A weekend camping trip to Pinnacles National Park! I have been looking forward to this camping trip for weeks since I made the camping reservation. Our first camping trip of the year.
January 23rd
The drive to Pinnacles National Park was beautiful! Green luscious rolling hills speckled with cows grazing. We entered the park through the east entrance, the side where the camp was located at. This is where I learned that roads do not connect the east and west entrance of the park! In order to see the west side, you would need to hike through or drive around to the west entrance.
Thankfully we arrived to the camp store minutes before it closed, so we were able to get some firewood! Our campsite was 79C. I chose this spot because on the map it seemed like a spot that was more secluded, not too close to the other campsites. The campsite was nice, very much secluded – the downside, THE WALK TO THE BATHROOM WAS FAR!! Thankfully there was a walkway to cut through, but still a walk…
By this point, we had about 20 minutes of light left so we quickly set up camp. Matt went straight to setting up the tent, as he does, while I unloaded the rest of our things and started to prep for dinner.
Our dinner was red thai curry with shrimp, veggies, and rice! While I was cooking, Matt was trying to get the fire going. It did not go. So we ate our dinner without a campfire, which saddened Matt. However, it was still a lovely night. The night sky was clear and full of stars. I love looking up at the stars. We also had a visitor to our campsite, a raccoon. A raccoon that we called rocket. Rocket was curious and would approach us, but mostly rocket would just pass through our site to go through the bushes and then disappear into the night.
After dinner, we cleaned up and got ready for bed. The night grew cold and we were racing to get into the tent. Ended the night with some reading and hit the hay.
January 24th
Got up at around 7:30 am. Though I was already up since 3:30 am, was in and out of sleep. Mostly due to the fact that I needed to use the restroom but decided to hold it in because of how cold and how far the bathroom was (why did I have to choose a campsite so far). I wanted to get to the trailhead early, avoid the crowd. It was cold!!! Made it so difficult to get up. Matt made some coffee, we ate some yogurt, and packed up what we needed for the hike then headed to the trailhead.
We hiked to Bear Gulch Reservoir via Moses Spring Trail and returned via Rim Trail, about a 3.5 mile loop! Started the hike at around 9 am, it was a nice and peaceful morning. Not a lot of people on the trail yet! The start was a steady incline and the trail was lined with moss covered rocks. Only a few minutes in, and there were already so many pretty views. We quickly reached THE BEAR GULCH CAVE!
I put on my headlamp, Matt got his flashlight ready, and we ventured in. There was water running through on the side, but low. When I was doing research on this trail prior to the trip, it was mentioned to check on the water levels beforehand. Sometimes with lots of rain, the water can get pretty high and would require water shoes to pass through! Thankfully it was not flooded, and we were able to get by with our regular hiking shoes.
Walking through the cave was thrilling! The caves at Pinnacles NP are Talus Caves! They are formed when large boulders or rock fragments tumble down from cliffs and get wedged in between narrow canyons or fractures.1 Within the cave was very dark with the sound of water gushing through. There were stairs, imaged below, to make our way upward through the cave.
As we made our way up we found the water source, it wasn’t a super strong waterfall. As we reached the end, we had to crouch down and wedge our way through the exit then climb our way to the other end. That part was very fun and exciting! It definitely sparked my interest, and will be looking into more caving adventures.
After the cave, we headed our way to the Bear Gulch Reservoir. The path was a bit interesting, at one point it felt like we were off the trail. We had to crouch down and enter through more narrow canyons, going under rocks that were wedged through. Then finally we were met by the iconic staircase leading up to the Bear Gulch Reservoir.
At the top of the stairs, we were rewarded by the beautiful Bear Gulch Reservoir!
After the hike, we returned to our campsite and relaxed the rest of the day.
This is getting a bit long, so I’ll end with saying that I will return to this national park again!
Resources:
Alyssa's Adventures 
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