Pinnacles National Park—Bear Gulch
Hike Review:
Parking is limited at Pinnacles, and although we arrived before 9am on a Saturday morning, we had to park at the visitors center and ride the free shuttle around 4 miles to the Bear Gulch parking area. We waited about 10-15 minutes for the two shuttle rides.
The Condor Gulch Trail had no shade and was a bit slippery due to the small stones littering the path. We found the trail to be hot, and only worth it as a warm up to the rest of the park.
The Moses Spring Trail was wonderful in how much shade there was on the trail.
The Bear Gulch Cave Trail is entirely inside a cave, and thus was dark and cool. It was the highlight of our visit to Pinnacles and made the whole trip worth it.
There was some trash on the trail, but nothing major, and we helped out by picking them up.
Although there were signs stating that flashlights were required, most of the hikers did not have them, which made the trail tricky for them. Luckily, all three of us came prepared.
The bathrooms at Moses Spring Trailhead and Bear Gulch were clean and well-stocked.
The Pinnacles Visitor Center is well stocked with snacks, ice cream, and wonderfully designed souvenirs.
What Happened?
4.1 miles, 3 hrs 19 mins, 906 ft of ascent
We woke up early and drove to Pinnacles National Park—hoping for a parking spot at Bear Gulch, which I read filled up early. Alas, we were about 10 cars too late, and thus had to settle for a parking spot at the Pinnacles Visitor Center. We rode the free shuttle to Bear Gulch, then started on the Condor Gulch Trail.
Even though it was only about 60 degrees (at 9:30am in the morning), we found the Condor Gulch Trail to be hot (due to full sun exposure), and we quickly shed our sweaters and converted our pants into shorts. The girls were a bit miserable when we got to the viewpoint (where we had our first snack break), but were in good spirits on the way down.
After a second snack break at Bear Gulch, we stopped by the Nature Center, where the girls picked up Junior Ranger worksheets (and the Ranger gave the girls the badges once the girls promised that they would only pin it once the worksheets were complete). The ranger let us know that both entrances to the Bear Gulch Caves were open, so we excitedly headed down the Moses Spring Trail.
We found the Moses Spring Trail to be a joy to walk—it was fully shaded! Once it passed the picnic area, it led to these beautiful red rocks that reminded us of pictures of Utah—just these gigantic red rocks that seemed to tower over a canyon. We also spied rock climbers enjoying these rocks, and I made a vow—right then and there—to come back and climb these towers. I then entertained my ladies with fictional stories of the formation of this park that may have had mentions of poop, and in no time we were at the entrance of the cave. The ladies quickly put on their sweaters (and their headlamps) and we were on our way.
I think I would have found the caves to be cool, but not really something that would have blown my mind. However, the girls absolutely loved it. They loved the cool air, the flowing stream, the fact that they could easily fit into these tight spots that I struggled to get through, and the fact that it seemed to them that we had the whole cave to ourselves. They swallowed up stairs in a way that would have made the Condor Gulch Trail jealous, and kept moving forward with gusto. Even the flooded sections were no match, and we soon made it to the reservoir, where our third snack break awaited us.
I then asked the girls if they wanted to go back through the caves or if they wanted to go back to the shuttle stop via the Rim Trail, and it was an unanimous decision—we would retrace our steps through the caves.
On the way back through the caves, there was this one narrow section where we had to wait 15 minutes (or so) for the opposing traffic to clear. It turned out that 50 or so hikers were coming up the narrow path and most didn’t bring bright enough lights to see through the flooded trail. So I set my bright headlamp directly at the flooded section, which everyone coming up seemed to appreciate. Once the traffic cleared, we made our way swiftly down the trail, and we were back at the visitor center before we knew it.
At the visitor center, we gorged ourselves with ice cream, and headed off to Hollister for what turned out to be amazing burritos.
