Pinnacles National Park is the newest park in the NPS, and is located in central California. It’s has a lot of hiking trails through canyons and mountains, but is most popular for its cave hikes.
OVERVIEW:
Pinnacles National Park has two entrances, a West and an East. However, there aren’t any roads through the park that connect the two entrances. So if you want to visit both sides, you have to drive around the entire park on the south or the north.
There are multiple trails throughout the park. Many are fairly easy and family-friendly. We took our kids on the cave hikes, and they were challenging but very doable for them.
BALCONIES CAVE HIKE:
The Balconies Caves is located near the West Entrance of Pinnacles. The trail starts at the Chaparral Trailhead Parking Lot. The Balconies Trail is 2.5 miles round trip. The first part of the trail is fairly flat, and goes through open space and into the canyon. Then the trail splits into a loop, where you can either go through the caves first on the right, or the cliffs first on the left. Both paths meet together in a loop.
We took the Balconies Cliffs Trail first, and it’s a moderate climb up the hill. You walk along the side of the mountain above the canyon where the caves are. There are great views of the surrounding the mountains. The trail descends, and loops around and turns into the Balconies Cave Trail, leading to the caves.
There’s a gate at the entrance to Balconies Cave. It’s dark inside, and flashlights are an absolute requirement. The path can be narrow and involved climbing over rocks. As you get deeper into the cave, there’s no longer any outside light and it’s pitch black. There were some challenging sections that required climbing and maneuvering one person at a time. After climbing out of the first cave, you walk a short distance, and then descended into the second cave, which isn’t as dark. The second cave ends a narrow slot canyon and also a gate. The path then connect back at the split in the trail.
BEAR GULCH CAVE HIKE:
This hike is located near the East Entrance of Pinnacles. It starts at Moses Spring Parking Area, on the Moses Spring Trail. It’s a one and a half mile round-trip trail through the canyon, caves, and by a reservoir. The first part of the trail is a gradual incline. There are a few splits where other trails branch off. The trail then splits into the Bear Gulch Cave Trail and Moses Spring Trail, so continue on the Bear Gulch Trail to get to the caves. The trail goes to the first cave, known as the Lower Bear Gulch Cave. It gradually gets darker until its pitch black at a gate. There are some stairs to climb up and one spot we had to get on our knees to crawl through.
There’s an Upper Bear Gulch cave that’s connected, but its usually closed except for one month of the year. We emerged from the first cave and the path crosses with Moses Spring Trail again. We continued on that trail and walked through some rock formations. It leads to an area that was shadowed by large rock structures and goes through another cave. The trail ends with a long stairway up the side of a cliff.
At the top of the stairs, we arrived at Bear Gulch Reservoir, which is a large body of water with some great views. From here, there are multiple trails to continue onto. We then headed back down the path, down the tall stairs and back through the second cave.
Prior to going back into Lower Bear Gulch Cave, we continued on the Moses Spring Trail. It goes alongside the canyon above Bear Gulch Cave. The trail descends back down into the canyon and connected to the route back to the parking lot.
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00:00 Intro to Pinnacles
00:38 Balconies Hike - West Pinnacles
04:52 Bear Gulch Hike - East Pinnacles
