Travel Guide: Pinnacles National Park
Located just two hours southeast of San Francisco, Pinnacles National Park is one of the newest National Parks and well worth taking the time to explore.
Here are a few tips to maximize your experience:
You can’t drive through this park, so you have to pick a side to enter and park. Use either the east or west entrance as your home base.
The east entrance is probably the better option if you are visiting Pinnacles National Park for the first time, or if you are visiting with young kids, or looking for a wider choice in terms of hiking trails. The east entrance is also closer to San Francisco if you are driving from the city.
Get there EARLY, especially on weekends. The entrance gate was backed up even when we arrived and the parking lots close to the main trails are tiny, and you’ll end up at the overflow campground parking and on the shuttle to the main trailheads if you get there past ~9 am on weekends.
The good news is the shuttle runs frequently, so you won’t have to wait long if you do miss a spot in a closer lot; however, the roads are twisty, and the shuttle is a bit bumpy and not the best for anyone prone to motion sickness.
Pinnancels is a newer National park (est. 2013), and it feels very rugged and undeveloped compared to the biggies — in a good way, but pack your snacks/water and bring more than you think you’ll need.
Once you get into the park, cell reception is spotty at best, and trail signage isn’t great, so plan your routes in advance.
The park is very rocky; be prepared to climb/scramble (or rock climb if that’s your thing).
The park is famous for its talus caves (basically boulders that fell into crevices and formed caves); check in advance which are open.
The spring wildflowers were incredible, but it sounds like summers can be brutally hot, so I would recommend spring or fall as the best time to visit.
In May, there was LOTS of poison oak along the trails, so rock those long sleeves and pants!
Trail recommendations:
We started from the east entrance and did the Bear Gulch > Rim trail and back (skipping the Bear Gulch Caves), and it was a toddler’s paradise with plenty of rocks to scramble up. We did put her in the hiking backpack for the trip down.
We missed the sign for the Moses Spring trail (see note above about the signage, but I’ve read that is good for young children as well)
The west entrance has a few nice trails as well, and it can be less crowded in season. If you enter on the west side, I’ve heard the Balconies Cliff and Caves loop is great.
Also, if you enter through the west entrance, you can visit Chalone Vineyard, the oldest producing vineyard in Monterey County.
