Passionate For Pinnacles
Place: Pinnacles National Park & Mount Tamalpais State Park
State: California
Closest Cities: San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz
Time of Year: February 2026
How we got there: Plane/Road Trip
California has 9 National Parks and its newest addition (Established January 10, 2013) is Pinnacles National Park located in central California. Pinnacles is a lesser known and underrated park however once you visit, you will also become passionate for Pinnacles! How could you not with its towering rock formations and talus caves? Tucked in the Gabilan Mountain in the Salinas Valley, you wouldn’t even know it was there if just passing through!
I added one vacation day to a 3 day weekend and we hopped a flight from PHX to San Francisco. San Jose or Monterey is closer, however it is usually cheaper to fly into the Bay Area. Besides, I wanted to add on a side trip to Mt. Tamalpais State Park. After our early morning flight we met Cesar’s brother Alex and sister in law Lisa at the airport and picked up a rental car. From there we drove an hour north to Mount Tamalpais State Park crossing The Golden Gate Bridge along the way!
Arriving at the Pantoll Parking Area, we paid the $8 entrance fee, changed into our hiking gear, filled our water packs and jumped on the trail!
Starting on Old Mine Trail, we hiked over some wooden bridges and through the woods.
Before long, it opened up to velvety rolling green hills and a peak at the ocean! We just couldn’t get over how lush everything was! This is where we merged onto the Dipsea Trail.
Following along Dipsea we enjoyed the coastal views and ran into a small herd of deer grazing on the hill!
It wasn’t long before we were back in the forest alongside the old coastal redwoods.
The trail lead us mostly downhill into the canyon.
Once in the canyon, we were greeted by the rushing creek and several more wooden bridges which zigzagged back and forth over the water.
I absolutely loved the tiny waterfalls, the old growth redwoods, and the lush greenery all around!
This trail had it all and the highlight was this 13 rung wooden ladder nestled beside a mini waterfall. It was a little slick from the moisture of this mystical forest but so fun to climb!
From this point, it was an upward climb out of the ravine and back to the parking lot. All in all this was a 4 mile loop with an approximate 1000 ft elevation gain. With the perfect crisp temperature, this was truly an excellent little hike to start our weekend!
Driving back over the San Francisco Bridge, we made our way South 3.5 hours to Hollister, CA which would be our basecamp for our visit to Pinnacles National Park.
Our nephew Nick, who attends college in Santa Cruz, met up with us at the hotel. The next morning we started our day fueling up with oatmeal and eggs at the hotel before driving 45 minutes to the east entrance of Pinnacles. We had to stop for our traditional park sign photo!
This is National Park #37 for Cesar and I!
In hindsight, we probably should have arrived earlier (free breakfast started at 7am) because the Bear Gulch parking area was full and we had to use the shuttle located at the Pinnacles campground.
The ride to the Bear Gulch Day Use Area was about 15 minutes and uneventful. It was the ride back that makes it inconvenient due to the long line of people waiting to get on the bus. It’s about 30 minutes between pickups. On the way we snapped a picture of another park sign through the shuttle bus window!
We were dropped off in front of the Bear Gulch Nature Center where we talked to the rangers and looked around a bit before starting our 7 mile loop. Today’s hike would start on the Condor Gulch Trail right across from the nature center parking lot.
Right away we started the climb with views of the distant green rolling hills. The trail was sprinkled with a few wildflowers and bright green moss.
A viewpoint and a switchback later and we were at the junction of the High Peaks Trail.
Almost right away we started to spot birds circling in the sky and hoped that they were the endangered condors we were in search of!
Our hopes were realized when we met up with a ranger who was tracking the birds and verified that Yes! those were in fact the condors and that today was a great day to view them! What a magnificent sight as they soared through the sky with the pinnacle formations as the backdrop!
Continuing on the trail, we entered the pinnacle rock formations in which the park was named. These are the remains from ancient volcanoes and they are truly special. This is where the trail got fun!
We spotted the Balconies across the park. We would be visiting that area the next day.
Soon we were upon the steep inclines using stone footholes and railings to scale the rocks.
We passed over narrow bridges and pathways sometimes having to squeeze between the rock walls.
At the top were some incredible views!
From this point on it would be all downhill this time descending the stone steps and footholes! We had climbed 2000 ft in elevation!
We passed through a tunnel and enjoyed a few more wild flowers before entering the reservoir area.
