Pinnacles Campground

The campsite was good. Easy access to the restroom. Parking for 2 cars. The only issue was that there were a lot of raccoons. At one point, there were 9 raccoons in front of us together.

We were in site 40 and 41B. Excellent sites with shade, next to the creek. The campground has free showers and an excellent swimming pool.
Be very aware of the bandit Racoons! They opened (unzipped) one of our tent and took everything out (a duffle bag, AirPods, purse) and threw in the creek site. They also cut of my friends sleeping mat (which could not be fixed) . They are cute but super annoying needless to say. Put everything in the car or safe. We saw deer, quail, wild turkeys, raccoons and cottontail rabbits. They are not afraid of campers. Overall it was an excellent experience.

We specifically booked our trip to pinnacle national Park in order to observe the peak night of the Perseid meteor shower.
We booked site 107, this was a tent cabin
with electricity. The tent cabin was well kept.
We did bring a sleeping bag to lay on top of the queen mattress under our sheets and a down duvet for warmth, we were glad we did as it got pretty chilly as the night went on.
We were able to view the Milky Way, and we brought cots to lay on to observe the meteor shower. I do recommend the cots or some sort of lounge chair that you can fully lay back to protect your neck.
We were able to view about 10+ meteors an hour die to the dark sky. The only downfall of tent cabin, 107, was the constant barrage of cars driving in and out of the campground.
It would be very helpful if there was a limit on the number of cars that can enter the campground after dark, or at least recommend that cars extinguish their lights as soon as possible.
We also experienced many people who only came for the night standing outside of our tent, conversing, and another group pitching their tents at 2:30 in the morning just behind our cabin. Their presence made it difficult to sleep and we were under the understanding that 10 PM was the time that people were advised to stay quiet.
We did appreciate having electricity, and a fan that helped cool down the tent cabin as we arrived after 4 PM.
I would certainly book at pinnacles again during the Perseid meteor shower, however, I would hope to stay in a tent cabin that wasn’t so close to the entrance of the campground.

Due to the Persieds meteor shower viewing at 2 am, it was like rush hour with all the cars driving by. so much for dark sky park.

Efficient checking with clean and spacious tent cabin. In August, it can be very warm in the afternoon. Hike early and stay in the shade for the afternoon.

Beautiful place to spend some time camping, hiking, and enjoying the vast wilderness. We were lucky enough to see over a dozen California Condors flying and perched up on the high peaks trail! We stayed in tent cabin 80 which was amazing as usual although one power outlet was a bit faulty and would sometimes not provide power. The only negative experience we had was a very angry and deranged sounding man in the neighboring campsite to ours. He was hysterically yelling at what we determined along with the park ranger to be a racoon. The man was heard yelling over and over again for the animal to get away from him in a raging episode followed by what we assumed was gunfire or at least repeated battering with some sort of metallic weapon and it sounded like he even hurt the animal. We did not take lightly to this event and called both the sheriff and the park ranger but they were unable to find anything. The man in the campsite denied any involvement in this situation or even hearing any commotion that night but we were later updated by the ranger that the man admitted to "harshly shooing away the racoon." It was a frightening incident and we ended up leaving to a nearby hotel for the night and returning the following morning for our belongings. This was not at all the park's fault or the staff's fault in any way. Officer Faye did an incredible job of doing his due diligence and trying to reassure that we were safe as well as providing constant updates. He ensured we felt heard and did not ever make us feel like we were mistaken. Once again not the park's fault at all and really just an unfortunate situation. We look forward to our next stay at Pinnacles National Park and hope for better luck!

We expected it to be hot when visiting in August, but didn't expect the excessive amount of raccoons that surrounded our campsite as the sun went down. They were aggressive, ripping a hole in our tent and going in and snatching a pair of pants. There were at least 20 raccoons that had no problem intruding in on our space - despite having all of our food and toiletries locked in the locker. It was so bad, we had to leave. Then the latch on the locker broke. And did I mention that the pool is only open until 5pm? That was not noted on the reservation, despite it still being so hot AND it was summer. Also, there are NO STAFF after 5pm. No park staff, no camping staff. Just some phone numbers posted that you could call if there was an emergency. But you have to leave your campsite, walk or drive to the store and then find the posted numbers. Not exactly helpful in an emergency. And the group sites were not group friendly. Almost all of them have 2 levels, with the camping portion down a flight of stairs that are built in to the hill. If you camp at the ONE (#129) that doesn't have a huge hill and is nicely shaded, you'll run into the raccoons! Because it was so hot, our plan was to hike first thing in the morning. But the Bear Gulch Cave was closed (despite being 3 weeks after the estimated opening). I get it - can't predict the nesting habits of the bats, but it was still disappointing. Because we ditched the campsite and stayed in Paso Robles, we weren't there first thing in the morning, so it was too hot to hike to the other cave. Besides the hike to the caves, there wasn't much to see/do.

Great place for stargazing and hiking. Pinnacles are amazing.
I wish the fire pits were available to use but we understand these restrictions during hot weather.
The nature is beautiful here, a lot of animals and birds can be seen especially in the morning.
Free of charge showers are available as well as a small swimming pool but we didn't use it as most of the time it was overcrowded. We preferred hiking and chilling at our camping spot.

Beautiful , stars were amazing 🫠 very clean and the pool was just what was needed. Definitely will be back

Beautiful site and such cool wildlife