Pinnacles Campground - Paicines, California

Erinn Liu

It is a smaller national park but very beautiful.
The tent cabin has 1 queen bed and two twin bed. We brought an additional air mattress since we have 6 people.
There is a water spigot next to our tent cabin. The restroom has flush toilet and soap to wash hands. Very well maintained.
Next to the camp store, there are free showers which include shampoo, conditioner and body wash.
We would definitely come back during either Fall or Spring. It is hot during the summer.

Leah O

What was supposed to be a 3 night stay unfortunately was cut short due to a brush fire. We are so thankful for the quick response and evacuation of the campground.

If you’re coming end of Sept/early Oct be prepared for crazy heat and limited shade. We love coming to Pinnacles no matter the weather! The Bear Gulch trail to the reservoir is our favorite, and we loved cooling off in the pool after.

ARTI

Camp sites are comparetably smaller than other camp sites we stayed in. Cabins are very nice, newly built, glass windows, doors and good size. 4 people can sleep easily on beds.
As it's a national park, a lot of wild animals, you can't leave your food items even for 20 mins without your presence. I will say animals are pretty wild. They don't scare with humans either. We saw a snake at our campsite too.
Need to be careful when you go camping there, otherwise it's beautiful and quiet.

David Nelson

RV Sites in this campground are contained to one loop. Sites on the outer edge of the loop (plus 93 in the middle) had some mature shade trees. Most others in the middle were unattractive for hot summer days. There was quite some choice of tent sites on other loops. Friendly service, easy check in, and they were always maintaining things. We had a temporary electrical issue they came right over for. Bathrooms were clean.

RV sites have electric. You could fill your fresh tank from a number of taps but not hook up. No sewer, but dump station on site.

Campground is just 2-3 miles from most of the hiking parking lots on the EAST side of Pinnacles. On a busy Saturday, the park filled up by 10am and people had to park in day use area near the campground and hike 2 miles on the Bench trail to get to the more interesting ones.

Good choice to save the long drive into the park and get an early start!! Early morning hiking is so much better than baking in the sun.

Angela Calderaro

We camped at Site 68C with friends at 67C (these were not good sites if you want to be close to your friends). It was a long narrow driveway to the campsite. It was surrounded by Poison Oak so be careful with a steep drop to the creek next door. I thought I got a campsite next to the toilets but they were actually porta-potties. That was disappointing. The main word of caution is that wildlife there will boldly steal all your food right in front of you! The racoons were ruthlessly and not easily scared in fact they seemed to welcome confrontation. They will stare deep into your eyes as you scream and bang pots to get them to run. They will take the food from your cooler or bags right in front of you. The scrub jays are equally daring and steal food from the plate right in front of you as you are eating! There are also a crazy amount of bugs. This is not Tahoe camping. The mosquitoes will eat you alive. Maybe a product of going there in late May-June in the height of Spring and bat maternity roosting season. The relatively short hike we went on was amazing (Bear Gulch Cave, Reservoir and Rim Trail Loop). The views were spectacular and easy enough for kids from 4 to 8 years old. The caves were closed, the nature center was closed, and the ranger closed the small parking lot early (9am on Saturday) and the entire road to the trailhead from the camp store by 11am so plan to hike early. The pool was small but nice and refreshing on a hot day. Just don't hit it up too late on the weekend as it gets crowded fast and with limited seats and no good grassy area or shade, it's not pleasant to lounge around. Also, if you buy ice cream at the store don't expect them to give you napkins for free. Probably won't go again but worth the trip. If you can, stop at Casa de Fruita on the way home!

Tasha

Pinnacles is gorgeous. Lots of hiking trails out of the campground and into the Pinnacles themselves. Campground has electric hookup for RVs and a swimming pool. Store with basic camping supplies. The ranger office is right next door.

Jonathan Moore

Pinnacles is one of my favorite national parks, but my least favorite NP Campground. This CG is more than double the price of other NP campgrounds. I travel fulltime to parks and have never paid these prices. I've also never had such a miserable time at a NP campground. After a day off adventuring, you think you're going to relax at the Campground- think again. There's a school sports team or something near the campground, so you're paying double to listen to 500 kids screaming until 845p. An hour away is a state park, much more beautiful and much cheaper. You can visit the entire park in a day and move on. I don't recommend staying here. There aren't any amenities.. you have a couple of porta potties but don't expect much.

Clyde Andrews

This National Park Campground is run by a concessionaire. Biggest surprise, especially since it was 98 degrees when we arrived, as that they have a very nicely maintained pool. Though the pool and shower area is not central to the campground, they provide an added bonus to the normal NP campground experiece. There are a wide variety of sites from sunny to very shaded.