Hike Pinnacles National Park's Bear Gulch

I'd recommend arriving in the evening time one or two hours before sunset. When you enter, you will be driving through a lot of beautiful hills and farm lands which are nice to look at but gas stations seem to be few and far between so fill up before you head into the park.

As you enter, you will see the campgrounds very quickly. From my experience, the park was not busy so there was no ranger on duty; however, you can see the visitor center which is right next to the campground. If camping, you'll be able to get your permit there. If no one is present, you can just grab a site and there is a staff member who goes around in the morning to collect the payment for it.

Get yourself situated and prepped at the campsite. There are picnic benches as well as food storage containers at each site. There are also well maintained restrooms although they did not have a shower near my particular site.

Take your time and relax. The hiking trails are not particularly long nor very strenuous so you can enjoy yourself and take lots of pictures.

To prepare for the Bear Gulch hike, I'd recommend taking a smaller backpack with just a few essentials because the hike is quite narrow at some parts in the cave. A large backpack will actually hinder you and you'll have to take it off to get through some parts. You'll need to bring a headlamp or a flashlight because it is pitch black in some parts of the cave.

Although the bear gulch trail was relatively short, it offered a lot of unique experiences. It was mysterious and adventurous. You'll have the time to climb on the rocks as well as take ample photos. Keep an eye out for bats since they've been known to dwell in the caves.

Since the gulch trail is short, you will also have time to check out some other trails that connect to it such as the High Peaks Trail as well as the trail to the reservoir. My friends and I opted to do the high peaks trail which was a moderate hike that offered great views of the local hills, rock formations, and canyons. There were also several rock formations which were great for rock climbing.

The high peaks trail had a few connecting trails to it so you can make it as long as 9 miles if you like or as short as 3. The elevation gain of the entire trail is 1400ft and would require about 4 hours to complete.

All in all, there's plenty of time to soak in and enjoy yourself so relax and take it all in!