Happenin’
Places › California › Pinnacles National Park
Pinnacles National Park, photo 1 of 5

Photo: Brocken Inaglory / CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Canyons & deserts

Pinnacles National Park

Soledad, CA · Gabilan Range, Central California Coast$$30 per vehicle, good for up to 7 days

About

The west side of Pinnacles gives the best views of its rock formations with little effort, and that entrance is 14 miles along Highway 146 from Soledad. Its gate is open 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. The east side, off Highway 25 near Hollister and about two hours away by car through King City, has the campground and Bear Gulch, and its gate is open 24 hours. Bear Gulch Cave usually closes completely from mid-May to mid-July, while the largest maternity colony of Townsend's big-eared bats between San Francisco and Mexico raises its pups. The spires come from a volcano that erupted 23 million years ago near present-day Lancaster, about 195 miles southeast; the San Andreas Fault split it, and the Pacific Plate carried Pinnacles north.

Highlights

High Peaks Trail among the volcanic spiresBear Gulch and Balconies talus caves (bring a flashlight)California condors soaring overheadSpring wildflowers across the chaparralTwo separate entrances, east and west, not connected by road

Getting there

5000 East Entrance Road, Paicines, CA 95043

Related places

Death Valley National Park Canyons & deserts

Death Valley National Park

Furnace Creek, CA · Mojave Desert$

The salt crystals at Devils Golf Course, on Badwater Road in Death Valley, make tiny popping sounds as they expand and contract in the heat. Badwater Basin is 17 miles south of…

Joshua Tree National Park Canyons & deserts

Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree, CA · Mojave Desert$

Joshua trees grow only on the park's high Mojave side. Down in the lower Colorado Desert, ocotillo and cholla take over. At Hidden Valley you can scramble over the granite…

Kings Canyon National Park Canyons & deserts

Kings Canyon National Park

Fresno, CA · Sierra Nevada$

Drive the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway down to Cedar Grove in summer and the walls beside you climb more than 8,000 feet above the South Fork of the Kings River, deeper than the…

More in California

Others worth the drive in California.

All of California →
Redwood National Park Forests

Redwood National Park

Orick, CA · Northern California CoastFree

Redwood National and State Parks run about 50 miles up US 101 from Orick to Crescent City and hold about 35% of the world's remaining old-growth redwood forest. At Fern Canyon…

Sequoia National Park Forests

Sequoia National Park

Three Rivers, CA · Sierra Nevada$

Summer parking near General Sherman fills by mid-morning, so arrive early or ride the shuttle. Sherman is the largest tree on Earth by volume. The paved Congress Trail runs…

Pfeiffer Beach Beaches

Pfeiffer Beach

Big Sur, CA · Big Sur$

On a few days in December and January the setting sun shines through Keyhole Rock at Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, and photographers turn out for it. The beach is at the end of…

El Matador State Beach Beaches

El Matador State Beach

Malibu, CA · Malibu$

A dirt path and several sets of steps drop down the bluff from Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu to El Matador, a narrow beach with sea caves. The bluff-top lot is small and open…

Crystal Cave (Sequoia National Park) Caves

Crystal Cave (Sequoia National Park)

Three Rivers, CA · Sierra Nevada

Behind a wrought-iron spider-web gate the Civilian Conservation Corps forged in 1940, Crystal Cave opens into a marble cavern an underground stream carved and is still polishing…

Lava Beds National Monument Caves

Lava Beds National Monument

Tulelake, CA · Modoc Plateau$

Tucked into a high desert plateau near the Oregon line, Lava Beds hides more than 800 lava tube caves under its sagebrush, the densest concentration in North America, and 27 of…

Part of these collections

The United States National Parks63 places

The United States National Parks

All 63, for anyone keeping count, with the famous ones up top and the quieter ones further down.