There are ‘two’ Pinnacles National Parks in a sense, with two separate entrances about 90 miles apart: east and west. I visited Pinnacles National Park east that has a large campground (allows RVs up to 30 feet) with electric hookups, water spigots, showers, and dump station; a camp store; and small pool open in summer. I’ve never been to a national park with a pool, have you? Kinda fun 🙂

Related post: Video: Bear Gulch Caves on the way to Bear Gulch Reservoir

The east gate is accessed by passing through the town of Hollister, the west gate near Solidad. Pinnacles National Park west has many popular hiking trails (Juniper Canyon Trail, High Peaks Trail, Tunnel Trail) but does not have a campground. As well, you cannot drive inside the park from one entrance to the other but can hike via interconnecting trails; it’s around five miles.

I walked around the campround in the afternoon to a chorus of bird song and saw a Yellow warbler… or maybe it was a Yellow-breasted chat. Over 160 species of birds have been identified in the park and more than 400 species of bees—the largest number of bee species in a single location in North America.

Highlights of Pinnacles National Park east

The east area of Pinnacles National Park is much smaller than you may imagine, considering the park contains more than 26,000 acres of wilderness in total. There are four short drives to parking areas with trailheads and nature viewing: Peaks View, Manzanita, Old Pinnacles, and Bear Gulch Day Use Area. The largest and most popular—and what gets crowded quickly on weekends and holidays—is Bear Gulch Day Use Area.

• Peaks View — parking and picnic area with telescopes to view peaks of pinnacles plus flat walking trails.
• Manzanita — small parking area with hiking trails up to a viewpoint.
• Old Pinnacles — parking area with hiking trails up into the pinnacles.
• Bear Gulch Day Use Area — parking and drop-off spot for the park shuttle. There is a picnic area, nature center, trail to Bear Gulch Caves and Reservoir, Rim Trail, Condor Gulch Trail, and more. Walking on the path to Bear Gulch Caves is where I shot the photo above of rock climbers. By 11 a.m. the area was getting pretty crowded on a Sunday.

All of these parking areas with trailheads are less than four miles from the visitor center. A very useful map of the park’s hiking areas is here: Pinnacles hiking map.

Are you a rock climber? You might want to check out this list of climbs for both east and west areas rated for level of difficulty: Rock climbing routes at Pinnacles.

Hot Tip: Not sure if you want to camp but want to make absolutely sure you can get in if there is a line up at the entrance? Make a camping reservation! If you have a reservation you will be allowed in no matter how crazy full the park gets and rangers have to start turning folks away.