I was there and my friend Ed Haskell took lots of photos. I'll put up a link when he posts them. Nothing to do with climbing was mentioned by any of the speakers in more than an hour and twenty minutes of talk. The Park Service people were soundly praised for their work over the years and I concur with those sentiments. Much was made of all the hard work politicians of all stripes completed to make the upgrade. Much also was promised in terms of great things happening to both Pinnacles and all surrounding communities. We'll see. Sam Farr and I are acquainted, but I did not speak with him on Monday. Both he and Mr. Salazar were eloquent in their praise of Pinnacles beauty and the need to protect it for future generations. I'm older than most of you, so you'll have to keep track of that. I concur with Gavin on several points. There were about six hundred folks there and many were in various branches of federal, state and local service. I think, too, that no disrespect was intended to climbers or anybody else by the strange and spotty notification issued for this event. It was just highly disorganized. It was a wonderful afternoon, by the by, sunny and mild, and some free food was offered. I'm not sure who forked over for the goodies. The kids invited to lead the pledge of allegiance and sing hit the cupcakes hard. I took a piece of quite good chocolate cake home to Phyllis. Charles Ewing, my friend and retired Pinnacles ranger, and I took a short hike up below Discovery Wall before the sun departed entirely. The speeches were supposed to end at 4:15. They went past five. No beer at the res. We drank in the parking lot instead.
P.S. I spotted at least two secret service types - you know, the guys with wires in their ears.
