Menlo seniors Sohum Berry, Adrian Collantes, Jacob Elkes and Beckett Porter didn’t spend their weekend playing video games. Instead, last November, they headed to Pinnacles National Park for a two-day camping trip — full of challenges and surprises.
The group chose Pinnacles as it was just a two-hour drive from Menlo. “Overall [the trip was planned] last minute. I remember we arrived [at Sohum’s house] and we said ‘let’s just buy food right now and let’s go up there,’” Collantes said.
Porter drove the group straight to their first hike, which brought back childhood memories for Elkes. “We do a lot of rock climbing, and Pinnacles is a great spot for [it]. My dad took me there when I was young,” Elkes said.
They set out around mid-morning for a hike and found themselves on a 13 mile loop with limited water and no food. “I didn’t think we were doing that whole hike. That’s why I didn’t bring that much stuff. And I was just not in the right clothes at all,” Porter said.
The trail offered opportunities to see rare wildlife. “We saw condors up close enough [that] we could read the tags on their legs because they’re an endangered species. […] We saw 66, […] but I can’t believe [it]. That was a really cool moment,” Elkes said.
Avid rock climbers, Berry and Elkes took every opportunity to explore caves that housed rocks for bouldering. “We’re on the trail. We’re having fun, and [Jacob and I] have our climbing shoes on, so we’re looking for little boulders to climb on along the way,” Berry said.
Realizing they could see dramatic rock formations and the surrounding valley, they decided to hike to Pinnacles Peak. “We found this [sign of] a carabiner [and we decided to] go to the top of the peak and see what it looks like in the view. So we get there and we realize it’s [actually] a three to four mile climb,” Berry said.
Porter was dehydrated and chose not to climb but Berry, Collantes and Elkes made the ascent. “When we reached the top of the peak, we were speechless seeing the beautiful landscape,” Collantes said.
The breathtaking landscape belied the challenges faced by the hikers. The group was low on water and food. “We had maybe two liters of water [total] left at this point. And we were at mile five or something of the 13 mile hike. Thankfully […] down a mile there was a water spigot […] [where] we were able to get water,” Porter said.
The group steadily progressed for 7 more miles after replenishing their water supply to their car. “I feel like what was really nice, too, about the trip was that no one was really complaining. […] It was a really positive environment,” Collantes said.
While setting up camp for the night, they found themselves unexpectedly fighting off a horde of raccoons, but were buoyed by the thought of a steak and pumpkin pie they had stored in the car. “I was so excited and looking forward to steak. [And we realized] that it was hot as hell in the car, and we did not put in any ice. So instead, we split up some ramen, and we had a pumpkin pie,” Berry said.
Looking back, the group reflected on the ups and downs that made the trip memorable. “If you really want to do a camping trip, just try to push for it to happen. Because look what happened after, we have a ton of nice memories,” Collantes said.
