We started today by heading to Pinnacles National Park, which is one of the few California NPS sites we were missing. As with the first time we attempted to visit, the weather was forecast to be in the upper 90s and sunny. Unlike last time, we stuck to our plans and went anyway. We got up early and headed to the park to beat the heat, and what we thought would be crowds. It was still hot, but the parking lots were mostly empty.
We decided to hike a loop consisting of the Juniper Trail, Tunnel Trail, and part of the High Peaks trail. It would take us uphill at first and then wind through the pinnacles formations the park is known for. Angela and Gavin opted to stop after the main climb into the pinnacles while Gareth and I continued the loop through them. The trail got more interesting after we split and included some steep sections of steps cut into the rocks themselves. We caught up with Angela and Gavin on the way back to the van and a still mostly empty parking lot. We headed back to Daley’s house afterward to get ready for a unique evening.
Marketa had an invite to a summer solstice party that one of her friends was throwing on the beach, and we figured why not. We showed up to the sound of crystal singing bowls and later burned pieces of paper of things we wanted to leave behind, painted rocks, and jumped over a burning log. Was this anything like a typical evening in suburban ohio? Definitely not. Did we have fun? Absolutely.
P.S. Sometime before this part of the trip my phone apparently began struggling to focus, and I didn’t notice at first, so there may be a number of “close, but not quite sharp” pictures for a little while.
Emge Adventures 
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