Pinnacles National Monument

Pinnacles is a wonderful place to visit. I find it best to visit between October and April when the temperatures are lower, but it can also be visited during the summer. The summer temps get into the 90’s and 100’s at times, but on some days it stays down in the 60’s or 70’s depending on the weather.

There are two entrances to the park, the east entrance and the west entrance. There is no road between the two entrances so that you have to hike between the two sides if you want to visit both. You can drive from east to west or visa-versa, but it’s about 50 miles by car on paved roads. There is also a gravel road to the north of the park, but I’ve never been on it and can’t comment on it’s condition.

The East side of the park has the visitor’s center and is the most crowded and visited side of the park. The east side is the closest to the main caves of Pinnacles. Please note the caves are often closed, so contact the park for conditions. The west side has a ranger station, picnic areas and a campground. It is also the closest to the tallest formations.

There is great climbing on either side of the park, but some of the formations are closed to climbing during raptor nesting season (approx Feb through July or August.)

Pinnacles and the surrounding area is home to several California Condors, so if you’re lucky you’ll get to see some of these huge birds.

The caves were completely open, so we decided to make our way through them and over to the resevoir. The weather was perfect for hiking— sunny, but not overly hot. There are a variety of trails for all levels of hikers, as well as an impressive number of locations for rock climbing.

It wasn’t a difficult drive from where I live, and I hope to visit again soon!

Such a great place, with a variety of landscapes to hike through. Go one way and you are in the poop-piles of pinnacles proper. Go another, and you are in rolling meadows watching condors gliding across the sky. It’s a decent and not harrowing drive from the Bay Area, reachable within a day for an overnight camp.

Just be sure to book ahead in the busy months if you want to tent camp, as I have more than once ended up tent camping in the RV campground, which is less than desirable.

Also a great day hike locale for Bay Area residents.