While it’s relatively unknown, Pinnacles National Park is perhaps the best national park land to visit near the Bay Area, especially the South Bay!  While I’ve been here numerous times, I had yet to hike a loop that would take me through all of the park’s best regions.  This time, I hiked the Pinnacles Greatest Hits.

As its name might imply, this trail travels through many of the best areas of Pinnacles National Park.  High Peaks, got it.  Balconies Cave, yep.  Bear Gulch Cave, it’s an easy extension.  If you want to see all of the best Pinnacles National Park has to offer in a day, this is the way to do it!

Miles/Elevation:

10.8 miles

2,192 feet vertical gain

About Pinnacles National Park:

The 7th smallest national park in the United States, and the smallest in California, Pinnacles is a recent addition to the National Park System.  Officially designated a national park in just 2013, Pinnacles is still a relatively unknown member of the club!

While Pinnacles is a recent addition to the National Park System, it has long been protected by the federal government.  First designated as a national monument by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, Pinnacles remained at that level for over 100 years!

The main features of the park are incredible caves, critically endangered wildlife, dramatic rock formations, and fascinating geologic history!  The extremely endangered California Condor is the star of the park, and on many of the park’s hikes they can be seen observing the area from the high rocky spires and soaring over the region’s hills and valleys.

Formed by volcanic activity about 23 million years ago, the rocks of Pinnacles actually didn’t start where they currently are!  Because of the San Andreas Fault and the numerous earthquakes in this part of California, the spires of Pinnacles have actually migrated 200 miles from where they first formed!

Getting to Pinnacles National Park:

Pinnacles is easily accessible from the cities of the Bay Area and broader Northern and Central California.  From the Bay Area, it is about an hour and a half to two hours depending on where you are coming from.  

The unique thing about getting to Pinnacles is there are two entrances that are totally disconnected from each other.  The eastern entrance contains most of the park infrastructure, including the main visitor center and the park campground.  The western entrance is more easily accessible as it is just off Highway 101, a major artery through the state.  The eastern entrance lies on Highway 25, an at times winding two lane highway.

Either entrance is about the same distance from the Bay Area, but if you are coming from either the east or the west, one entrance is likely going to be much closer.  The drive between the entrances is an hour along the most direct dirt road, and significantly longer if you want to stick to the pavement!  So pick one side of the park to focus on per day!

Getting To The Trailhead:

Help keep this place beautiful.  Follow Leave No Trace!

There are at least 4 different trailheads you can use to access this loop, but the best in my opinion is a small parking area on the side of the road.  Follow Chalone Creek Road on the east side of the park past the visitor center and the Peaks View Picnic Area.  There are a line of parking spots on the right side of the road that make for the best starting point.  If parking is not available here, you could continue on to the Bear Gulch Area or the Old Pinnacles Trailhead.

Tips:

• Visit during cool weather, and bring lots of water.  Pinnacles gets hot.
• Bring a headlamp for the caves.  
• Be ready for scrambling and exposure.  There’s nothing especially difficult, but some moves may be difficult if you aren’t used to it, and the height is pretty intense.
• There are at least 4 different trailheads you could start at.  I think the small parking area near the Peaks View Picnic Area is best as it makes for an easy start to the day, and finishes up right after the longest climb and descent.
• Check the park website to see if Bear Gulch Cave is open to the public.

The Pinnacles Greatest Hits:

To Balconies Cave:

From the parking area, cross the road and then follow the sandy trail as it backtracks slightly back along the road.  Cross the bridge over Chalone Creek, and then take a right to continue on the Bench Trail.

You will be following Chalone Creek, and then the West Fork of Chalone Creek for the next several miles all the way to Balconies Cave.  Early on, you will have some road noise as you pass the Old Pinnacles Trailhead, but after about a mile, you will be free of any civilization!

Once you reach the Old Pinnacles Trailhead, the trail name changes from the Bench Trail to the Old Pinnacles Trail.  You will be on this trail for the next 2 miles to Balconies Cave, and for the most part it makes for very nice hiking.

The trail quality up here is generally very nice.  In places the trail is a bit sandy, and there are numerous creek crossings, though we had little trouble with them, even after a huge rain year.  Overall though we made very quick progress.

