Pinnacles Campground
Description
Find wild turkeys, rabbits, condors, and the sun shining on your (hopefully) sunscreened face. Pinnacles is a great campground that even has a general store and a swimming pool.
It's a great base to explore the nearby balconies cave. There is also a ton of rock climbing in the park.
Be wary that it might get crowded and super hot during the warm season. Do your research to find the best campsites!
Activities
Offered near the campground.
Hiking
See those magnificent rock spires protruding out of the earth? Yeah well you can hike all around those things! Pinnacles Nation...Read more
Climbing
There are hundreds of routes on both sides of the park. If you've never climbed at Pinnacles, be sure to go to the visitor cent...Read more
Swimming
Pinnacles has a swimming pool available for recreational use (typically from April to September).
Wildlife watching
Pinnacles is a great place to look to the skies and bird watch. Over 181 species have been recorded in this park, but most peop...Read more
Terrain
Natural features you'll find at Pinnacles Campground.
34 Reviews
Can't say enough great things about our stay at Pinnacles Campground this past weekend. This was my first time to the park and I'm already planning a return trip!
Our site was nestled against a creek and provided great shade and privacy. The group sites also looked fantastic - will definitely be returning here with my large school or scout group in the future. The facilities were clean and well-maintained and the campground staff were kind and accommodating. I was really impressed by the quality and variety of goods sold in the camp store. They had everything we possibly could have needed!
Great wildlife viewing as we saw about 10 condors flying overhead directly from our campsite! 10/10 recommend Pinnacles Campground.
I camped in site 16 at the beginning of August and unfortunately, site 16 has no shade from the sun. There is also very little privacy for site 16. The only positive was that it was a close walk to the rest rooms and camp store.
We stayed in site #18, I didn't see much of the other campsites, but 18 was by far the best site on Loop A - all the others were crowded in together without shade. While we were there the pool was closed, as were the showers. My kids were pretty bummed about the pool, that's why we chose this campground. All in all would stay here again if the pool were open - just call in advance to find out.
We hiked Bear Gulch to High Peaks to Condor Gulch loop with an 8 year old and a 9 year old. Definitely doable, and a great hike.
I have been camping here several times as a kid. I really enjoy the caves.
Site 18 is tucked away in the back with the most privacy.
Must love quail... but who doesn't?! They're hilarious when they run, they make dog-toy sounds and are *everywhere* here (at least in early October.) We tent-camped in site #76. Pros: main tent pad area is very private - surrounded by shrubs, so no visibility from the road (this is very uncommon at this park) plus a beautiful tree above, view of the ridge, mixed sun, close to bathroom and water spigot. Cons: the parking area for this site is also home to the water spigot and a shortcut path to the bathroom, so people will be walking past your table/fire pit (and second tent if you have one). We saw mule deer, turkeys, ground squirrels, bats, a rabbit, and not a single tarantula. Hike to the Balconies Cave if it's open; it's amazing.
This campground is great because there are almost always available sites. Sites 1-56 are better than sites 57 and up. Sites 57 and up are in a back loop and are backed into thickets and less open. The biggest drawback of this campground is the raccoons. They are aggressive! They climbed on our table while eating and even got in our car and took a bag of candy. Overall though, we have enjoyed camping here. It's warm enough here that we can go year round. The hike to Bear Gulch caves is great for all ages - our kids range in age from 4-16.
This place gets very crowded on holidays and during spring wildflower season. Make sure and do the High Peaks trail loop hike its the best part of the park.
Lots of night time animals
- Park
- Pinnacles National Park
- State
- California
- Country
- United States
- Phone Number
- 831-200-1722 OR GO TO WWW.VISITPINNACLES.COM
- Directions
- View on Google Maps
- Official Website
- View Website
- Coordinates
- 36.493° N, 121.183° W
- Unknown price
- Tent Only: 1 Site (Up to 6 people per site)
- Unknown price
- RV / Trailer: 37 Sites (Up to 6 people per site)
- Unknown price
- Tent / RV / Trailer - Group: 14 Sites (Up to 20 people per site)
- Unknown price
- Tent / RV / Trailer: 82 Sites (Up to 6 people per site)