We continued our March 2018 trip to California with a visit to Pinnacles National Park. Established as a national monument in 1908 by Theodore Roosevelt, it became the 59th national park in 2013. At 26,686 acres (41.7 square miles), the park is the 6th smallest. On average, about 222,000 visitors enter the park per year or just over 600 per day from 2007 through 2016.
The park is located about 70 miles southeast of San Jose and 40 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. There are two entrances to the park. The west entrance is on California highway 146 about 10 miles east of Soledad. The east entrance is also on CA 146 about 30 miles south of Hollister. Although both routes to the park are signed as CA 146, it is not a continuous route through the park. Driving from one side of the park around to the other side will take 1½ hours or longer. We chose to visit the more developed east side of the park.
The visitor center is located adjacent to CA 146 about two miles south of its junction with CA 25. The visitor center contains an information desk, book store and gift shop, and camp store for the adjacent campground. Restrooms and showers are located in a nearby building.
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| Visitor center parking |
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| Campground store and visitor center |
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| Entrance |
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| Overview |
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| Shirts and caps |
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| Books and hats |
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| More shirts and hats |
Entrance to Pinnacles National Park requires an entry fee of $25 per passenger vehicle for a 7-day pass. Any of the America the Beautiful passes may be used instead.
The park website is https://www.nps.gov/pinn.
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