The scenery on the Old Pinnacles Trail is very nice, but it’s nothing too special.  You will be following the West Fork of Chalone Creek essentially the entire time, and while the wooded valley the creek runs through is pleasant, it isn’t anything overly spectacular.  It’s nice, but it’s not why you’re here.

As you begin approaching Balconies Cave, you will begin to notice large rock features high above that make Pinnacles National Park noteworthy!  The ones you’ll probably notice most clearly are the Balconies, and this means you are getting close to the cave!

You will eventually reach a trail junction.  As the forest becomes a bit denser, a trail will branch off to the right while the main trail continues straight along the creek.  Continue straight here to head into the caves, or if you prefer to skip the caves, take a right to hike up and over them!

Balconies Cave:

The journey through the cave is a fun little adventure, and that adventure gets started before you even enter the cave!  To reach the entrance, you basically have to hike up a creek.  We managed to keep our feet dry by hugging the left bank and very carefully walking on the rocks, but it wasn’t an easy start!

You will eventually reach the entrance of the cave, and not gonna lie, it looks super ominous.  A metal cage with a door seemingly out of Alcatraz marks the entrance of the cave.  And that entrance was reached via a walk through the creek, or a walk atop a small wall that goes through the creek!

Through the really creepy door, you will reach the first chamber of the cave.  When I got here, I honestly was a bit dumbfounded.  Where are you supposed to go?  Seemingly the cave simply ends, which would be super weird, and I knew I was missing something.  Upon closer inspection, the path forward was up and to the left through a narrow and steep passage!

Always follow basic trail etiquette when you’re hiking!

The path through the caves alternates between steep scrambling and easy walking.  It’s kind of nice: you’ll clamber up a steep, wet, rocky slope, and then get a nice breather!  A light source is definitely necessary, and a headlamp is highly preferable over a hand held light, especially a phone.  You’ll want both hands free for the scrambling, so even a nice flashlight isn’t ideal.

Driving to Pinnacles?  Make sure you have the Top Down Lifestyle playlist!

After only a quarter mile or so you will find yourself on the other side of Balconies Cave.  It’s a short journey through the cave, but it’s definitely a fun experience!

To The High Peaks:

After leaving the cave, you will have a bit over half a mile of nice and flat hiking to reach the western trailhead of Pinnacles National Park.  After a pleasant walk through some open fields with good views of the jagged rocks above, you will reach the parking lot, having traversed an entire national park!

Don’t go all the way down to the pavement though.  Before reaching the parking lot proper, veer left to continue onto the Juniper Canyon Trail.  This trail will take you up about 1,000 feet to the high peaks!

The Juniper Canyon Trail begins with a nice, gentle, incline with great looks at the High Peaks directly ahead.  After a bit over a half mile though, the incline picks up and the switchbacks soon appear.

The switchbacks come fast and furious, but as much as I love to hate switchbacks, they are far preferable to the alternative, blasting straight uphill!  The trail is very well made, and even though the incline is steep and unrelenting, the climb really isn’t that bad.  The bigger challenge for us was the heat, and it was only about 80 degrees.  It could have been much hotter!

For a shorter hike, just hike the High Peaks Trail!

As you climb, the views really open up.  Looking behind, you will have views toward Carmel and the mountains of Big Sur.  Much closer are the rocks and cliffs of Pinnacles that are incredible and super unique.  Looks for rock climbers too!

For me though, the best thing I saw were the flowers!  We had a huge amount of precipitation from December ‘22 through the spring of ‘23, and all that water led to some amazing blooms!  I think we came at about the perfect time, because I doubt they lasted for long!

A bit over a mile from the western parking lot you will reach a trail junction.  For this route, you need to go left in order to hike the High Peaks, but if you were coming up from the western side of the park, you could go either way.  The other benefit of going left here is the tunnel that you will soon walk through.  It’s not a massive tunnel, but tunnels are always fun!

From the tunnel it’s just over half a mile to the intersection with the High Peaks Trail.  You’ve got about 400 feet of climbing left to do in that distance, but find a rhythm, and before you know it you will be on the famed High Peaks Trail!

The High Peaks Trail:

After quickly looping around the backside of the High Peaks, the trail gets interesting.  This is where you will encounter the ladders.

