I’m thinking of visiting the third week of June. Plan would be to camp two or three nights and do some long day hikes.

But how hot does it get? It looks like the campsites are pretty full already, so it must be bearable? Thanksss

Website indicates that the shuttles are not in service, but I'm not sure how much this is updated and I wasn't able to get ahold of anyone using the phone system. Anybody able to tell me if the shuttles are back up and running on the East? The hours of operation would be helpful as well. Trying to decide if I'm going to go tomorrow. Thanks in advance.

Anyone else have their campsite cancelled this weekend due to flooding?? Can't tell if this is an error since there hasn't been any rain there recently.

I was looking on the Pinnacles website and it seems that firewood at the park itself is 1) not allowed to be collected and 2) probably not going to be sold. I don't want to risk getting there and having to drive 40 miles out to buy firewood, so where do you buy your firewood in advance to camp at Pinnacles? I'm rather new to camping but see that the rule of thumb is to source it within 50 miles of the campsite? Or are the environments of Northern California similar enough that it would be okay to source it from where I'm coming from (Alameda)?

Which side of the park is easier to get to the caves ? Which trails do you take to get there the fastest?

Image taken on Canon EOS Rebel T7 w/ 18-55mm lens

Does anyone know how wet the balconies cave currently is?

Hey y’all, I’m bike touring thru California and in Soledad for the evening. Thinking about taking a morning up to the park tomorrow but don’t know much about it. What should I see? Are there any trails bikes can access? Note: I’d be coming from the west side

The park campgrounds are expensive and full. At Yosemite, there's a bunch of camping options on the road leading up to it -- wondering if there's something similar at Pinnacles.

Hey hey everyone! I'm headed to Pinnacles NP for my first visit next weekend. I was hoping someone could help with can't miss hikes, sights, and overall recommendations to make the most of my visit. We're open to any hike length, just want to make sure we see all we can before the end of the weekend. Thanks!

Is overnight parking allowed at the west entrance? I want to plan a camping trip starting at the west entrance and hiking to the east to camp for a night, but is over night parking allowed at the west entrance?

I haven’t camped since I was a kid and would rather spend a bit on what I would need to camp in my car than get a tent and everything. If I reserve one of the tent campsites, am I allowed to use my car as the tent?

Hoping to make my way out when I travel to California in a few weeks. My girlfriend is deathly afraid of spiders so wondering how likely it is to see tarantulas in early April?

Silly question, I know, but would really appreciate some insight!

So I am taking a taxi into the park campground but I want to know is there enough to do in 2 days without a car? Should I cancel the trip?

Or am I looking at the wrong campsites on Recreation.gov.

EDIT: $50 on weekends?

EDIT 2: And what's worse is for weekends, you need to book two nights. So minimum $100.

Im planning a solo trip to pinnacles this weekend for some moderate hiking. Is it generally safe to solo hike trails here? Is there a significant risk of large wildlife that I should take into consideration?

Planning to hike the high peaks trail, juniper trail and balconies trail

Anyone have any good recommendations for field guides/books about the pinnacles area? I don't mean like hiking guides or whatever, I'm looking for anything about the natural history, geology, ecology, and wildflowers in the area. Thank you so much!!!

Hi! I'm a not-too-outdoorsy person whose partner wants to visit Pinnacles on his birthday. We live in San Jose so we're debating just making it a day trip although it'd be nice to stay in a semi-nice hotel for the night if there are any. Camping is out of the question. Thanks in advance!

1. Any tips for new visitors?
2. What (not too difficult) trails do you recommend?
3. Is there anywhere to stay that makes sense?

I want to visit this month but campsites are booked on weekends. Anywhere I can pitch a tent reasonably near the park (hopefully less than an hour’s drive from an entrance)? I checked HipCamp and the options I see are both expensive and farther than I’d like to be. TY!

We are spending one day at Pinnacles. I have a (refundable) hotel 20 minutes away from the west side entrance, but I am reading the gate does not open until 7:30 am year-round. Is there a line up at the gate? If so, how early would you recommend getting there to wait? Is it more worth it to drive the 45 minutes from Hollister to get into the east side earlier?

Priorities: I am most interested in seeing the steep and narrow portions of the high peaks trail. My crew would prefer shorter hikes rather than longer, which I believe would be a point for switching to the east side. I would love to see the caves, but unfortunately our visit will be late May and it looks like both Balconies and Bear Gulch caves will be closed. Are there any other cave trails to see, and if so, which side do you recommend for them?

TIA!

I didn’t understand the pass system on the website. If I buy an electronic pass saved to my phone, would I just use that to get my vehicle into the park and be given a ticket for the windshield?

Thanks in advance!

Does the campground host actually live there at the east side of the park? Trying to find work at the east entrance wasn't too sure if a campground host lives there or if they can commute.

We're thinking of making a trip to the Pinnacles this month. Is it still pretty crowded or are there less people in the winter?

I might try to plan a 1 or 2 night trip in March or April to Pinnacles. Any reason why this wouldn't be a good idea? Anything I should do while I'm here.

I’m visiting Pinnacles NP for the first time this Saturday and plan to hike a bigger loop. I’ve heard parking is really difficult, so I wonder how early Bear Gulch parking fills up? Other areas I would consider parking are the parking lots around old pinnacles trailhead or at the peaks view picnic area.

The website says that the shuttle from the overflow parking isn’t running currently.

How early should I plan to arrive to find parking at any of those lots? The parks website says to arrive before 8, but I wonder if the lots which are a bit out of the way from the main attractions don’t fill up as quickly?

Update for future references:

• We arrived 8:30, parking lot 60% full, but plenty of people arrived right around the same time, so it probably filled up between 9-9:30.
• 10:30 the lot was definitely full based on what others told us.
• we returned to the car at noon, there were 3-4 open spots and nobody waiting.

Temperatures were around 80F at noon, so I assume not many people wanted to start hiking in this heat.

I thought to stay for two nights and thought to stay on the east side of the NP. But what cheap but okayish motels and hotels do you recommend?

Just in case you're reading this, I was on the campsite opposite to you. I think you're cute and when you came and said hi I just got a bit nervous and showed you condors on a tree and left to throw trash haha. Unless I'm really bad at reading signals, do you wanna go on a date?

I've never done this before but I guess it's worth a shot 😅

Going to visit Pinnacles NP for the first time later this month with my family. I really want to do the condor Gulch High Peaks Trail. I want to know which way is best/easiest way to do this hike. Should we go clock wise or counter clock wise? My youngest kid is 9 years old and my oldest is a teenager who is afraid of heights 😄

Planning to stop in Pinnacles this Friday via the west entrance for a morning (max 2-2.5 hours). Sadly don’t have more time. What should I do? It’ll be a long driving day, so I’m looking to see the park briefly without tiring myself out with a strenuous hike. Driving route necessitates I visit the west side of the park.