A day at Pinnacles National Park – Pinnacle of fulfilment

Dear Soul,

Happy First day of Spring 2024 :) "Where flowers bloom so does hope."- Lady Bird Johnson

After a very rainy winter and canceling long weekend (President’s Day) plans, on Saturday 2/24/24, we planned an early day to Pinnacles National Park, one of the youngest National Parks and closest to us. We packed our breakfast and lunch and started by 6:30am and drove through scenic Hwy 25 to the East Entrance of the park. The east and west entrances of the park are not connected by road (Only through King City on US 101), and we picked east side as it has more activities. We didn’t have to pay $30 park entry fee as we have my DD1, a fourth grader in the car, with Every kid outdoors initiative. When we reached at 8:30am, the bear gulch nature center lot was already full, so we drove back and parked at Manzanita Parking area. Important: Please do not park on the sides of the road to avoid parking tickets.

We took 1-mile Sycamore trail to nature center, which was very scenic with Chalone creek along the way and many wooden bridges and several ladybugs, clustered together for warmth just like we saw at Mt Diablo and Uvas Canyon earlier this year. 

Then we started our hike towards Bear Gulch Reservoir on the cool and shaded Moses Spring Trail, which has boulders on either side covered with moss.

To my surprise, Bear Gulch Cave trail was open (just the day before – Please check the status here before your visit) and the cave floor was all water with rocks lined up to walk in it. It was not just dark (we used flashlight from phones) but very loud with waterfalls gushing at places and cave crawling was quite an experience for kids and adults alike. The caves at Pinnacles were made when boulders fell down into narrow canyons and got stuck. Jumbles of fallen rock are called talus, and so these are called talus caves. This makes dark, quiet passages that are important for some animals, especially Townsend’s big-eared bats raising their young (hence closed May-July). 

Soon afterwards, we arrived at the reservoir which was very scenic and an excellent picnic spot.

We continued on the Rim trail to High peaks trail to explore towering volcano formations, but I returned to Moses Spring Parking area with my 4 year old DD2 via switchback trail while the rest of the group continued on the High peaks – Condor Gulch trail loop. The loop was strenuous especially steep and narrow sections, but is best to explore the park’s namesake pinnacles and condors up-close.

Meanwhile, thanks to my friend who offered ride to the Manzanita parking area, I got the car back to Nature center and waited for the rest of the group. I and my DD had lunch and strolled at the Chalone creek as the nature center is closed, but there was a ranger outside with exhibits. When the group reunited, we wrapped up by 3:30 and went directly to restaurant by our home at 5:30 very hungry. And our very thoughtful friend already ordered the food for us and we heartily ate the sumptuous meal, wrapping up one of the best days of my life.

Thank you for visiting my blog. You can find more about this hike on Alltrails at Condor Gulch Trail to High Peaks Trail loop. Happy exploring!