Welcome to Pinnacles National Park, designated a National Monument in 1908, it eventually became the 59th National Park in 2013. The park gets it's name from the monolithic spires that can be seen from just about anywhere inside the park boundaries. One area of the park in particular, known as the High Peaks, is where this cache will take you.
To get there you will need to work your way up to the so-called steep and narrow section of the High Peaks trail. On the steep section there are several sets of rocky steps with metal hand rails. The narrow section also contains metal guard rails to help keep you on track. The railings are constructed using various different lengths of steel pipe segments connected to each other with elbows and junctions, with some of them embedded directly into the rock.
To log this cache: You will need to count how many segments of steel pipe are used in total for all of the railings between, and including the North Steps and the South Steps. Count all of them, horizontal, vertical and diagonal. Ignore connectors, elbows and junctions. Pay attention: several of the vertical supports are actually two sections of pipe and not just one. Send me this magic number and then go ahead and log the cache, I will not contact you unless there is a problem. Gathering the information shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes, after that relax and enjoy the view!
Safety warning: Carry plenty of water with you, summer temperatures easily exceed 100 degrees.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.
Congratulations to FresnoDancingFool for FTF.