Pinnacles National Park

So new as a National Park it still has many Monument signs

As a family we like to camp so given that fact that money is tight on one income our vacations often involve camping. It took me many years to realize that was why we camped as children, I just thought my parents really liked it.  We don't have a traditional spot we go to every year instead we try to visit a new National Park every year. Living in the west we are blessed with an abundance of natural beauty within driving distance. We are starting to run out of new parks in California and we needed something within a few hours. We learned a hard lesson taking an 18 month old on a 9 hour drive to Death Valley. Our choice was Pinnacles National Park which lies approximately 45min south of Hollister Ca.

Pinnacles NP is the countries newest National Park. However it has been in the National Parks system for over 100 years as a National Monument. The parks two main attractions are the rock spires and outcroppings formed from an ancient volcanic field and the other is the Talus caves. The Caves are some of the largest Talus Caves in the world .A Talus Cave is not a cave in the traditional sense it is a cave formed by boulders falling a narrow canyon and sealing the top. Some other attractions of the park are the 30+ California Condors which was reintroduced into the parks in 2003. It is also a climbers paradise and much of the park has hiking trails specifically for climbing access.

We chose to go the week after the Labor Day holiday. Last year we discovered that nobody camps that week. It is really quite nice, the weather is still good and the summer crowds are gone. After the kids start school that will go away but for now we love it. We arrived at Pinnacles mid afternoon and found the park empty. The park has 134 camp sites and 5 were occupied the night we stayed. The park is split due to the lack of a road connecting the east and west sides. The campgrounds have flush toilets and showers for those of you who prefer those amenities. An added perk was a swimming pool, the park has no lake or river for cooling off so they have a very nice swimming pool.  Our girls were very pleased to be able to play in the pool after driving all day. On an evening walk we got to seem many deer, rabbits and quite a few bats.

Inside the Caves

We hiked the next morning to the Bear Gulch Caves. It took a little convincing to get Kaelin into them but once in she loved it. There were several times we had to take Leah out of the kid carrier due to low clearance. The hike to the cave was uphill but not difficult and most little kids should be able to make it.  The caves are also home to an endangered species of frog which seemed to us to be quite plentiful given the high numbers we were able to see.  We exited the cave and were able to see a small portion of the rock formations from Bear Gulch Reservoir. We headed back to the truck for our picnic and for Kaelin to complete her Jr. Ranger worksheet. She left the ranger station with a giant smile, new badge and even a patch for her efforts.

Snug fit at times

At this point we headed out to finish the rest of our road trip. We spent several hours on Hwy 1 trying to figure out why exactly Teddy Roosevelt had found it so special. This isn't meant to be a knock on the park it's just that we get spoiled with places like Yosemite and Death Valley. Not every park can be that awe-inspiring but we were a little underwhelmed. We decided that we really needed to see the other side of the park before we passed judgement.  So on our way home from the coast we did just that and checked out the park from the West Entrance.

Being such a small park it would be easier to hike from one side of the park than to drive it. Our kids prevented that hike from happening so we drove in from the west. This entrance has a brand new visitors center and provided a much better view of the formations. We attempted a to hike further into the park to check out some of the cooler formations but after fighting the kids for 10 mins we called it a day. The west end seems much closer to the bigger formations in the park as well as a chance to see the condor.

Rock formations from the West Side Visitors Center

We left still slightly puzzled as to why Teddy felt the need but it was still worthwhile. It is unlike anything else in the area and seems more like a scene out of the desert than on the coast. We will return without the kids to do some hiking and explore some more of the park and I would recommend anyone checking it out. We both felt strange not being completely in awe and while that might not speak well of Pinnacles it goes to show how spoiled we are being so close to so much extraordinarily beautiful country.

Bear Gulch Res.