We live in the bay area and takes 2 hours to Pinnacles. We have toddlers with us so no plan to hike at all. We are curious which entrance do you recommend based on this? I did some search and realized there is no drive through from East to West so have to pick of them.

Are there in caves near parking or can stop the car next to either East or West? Lastly, what is the best time in the day? Early morning? Noon? Afternoon?

Unless you recommend East entrance, we might just go with the West entrance because it's closer to Monterey which we might explore too!

Headed there this weekend for a day and heard some places are better than others depending on the season. High peaks seems to be a consistent recommendation, Is there anything else you'd recommend in October? Comfortable hiking up to 15 miles

Thanks!

Does anyone have extra spots on their campsite reservations in Pinnacles NP for Oct 25/26?

I thought I'd leave this here for people planning a night hike here but worried about the parking, as there was no clear definition of what no overnight parking was on the website.

Hi! I'm looking to go to the Pinnacles Campground and tent camp this weekend (Labor Day Weekend) just for 1 night (Sunday-Monday). The campsite is (1) fully booked and (2) requires a 3-night stay for holidays. I'm wondering... is it a terrible idea to show up on Sunday and see if there are any no-shows / open sites from people who booked the required 3-night stay but checked out early? Would love some advice on how feasible a walk-in stay might be! I keep hearing that there are tons of no shows at NP Campgrounds but wondered if anyone has had luck walking into a campground that usually requires reservations.

I’m planning to visit pinnacles national park for the Perseids meteor shower. We plan to arrive late, watch the meteor shower and drive back to the city. We have a campground reservation too. What places should we target for dark skies from where we could watch the meteor shower?

Hey hey I’m planning on staying at Pinnacles Campground for a weekend. Does anyone know if the sites have bear lockers? I was told all Cali NPs require bear vaults or food in bear lockers when not being consumed. I’m having trouble getting a straight answer for what I should do with my food while I’m on trail.

Hi All, my partner and I love Pinnacles National Park (we’re local to the area) and are considering a micro wedding or elopement there. Has anyone gotten married or attended a wedding there? I can’t seem to find much information online about specific locations inside the park to get married. Any thoughts or advice?

I’ll be Coming from Santa Barbara and probably would not arrive until 11-12 pm Was wondering If parking will be a problem at that time and also which side of the park given the conditions of arrival would be best and perhaps which hikes would be best - we are moderate to decent hikers thanks in advance for any replies

Hello, first time visitor here. I was wondering if you could buy a pass in person? Or do you have to do it online?

Hi, I booked a cabin tent site and was wondering if I am allowed to pitch a tent there?

Planning on stopping by the visitor center and then doing the Bear Gulch hike. Where can i grab a quick lunch to eat at the reservoir?

coming from the east side, likely down 25 from SF.

Just went camping for 2 nights in early June! Watch my vlog and let me know if you have any questions!

https://youtu.be/fGuemczNZtE?si=Giv6XAo8eMz-1EBk

So I’ve been reading from several sites that the campground only has porta potties. For anyone that has been there recently, is this true??

We're planning to stop at Pinnacles to do the Balconies Cave loop in a couple weeks...but I keep reading conflicting things about how easy/hard it is?

We have a 7 year old and a 9 year old that are not especially experienced with real hiking/scrambling on rocks (city kids!) but are really enthusiastic about this particular hike. I'm also a little worried about any especially tight squeezes that might be....tight for me.

With 1 still closed, we'll be driving almost right past and it looks so, so cool...but also don't want to get us into a situation we can't reasonably manage. Any insight?

Hi! First time visitor in June this year. I’m doing some prep research ahead of time and reading up on what to expect and avoid - how big of an issue is the poison oak and stinging nettle on the trails? I’m just trying to plan accordingly :)

Excited to share my latest short film, "LEATHER FEATHER"! I filmed this back in 2019 during my blonde hair era while exploring Pinnacles National Park. Originally, I had planned to create a vlog of my park visit, but on the first night, I was inspired to switch gears and craft a mystery film instead. Sitting in my truck, I hastily scribbled the story (kinda) and the riddle to solve: "Deep in the valley where giants soar, past the city of confusion, a forgotten balcony holds the leather feather of Chalon Kingdom."

Over the next three days, I trekked all the trails, capturing as many shots as possible. My campsite lacked power, but the kind woman at the visitor center allowed me to recharge my cameras between takes. Filming in a popular national park presented its challenges, as I must have appeared quite odd to fellow visitors reciting lines to no one while hauling several cameras and tripods.

Upon returning home, I struggled to piece together a narrative from the footage, having not planned the film beforehand. It took several years of revisiting the project, but last November, I finally committed to bringing it to fruition. I'm incredibly pleased with the end result and hope you enjoy it too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqCioSrfgl8&lc=Ugzm_1yu-PWfMysgSQZ4AaABAg

Hey fellow campers and hikers. My partner and I are planning a trip next month to Pinnacles and want to camp, but are finding the options to be extremely limited. The lone camp site within the park is fully booked, and we haven't been able to find much of anything online relating to alternative camping options anywhere within an hour's drive of the park. Is anyone in this group familiar with camping in the area? If so, can you offer some suggestions for places to camp nearby? We are fine with campgrounds, dispersed camping, or anything in between. Any ideas are welcomed!

How has the weekend foot traffic been? I would like to do a day trip this coming Saturday and I just saw the warning post about high visitation. Do I really need to get there before 8 am to get a parking spot? Thanks for any info in advance!

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