We were already over 4 miles into our hike when we reached the crowded Bear Gulch Reservoir. The reservoir is accessible by a short hike from the Bear Gulch Recreation Area so many people, including families, hike this as an out and back and it can get pretty congested. We snapped a few pictures and made our escape.
Our next stop would be the Bear Gulch Caves and we were pretty much swimming upstream along a busy narrow path. There were a lot of kids and slow movers along this section but we eventually made it into the caves. This was a little out and back detour off the main trail.
Headlamps or flashlight are a must through the caves and there are some pretty tight spaces to get through.
It had a box canyon feel with several waterfalls. I wish we had a little more time to explore however it was hard to stop the conga line of people! I would recommend doing this part early in the morning or late in the day.
These are talus caves meaning they are formed from large rocks and boulders wedging themselves into a gorge or canyon. You really need to watch your head while maneuvering through the dark passageways.
I loved the velvety green moss covering the rocks at the entrance (or exit depending on which way you hiked) of the caves.
Once outside the caves, it was only another mile or so back to the parking lot where we would wait in a long line for the shuttle back to the campground and our car. We were famished by this time so we drove back into Hollister for some local Mexican food which was actually quite good!
The next morning we were planning to enter the park again from the east entrance but at the last minute we decided to drive around to the west entrance and start the Balconies Cliff Trail and Balconies Caves Trail from there. We had heard that this is the less visited side and we were ready for less crowds! It took a little over an hour to drive from Hollister to Soledad on backroads.
Sometimes the road was single lane but boy was it pretty! We were on the hunt for another national park sign that I had seen in pictures, but did not find it right away. We parked in the Chaparral Parking Area which we had spotted from up above on the High Peaks Trail the day before.
Everything was so green and I was immediately glad that we had decided to check out this side. We were treated to a whole new perspective of the towering spires and rock formations of Pinnacles!
The rain threaten but never made an appearance, but you could tell by the lush landscape that this place is no stranger to moisture!
First we hiked the Balconies Trail and turned left onto the Balconies Cliff Trail. This part of the trail is under 1 mile but packed with views! The Balconies formation towered over us at every turn as the trail zigzagged along its base.
There were plenty of picture perfect photo spots.
The trail ended at the junction for the Old Pinnacles Trail which looped back towards the Balconies Caves. A quick note here: you can reach this spot from the east side by hiking the Old Pinnacles Trail about 2 miles. The trails connect however the roads do not. If you hike over, you must hike back making this over 6 miles in total. There is no shuttle on the west side. All the highlights(Balconies Cliffs and Balconies Caves) are closest to the west side, so if you want a shorter hike ( 2.5 mile loop), start from the west entrance.
We looped back toward the caves and looked for the cave entrance.
Again, these are talus caves formed from volcanic boulders that fell into the canyons forming a cave system. It is not always clear which direction to go and sometimes we were crawling on hands and knees! We did find a tiny waterfall!
Scaling the boulders and crouching through narrow openings, our headlamps were a huge help!
We finally found our way out into daylight again!
Exiting the caves, we started our way back to the parking lot in search of the illusive west entrance national park sign.
And we found it at the West Visitor’s Center!
Since our hike was a little shorter today and we were close to Soledad, CA , we made a stop at Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad where we learned a little history of the California missions.
Then we made our way back toward Hollister to visit the tourist attraction Casa de Fruta to have dinner. Unfortunately, we did not take many pictures, but we enjoyed looking around this family friendly attraction which had more than just fruit! I especially loved being so close to the rolling green hills.
The next morning, we would start our journey back toward San Francisco with a stop at a local coffee shop in San Juan Bautista called Vertigo Coffee Roasters and driving by the San Juan Bautista Mission to have a look.
In Cupertino, CA we checked out Apple Headquarters which was super interesting and worth a stop!
The rain had finally caught up with us as we headed into San Francisco. We were in the mood for dumplings and just happened upon the most amazing dumpling spot after finding that our first choices had too long of a wait. Although the parking situation was sketchy, this hole in the wall was incredible! You have to try Dumpling Zone for the most unique dumplings ever!
Last stop: San Francisco International Airport where they were celebrating Chinese New Year!
Well that wraps up another holiday weekend national park trip! Hopefully after reading this you too will plan a visit and become Passionate For Pinnacles! Remember to hike responsibly and leave no trace!
