Pinnacles National Park

Pinnacles National Park can be divided into 2 sections, the west side and the east side. The road through Pinnacles does not go all the way through. Because of this we decided to camp for a few days on each side of the park.

West Side of Pinnacles-

We decided to camp at Yanks RV Resort which is about 30 minutes from the visitors center on the west side of Pinnacles National Park. The drive out to the west side of the park is a one lane road with very few cars passing by.  When we got to the entrance, we had to wait because, on a Saturady of Memorial Day Weekend, this side of the park was at capacity and so they were letting one car in for every one car out.

Because there was a line of cars waiting to go up to the Chaparral parking area, the Park Ranger at the West Pinnacle Contact Station suggested we take the Prewett Point to Jawbone Trail. We were told it was going to be a short hike, however 1.75 miles and an over 600 foot drop in elevation later we were only at the overflow parking lot. Prewett Point to Jawbone Trail was an interesting trail with lots of views of the pinnacles. This part of the hike is full sun and we highly recommend some sunscreen. Once we finally got to the Balconies Cliffs to Balconies Cave Loop trailhead we had already logged a little over 2 miles.  

The cliffs portion of the hike gives beautiful views. The caves are super fun! We highly recommend this trail as part of your Pinnacles adventure! Because we were looking at an additional 2 miles, straight up 600 feet, we decided to hitch a ride back to the visitors center with other hikers. Luckily the hiking community is understanding and we quickly got a ride with the first people we asked. As a side note, several people we encountered had accessed the caves from the east side of the park via the Old Pinnacles Trail. This is a 2.3 mile hike from the Old Pinnacles parking lot on the east side of the park.

East Side of Pinnacles

On the east side of Pinnacles National Park, the best and really only place to camp is at Pinnacles Campground. We had water and 30 amp electric. The weather was warm during the day and cool at night when we visited in mid to late May. There is a general store and a visitors center located at the campground and a Nature Center located near the Bear Gulch trails.

During our stay on the east side we explored the Moses Spring, Bear Gulch Reservoir, Rim and parts of the High Peaks trail. We highly recommend making your way to the Bear Gulch Reservoir as it was one of the highlights of our stay at Pinnacles.