Pinnacles’ centennial celebration continues this weekend
Stories are etched into the sides of the cragged peaks of
Pinnacles National Monument.
Pinnacles’ centennial celebration continues this weekend
Stories are etched into the sides of the cragged peaks of Pinnacles National Monument.
They also lie buried alongside trails leading through the park’s lush valleys of wildflowers and small waterfalls, and can be heard rustling in the leaves of the huge oaks and the needles of towering pines that grow on the hillside.
The 100-year-old monument is not only a testament to the forces of nature – after all, the rock formations that make up Pinnacles are the remnants of the extinct, 23 million year old Neenach Volcano, half of which lies almost 200 miles southeast near Lancaster. Pinnacles is also a testament to the people who first stumbled upon the area’s beauty, and instinctively chose to protect it.
Visitors to Pinnacles this weekend will have a chance to hear these stories during the second in a year-long series of events celebrating the monument’s 100th birthday. A slew of activities are planned, including a Living History program which will look back at the park’s history and the people who have made Pinnacles what it is today.
“Many of the stories we can share about Pinnacles are not readily seen,” said Carl Brenner, Pinnacles chief of interpretation and education. “All of what we have here at the monument today is here because people in the area saw a need to keep this spot preserved and in its natural state.”
A variety of programs will be offered throughout the weekend, covering topics such as condor reintroduction, raptor monitoring, red-legged frogs and amphibians, bats and invasive plant eradication.
The highlight of the weekend’s planned events, however, will be the Living History programs presented by the San Juan Bautista Mountain Men, the Pajaro Valley Ohlone Indian Council and landscape historian Timothy Babalis, who will give two talks on the monument’s early history, Brenner said. The presentations will cover the history of the Chalone and Mutsun tribes, which most likely visited Pinnacles during the spring and fall months, as well as that of the early settlers of Bear Valley and the Civilian Conservation Corps, which helped build the trails and roads which exist in the park today.
“Many people have been affected by this park,” Brenner said. “We are hoping that some of them will come back and share their experiences this weekend.”
Historians who have researched the Bear Valley area believe small groups of Chalone and Mutsun did not live at Pinnacles year-round, but more likely visited during the spring and fall months, avoiding the hot summer temperatures. They probably lived off acorns, which were plentiful, and there is evidence they hunted rabbits, deer, elk and antelope, as well as fished nearby streams. Artifacts such as acorn grinding stones and arrowheads support this theory.
Patrick Orozco of the Pajaro Valley Ohlone Indian Council will talk this weekend about the Native Americans who lived at Pinnacles, and the roles they played in the park’s formation.
“Some things we may not think of as big actions can have a ripple effect that last for many years,” Brenner said. “People don’t know how this park affected the lives of Native Americans in the area, or how their lives affected the park.”
Early settlers also played a major role in the development of Pinnacles, and Brenner says he is hopeful the San Juan Bautista Mountain Men, which has been researching the park’s history during the middle 1800s, will be able to relate the struggles these families went through.
“When visitors come to Pinnacles, they see the old barns and such along the roads, and they know something happened here, but they don’t really understand the pressures these settlers went through as dry farmers,” he said. “Dry farming is not an easy life. There is not a whole lot of opportunity there.”
Dry farming is the growing of useful crops which can grow naturally, without irrigation, on lands that receive an annual rainfall of less than 20 inches. Although life at Pinnacles was hard (summer temperatures often soar above 100 degrees), many Bear Valley settlers managed to eke out a fairly successful living, such as Schuyler Hain, a homesteader who arrived in the Pinnacles area from Michigan in 1891. For 20 years after his arrival, Hain would lead visitors on tours through the valley and into the area’s two caves and his nickname became “Father of Pinnacles.”
Hain was an early proponent of safeguarding the Pinnacles area; he wrote articles urging preservation of the area and acted as the park’s unofficial caretaker for many years. Another well-known early settler was Horace Bacon, who owned a ranch opposite the park’s eastern entrance and was the principal/teacher at Bear Valley School for 20 years.
These early ranch families often visited the Pinnacles, holding picnics in the valleys and hiking up to the caves, and many members of these families found work at the park after it was proclaimed a national monument in 1908, said Michael Rupp, a National Park Service ranger stationed at the monument.
“There is quite a human element to Pinnacles National Monument,” Rupp said. “People come here and they want to see the condors or hike up the rock formations, but the human element to this park is just as important, and we are really making that a push this weekend.”
Another story in the park’s history belongs to the Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC was a work relief program for young men from unemployed families, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in March 1933, according to the CCC alumni Web site. Part of Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation, the CCC became one of the most popular New Deal programs among the general public and operated in every state and several territories. The separate Indian Division was a major relief force for Native American reservations during the Depression.
In late 1933, the CCC set up camp in what is today known as the Old Pinnacles trailhead area, and from 1933-1942, the organization finished several projects, including widening and paving the dirt road up to Bear Gulch and improving the trails created by early homesteaders, including the steep and narrow trail that winds through the High Peaks. The CCC also built the dam that forms the Bear Gulch reservoir and improved the trails into the caves, adding concrete steps and guard rails.
Knowing how important the park’s history is to its visitors, Rupp said plans for future events during Pinnacles’ centennial celebration include a Homesteaders Weekend May 24-26, which will feature third and fourth generation families, employees and Bear Valley residents who “remember the park the way it was,” as well as an ongoing series of talks on the park’s history geared towards adults.
“We want people to share in our celebrations and the important stories we are still learning about,” Brenner said. “We are not all knowing about this park. And this is a park that truly was built by the people of this area.”
Pinnacles Centennial Weekend activities March 28-30
A variety of activities will be offered.Topics include condor reintroduction, raptor monitoring, red-legged frogs and amphibians, bats and invasive plant eradication. Living History programs will include presentations by the San Juan Bautista Mountain Men, the Pajaro Valley Indian Council and landscape historian Timothy Babalis. Park biologists will be available for informal discussions about park projects and current Pinnacles research.
Carpooling and park shuttles are recommended. Two shuttles will be running on the east side of the monument from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/pinn or call389-4485.
