We are back with yet another weekend adventure guide! This time, our National Park of choice is Pinnacles National Park. This is California’s newest national park and features a landscape that was created as a result of of volcanic eruptions that occurred over 23 million years ago. The park itself is located in Central California, 32 miles south of Hollister.
While on the smaller side compared to other national parks, Pinnacles National Park offers miles of hiking trails and gorgeous views. There is also a campground inside the park where we chose to stay for the night! The campsites were very clean and spacious. The campground has basic amenities like water and restrooms but also had additional amenities like showers and a pool (closed due to COVID) which is something I don’t believe I’ve seen in a national park campground!
Take note that there are two entrances to the park, an east entrance and a west entrance. There is also no way to drive from one entrance to another so plan accordingly. For this trip, we chose to enter through the east entrance because this is where the campground is located, as well as the trailheads to the hikes we wanted to do.
We weren’t really sure what to expect going here but what we definitely didn’t expect was hiking 6-miles in the rain on our first day there. Thank goodness for rain jackets! Nonetheless, the trails here were definitely on the more adventurous side and the all the greenery with the rocky formations made us feel like we were transported back in time
High Peaks Trail
Our first stop was the High Peaks Trail. This is probably the most well known trail in the park. It features a 6.4 mile loop that takes you through some of the most beautiful scenery that this Pinnacles NP has to offer. See the AllTrails map here.
Like I mentioned earlier, we really weren’t expecting to do this hike in the rain. A part of me is glad that we did though because the trail was pretty much empty! It felt like we had the whole national park to ourselves. The only downside in completing this hike in the rain though was having to go through the “Steep and Narrow” portion and having the rocks be wet! Not going to lie, this part of the hike scared me the most. There are rails and very small footholds to help you go up the boulders but the rain made everything slippery and the footholds only held about half of my foot, so it was definitely an adventure going through that part. See the footholds that I’m talking about below:
The rest of the hike, aside from this portion, was amazing. I definitely recommend this trail if you’re only in the park for a short amount of time and you want to make the most of your visit. Proceed at your own risk though because the Steep and Narrow section definitely isn’t for the faint of heart!
Tip: There is a very small parking lot at the Bear Gulch trailhead where this trail begins and ends. Since it was raining, we had no trouble finding parking but I heard that this lot fills up very quickly on regular days. If you’re unable to find parking here, you will have to park at the Visitor’s Center and take the designated trail to the trailhead which will add about 2.5 miles each way to your hike, so either plan to get to the trailhead early or plan for the additional hiking distance.
Moses Spring & Rim Trail Loop
The next morning, we had some breakfast at camp, packed up our stuff, and set off for one last hike before the 5-hour drive home. It was around 9:30am by the time we finished packing up and the road going to the trailheads was already closed off with signs that said “Parking full” by this point. All traffic was being redirected to the Visitor’s Center (where the campground is also located) so we were forced to park here and take the 2.5 mile trail to get to our trailhead.
The Moses Spring & Rim Trail Loop is a 2.5 mile moderate loop that starts at the Bear Gulch Trailhead. See the AllTrails map here. The trail features rock formations, caves, and has a reservoir as its man attraction. This is also a popular trail for rock climbers and you’ll see access to several rock climbing routes throughout the trail. Bear Gulch Cave is also accessible from this trail but is open seasonally. Unfortunately, due to COVID, all the caves were closed during our visit.
The trail itself was pretty short but did have a portion where you have to squeeze though a rocky cave portion which made it interesting. The spring is a great feature of the hike as well.
And that concludes our short but sweet trip to Pinnacles! It might be one of California’s lesser known and lesser visited National Parks but it’s still worth the visit. I know we’ll definitely coming back.
Til the next one!
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