Welcome to the 59th formed National Park, Pinnacles. Pinnacles was a nice little treat for a quick holiday weekend trip. It’s about two hours East of San Francisco, and you could tell everyone was leaving town that weekend for a brief getaway. We got up at 3:30 am to drive there, and once we were in line for the shuttle, there was a two hour wait just to get into the park to park your car.
It’s kind of crazy to think about, but the whole park is nothing but eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano, which moved 200 miles away from its original location on the San Andreas Fault. The rocks will continue to move North as the San Andreas fault zone continues to slip at a rate of 1 inch per year. Pinnacles will forever be rearranging its features, changing its presence from yesterday, to creating a new one tomorrow. I would love to live like the Pinnacles, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding. Because if you don’t know where you are going, then any road can take you there.
Pinnacles was originally established as a national monument, and you can tell by the infrastructure of it, that it wasn’t meant to hold the amount of people who would normally attend National Parks. It was quite a lovely park with trails that meander over rock walls and through bat caves, all while you’re constantly keeping an eye on shadows that pass over you looking out for the infamous California Condors.
The whole park is divided by rock formations separating the East and West divisions and connected only by foot trails. The east side has shade and water, and the west side is widely visited by rock climbers with all of the high walled rock formations. When you enter the park, you leave your car by the Visitor Center and take a shuttle to the trails. You really can’t see any of the park without having to hike through it all. If you’re into birding, Pinnacles is the release spot for the endangered California Condors, and you can spot them flying overhead throughout the park. Or for the more audacious, the bat caves houses 13 different species of bats that you can check out depending on the time of the year that you visit.
Bear Gulch & High Peaks Trail
When hiking around the park, we basically did the entire 6.7 mile park loop. We started out on Bear Gulch trail, which has the infamous fallen rock grottos that houses the Talus caves, where the bats live, and ends at a reservoir. From there you can take the High Peaks trail where you climb up into soaring rock walls and descend along the ridge through meadows.
Camping at Pinnacles was a lovely time. Plus you’re allowed to have bonfires here, which a lot of California parks weren’t allowing at the time. It was such a zen experience cooking over a grill as the sun was setting, and sitting by the campfire at night just gazing at the stars. Definitely the place to go to get out of LA for a bit.