PINNACLES NAT'L PARK, Pinnacles, CA

Pinnacles Nat’l Park,  Pinnacles, CA

RUN BY:   Nat’l Park Service

LOCATION:  36.490927   -121.146752

Last visited:  4/15/2018

UTILITIES:  None

COST:  $23

DISCOUNTS:  50% with Senior Pass 

OUR RATING (1-5): Category I. Score 4+

NOTES:  Pinnacles is another one of those hidden gems.  It is beautiful country, has some great trails and we saw the Condors!  Our boss’ boss at Glacier worked here some years ago and they still remember him. Because of our size we were actually in an area dominated by tents, but it was sweet. You do have to make reservation through Reserve America. Yuck!  We did it because we really wanted to see this park. It is worth the effort.

Environment:  Southern California coastal mountains

Amenities:  None

Dump:  Yes

Public Water: Yes 

Toilets: Yes

Showers: At the camp store

Laundry:  At the camp store

Phone Service:  none

Nearest Propane: (sorry. No idea.)

Location:  Enter from CA State Hwy 25 on the west side of the park.  The park is south of Hollister, CA.

Proximity to shopping: Any shopping beyond what can be done at a camp store will require a 30 mile drive. I would go to Hollister. 

Camping Population:  Typical NPS population . . . from everywhere. 

Sites:  I think our area was nicer than where the large rigs that wanted to use generators were staying, but they were all nice and roomy.

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RATING KEY:    category - score 

Categories:  I - established campgrounds where one might spend a vacation or several days

                    II -  boondocking, dry camping where there are no designated sites and no amenities but

                               one might choose to stay for more than a night.

                    III - over-night areas 

You must remember that we are scoring 1 thru 5 according to things which are important to us: the environment, cost, amenities, location, safety, camping population, site, phone service 

* There are people who are not full-timers and van-dwellers by choice. We try hard not to be demeaning or assume that they are bad people but sadly, as you find in the poorer parts of a city, there seems to be more crime. Many call these people van-dwellers. That isn’t really accurate even though they do often live in vans. We know quite a few van-dwellers who have good incomes, are full-timers by choice and prefer a van to other types of vehicles. To try to show some respect for people who have a difficult lot in life, I’m calling them ‘residential campers’.  It is only when you get a high proportion of residential campers in an area that you find an increase in petty theft, etc.