Pinnacles Campground

Campsite no. 6. loop A, there's no shade in the late afternoon when the sun starts to set but this would be a good time to use the pool. No issues with racoons, except we saw 1 walk through our campsite on one occasion. Water and restrooms nearby and we were close to the showers and pool.

1 out of 5 stars. Had 4 night reservation to camp and still charged $30 entry fee. Seems a bit excess and a cheap way to make more money from citizans. Also ZERO use of generators? lame. Website says that there are quite hours 10pm - 7am but it is ZERO use. Will NOT be coming back. Nickel and diming your visitors!!

We stayed at the group campsite 121G. It is on a lower level than the parking so you have to walk down some steps to get to the campsite. It was a lot of work getting our stuff down there but overall it was great because it allowed so much more privacy and the noise from the campgrounds up top did not carry to our campsite much. For all the campsites in that area, the parking is away from the campsite itself, so if you intend to camp in your car, just know you will be camping in more of like a parking lot. There are two water spigots down in that area, by the two other group sites.

It's similar to a desert climate, hot in the day, cold at night. We went in early April so the weather was great, very tolerable. We found a baby rattlesnake at our campsite and the raccoons are bold and will get into your food locker if you leave it open, so be aware. There is a small creek adjacent to the campsite (the water didn't look clean), lots of flying bugs and mosquitos (it was spring so kind of expected), poison oak, and a lot of pollen in the air.

The hike to bear gulch was great. Be aware that they close the road going there once the lots are full but you can take a shuttle leaving from the camp store, we tried to go around 9:30am and the road was already closed. The guy who was watching the closed road was rude. I asked if I can drive up to drop people off and in a condescending tone told me that I can go park my car and come back to ask that question, there was no one behind me on the road and it could have been a faster, and simple yes or no response. I did park my car and went to ask him and he said "no", but that's neither here nor there. The pool closes at 6pm on weekends and 5pm on weekdays, the pool was cold and hot showers are available adjacent to the pool. The camp store is also adjacent to the pool.

Spacious rv sites. Didn't realize there was a pool! Shuttle service up to hiking trails was a plus though there needed to be more communication between the park store staff and the actual rangers. Staff didn't have any Shuttle experience to share

What an under rated national park. It was such a great few days. The campground was beautiful, as was the park. We enjoyed a few days of climbing and hiking. The cold pool after a day out was icing on the cake. It was truly a perfect trip.

We love our national parks and enjoyed camping in the canvas tents at Pinnacles. It was a treat to not have to hunker down in our regular tent when it rained! One of our tents was at an RV hookup spot, and the little space heater provided was very comfortable on a cold night in the 30s.

It says on the website showers are available. However, the only shower place is primarily for the swimming pool (which is not a pool but more like a large backyard pool). The water is cold. There are only two spots for the whole camping ground (more than 100 sites).

The campground needs more showers and more toilets

First Off-in case you only read first sentence or two-campsite 63 has little to NO SHADE! The web site lists it as a shady site-but they must of cut the shade trees down. In Mid-April there was no shade until 4pm and by then the tent was a furnace...so, if you're like me, and enjoy an afternoon nap after hiking, you'll need to find another place to snooze. We were lucky that the beautifully shady site 61 next to us had late arrivals so we put out our matts and napped there until our neighbors arrived to setup their camp. Also, 63 is right next to the road and everyone can see in your site and you them so there is not much privacy. However, everyone was pleasant and it had a small-town feel, so it wasn't that onerous.
Besides that, it was WONDERFUL!!!
Also, if you're in the back of campsites you don't get real bathrooms-you get porta potties. Up front they had bathrooms. Showers were by entrance and were very nice and were included in the camping price with soap and shampoo dispensers (but don't count on them being full).
The High Peaks trail is ICONIC and well worth the elevation. However, you must be fit enough to climb up hand-hold carved-out steps in a few, steep spots. Old Pinnacles is a very nice and FLAT hike (except for the caves where you must crawl and scramble in a few spots). coming out of the caves is a 400' uphill but it's worth it-it gives you a taste of the High-Peaks trail like experience.
A great variety of Birds- If you've never used a bird call App on your phone, you should definitely try it in this park. Also, a few wildflowers were out that I've never seen before which was very cool (a Fire Poppy and Donkeys Ears for instance).
Don't count on the little store for much-Hollister should be your last supply stop.
I wish we could learn from the Canadian National Parks-their campgrounds have firewood (also helps prevent tree disease by burning local wood), showers, and cook-out shacks with picnic tables and wood burning stoves (great if raining).

Beautiful site. Nice free hot showers! Typically stocked camp store. Would have appreciated slightly later hours for it to be open. And firewood to be a little more consistently available. Quiet hour enforcement would have been appreciated a couple times. But most importantly --put a shelf up in the bathroom! I've been to a lot of campsites --never had to put my stuff on the floor to brush my teeth/etc. But honestly, overall, really lovely place and incredible park.