The cave itself is pretty cool to check out, and there are underground rivers, streams and a few waterfalls. Out of all the places with parking I saw the day I went there, the Moses Spring Parking area was where I saw most of the cars and people. So if you’re looking to explore this specific spot in the park, this is what it’s called and it’s probably the most popular area to check out. When people type up Pinnacles National Park caves, Bear Gulch is what comes up. This cave is very easy to navigate and there are easy walks (good for beginners).The closest parking lot to this cave is Mosses Spring Parking area (with restrooms).It’s located on the southern side of the NP park.This is what I initially saw that drew me to this NP and as I later learned, that is actually called Bear Gulch Cave and here’s what you need to know about it: If you do a Google (or any) search for Pinnacles National Park, there’s a good chance that the image you’ll see as a preview is off a huge cave or people passing through it. 1) Explore Pinnacles National Park Bear Gulch Cave trail: This is where you’ll have the most choices.ĥ) There are no major towns or places near Pinnacles National Park on the eastern side unless you go a lot further south or north. This is where I stayed at personally when I was visiting.Ĥ) Monterey: About an hour away from Pinnacles, and it’s by the California Coastline. Here’s what you need to know: The closest places to stay near Pinnacles National Park:ġ) Town of Soldad: It’s about 20 minutes outside Pinnacles National Park (west end), but it’s small and when I was looking for places to stay, there were only 2 choices and I personally wasn’t a fan.Ģ) King City: It’s south of Pinnacles National Park (about 30 minutes or so), but the choices are again very limited (maybe 3 places to stay at which are motels and inns).ģ) Town of Salinas: It’s about 30-40 minutes north of the NP and likely where you’ll find the most options for places to stay near Pinnacles including major hotels. Usually national parks have major hotels and places to stay nearby but in Pinnacles National Park’s case, the spots are choices are very limited. About hotels near Pinnacles National Park (4 nearby towns and things to know): I stopped at the eastern one when I went.ģ) It doesn’t really matter which of the parking spots you stop at (unless you’re looking to camp in which case the eastern part is where you’ll want to go), because once you hike, the same spots are accessible regardless of which area you started at.Ĥ) Keep in mind that if you make a mistake and park in the wrong side of the NP for whatever reason, it’ll take you about a good hour to get to the other side of the park because of this layout, so make sure you choose which location to stop at ahead of time. You can only stop at the eastern end or the western end. One is on the west and the other on the east.Ģ) These roads do NOT cross one another so you cannot drive through Pinnacles National Park. In the case of Pinnacles National Park, it’s layout is quite unique compared to other places and it’s because:ġ) There are only 2 main entrances. Most state and national parks I’ve visited have a lot of options to drive through or reach specific destinations there. A look at the Pinnacles National Park map (this is important): Now this may not seem like a lot of things to do for a national park, but because of it’s layout and terrain, these activities are the most popular and the good news is that they’re all very close together, and this allows you to get the most out of your visit here.Īnd for the day trip I did there, I was completely satisfied with what I saw. Check out other things to do near Pinnacles National Park.Here are the 5 things to do in Pinnacles National Park (even if it’s in one day): What I want to do is share the top 7 activities to do in Pinnacles NP before sharing how I spent my day there if you plan to visit it for the same period of time. However if you know anything about me, you’ll know I tend to fit a lot of activities into a single day trip anywhere and in most cases end up doing as much in that short period of time as people would if they spent days there and that’s exactly what happened when I visited this NP. 11) Frequently asked questions about Pinnacles National Park:įor me, when I first visited Pinnacles National Park, it was early February 2022 and I only had one day to explore it.
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