At the park entrance, my national parks pass karma finally caught up with me and it got stamped. Major bummer. They're really checking everywhere this year, and just waving it at them no longer works. The upper and main Bear Gulch parking lots were already full when we arrived, so we had to park way far down. We opted to wait for the shuttle, instead of hiking a couple miles in the full sun. It was a good choice. When we got off, we made for Discovery wall, where we started off on The Cleft, but even inside the chimney, it was warm! This did not bode well for a couple of pale skinned northeners... It was surprisingly packed too, so I decided that it might be worthwhile to backtrack and check out the Tourist Trap, which I thought might be in shade. I guess I don't think too well. It was still in full sun when we got there, but we decided to climb anyway.

We rapped down from the top, and Melody and I had some fun on Thrill Hammer (5.8+) and Nipple Jam (5.8), before stopping for lunch in the shade. Mmmmm, proscuitto, pear, cambozola and walnut sandwiches.... We then moved over to Rat Race (5.7), which has an intriguing roof. We had plans for Angstom's Away, but there was a party there running laps on it, so instead we tried another bolted line a few meters to the left. It's not in my guide, but another party claimed it was 10a (after backing off of the first bolt). I decided to give it a try, and after hanging at the second bolt where I couldn't figure out where the route went, managed to pull the lip. 10a my lilly white ass (and it is very pale right now)! I would suggest more like an 11....

We called it a day at that point, and hiked back out. Of course, we had missed the last shuttle, and so had to walk all the way back down. Luckily, I ignored the signs directing hikers to stay on the trail, and instead chose to walk on the road. I say luckily, because a ranger stopped and gave us a lift. I'm sure he wouldn't have stopped if it had just been me - one of the many advantages of being with Melody! He was a pretty cool dude - involved in the condor programme - and we got some interesting tidbits about the birds out of him.

We had wanted to stop at the Vault for dinner, but it was closed! Damn. Looks like it's being sold.... Oh well, apart from that, it was a great day trip, and we mostly managed to avoid getting burned by the sun. Pinnacles is always a fun place to visit, though I think I'll check the temps next time before we go down there....