnera. Other species encountered included Chorizanthe membranacea, Toxicoscordion fremontii, Leptosiphon parviflorus, Crassula connata, and Dudleya cymosa.

Allium crispum

The flat part of the trail ended and we entered the eroded portion of the volcano. We took a small detour around the first large building-sized boulder and encountered Lewisia rediviva var. rediviva growing in cracks on the rock, a spectacular sight. Next was the sclerophyllus local cherry, Prunus ilicifolia subsp. ilicifolia growing side by side with Rhamnus ilicifolia, all with the local pipe stem Clematis lasiantha scrambling here and there. Looking down at our feet there were many lovely yellow Triteleia lugens, one of the more attractive California geophytes.

Lewisia rediviva var. rediviva

Next we entered the main part of the loop trail. This took us up several hundred feet through a series of gentle switchbacks with spectacular and dramatic scenery at every turn. Here we got some amazing habitat shots of Pinus sabiniana. Drifts of Clarkia unguiculata covered the sides of the switchbacks and near the top we started seeing early blooming individuals of Calochortus venustus. A highlight for me in this section was the twining snapdragon, Antirrhinum kelloggii. Other beautiful species encountered were Cirsium occidentale, Streptanthus glandulosus ssp. glandulosus, Emmenanthe penduliflora, Mimulus fremontii, and an invasive but lovely grass, Lamarckia aurea.

Pinus sabiniana

All in all the hike was easy, the scenery among the best I've ever seen, and the plants always interesting. I hope to make a return visit at a different time of the spring bloom in the future!

Click on any of the photos to be taken to a gallery containing all the photos I took on the hike.

More photos from the day: