Volcanic slopes in Pinnacles National Park, California
Pinnacles was established as a national park in 2013. That makes it a relatively new national park in the United States, but its namesake features—these rock spires—were millions of years in the making. Roughly 23 million years ago, volcanos erupted to form a 30-mile-wide volcanic field, which was then split in two by a shift in the San Andreas fault. The western side of the field gradually moved nearly 200 miles north, all the while being eroded by water, ice, and wind.
The rock that’s left behind after this erosion is now shaped into these pinnacles. The towering spires attract rock climbers, to be sure, but they also provide homes for many species of animals, including the California condor. In fact, this is just one of four places where captive-bred condors are released into the wild.
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