Now when I say ladders, I don’t mean wooden or steel vertical ladders, I mean steps carved right out of the rock, big enough for a single foot.  You’ll have metal railings to hold onto as you traverse these “ladders,” but if you’re afraid of heights, it will definitely get your heart pumping!

The toughest section of the High Peaks Trail for me is a short stretch of narrow, exposed trail with overhanging rock.  If you’re short, it probably isn’t so bad, but for me, at 6’ 4” with a backpack that had trekking poles sticking out of the top, it was a little tight!  

This section of the hike has another of the park’s highlights, fantastic condor viewing!  The condors can be seen soaring over the park, but they also tend to sit on top of the exposed sections of rock!  Once the trail gets up to this section, you’ll have almost an eye level view of some of the condor chill spots!

The birds are huge, and can be differentiated from the more numerous Turkey Vultures by their massive size!  If you can get a close up view, you’ll probably notice each has a numbered tag used to track their movements and the population’s health!

Consider purchasing the America the Beautiful Pass if you’re visiting Pinnacles!

Eventually, you will have to do a bit of down climbing on the ladders which can be a little disconcerting as you’re looking straight down the side of the mountains!  Just be careful of where you place your feet and you’ll be fine!

Down To The Trailhead:

Once you’re down from the ladders, the hike back to your car is pretty straightforward.  Continue on the High Peaks Trail as it heads south and downhill.  Again, it’s pretty exposed so in the heat it can be brutal!  The descent from the High Peaks down to the Bear Gulch Area is about 1500 vertical feet, so it can be tough on the knees!

Overall, it’s a pretty nice descent, and the views are consistently nice.  As you reenter the valley, the foliage thickens and turns green.  This is a sign that you’re getting close to the Bear Gulch Area!  

From the Bear Gulch Area, it’s a short mile or so hike back down to the lower parking lots.  The trail down the final stretch is nice, and largely follows the woods along the creek.  It’s not as spectacular as what you saw up high, but it is a pleasant end to the day!

A short side trip that you may want to take will take you to the Bear Gulch Reservoir.  The detour to the reservoir is about half a mile each way, and if you’ve never been, it’s a worthwhile side trip.  It’s not an awe inspiring alpine lake, but it’s a nice place to stop!

If you visit at the right time of year, you can also hike through Bear Gulch Cave.  The hike through the cave is awesome, but it’s closed for large portions of the year as an important bat habitat.  If you can, I recommend hiking through the caves and visiting the reservoir, which are right next to each other!

Topdown Lifestyle Rating: 9/10

The High Peaks Trail is one of my favorites, and in my opinion is a hidden gem in this small and relatively unknown national park.  Balconies Cave is a fun little scramble as well.  Start to finish the trail quality is very good and the views are excellent for the long stretches when you are up high.

This is a really good hike, but in my opinion there are other 10 mile or so hikes with bigger views and just as much excitement.  If you put this hike somewhere in the High Sierra, I would probably give it a 10/10, but for me the views here just aren’t on that level.  Still a great day on trail though!

Pros:

• Great views
• Scrambling
• Cave
• Big time exposure 

Cons:

• Busy
• Lots of sun

Alternative Hikes:

The High Peaks Trail

Chalone Peak

North Wilderness, Bear Gulch, and High Peaks Loop 

When To Hike Pinnacles National Park:

While Pinnacles experiences clear weather pretty much all year, I would recommend visiting primarily in fall and spring.  Summer sees extreme temperatures.  And when I say extreme, I visited one day in August when the high was 109 degrees!  Safe to say that isn’t great hiking weather for most of us!

Winter can be a good time to visit, but it is the season that sees the most rain.  If you can find a clear day in winter, it would be a time to visit, though the days are the coolest.  Again, fall and spring offer the best combination of clear weather and comfortable temperatures.  October and November would be good months to visit in the fall, and March and April would be ideal in the spring!

Links For Further Reading:

Pinnacles Greatest Hits: 370 Reviews, Map – California | AllTrails

Best Pinnacles Hiking Trails: A Pinnacles National Park Hiking Guide

Hiking Pinnacles National Park: The Best Trail to See It All – The Break of Dawns