West Pinnacles Visitor Contact Station — Attraction in Soledad

We visited (1st time there) on what turned out to be a Monday holiday (10/9). Front gate (east side) Ranger was very friendly and pointed us in the right direction(s).... Small visitor center provided old/ worn (but clean) public restrooms. Small charging station as well.... Small store had expensive drinks & snacks but very friendly staff. Next door visitor center was small and got crowded quickly.... single staff there was busy giving park info / she was very informative and patient (people had lots of questions). We hiked the cave trail for a short time. Very interesting landscape - Note: Be in shape as none of the cave trail is EZ. Bring water & flashlight.

It got very busy on our way out... parking was at a premium.... Small lots with few spaces. Lots of cars circling and waiting for openings...

Very clean Park with lots of Ranger presence. Felt...

We were heading North on 101 and had a few hours to spare, so we made an unplanned stop here. First off, the cave and the views were beautiful and we were really happy we stopped. Reminded me of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Except with Condors. However, on October 11, the visitor center was closed and the park was not staffed, although the roads, trails, and bathrooms were open. Also, there is no mobile phone service there. So if you were (like me) too dumb to download the park map ahead of time, you are on you own. I took a picture of the map posted at the West trail head, and we were then able to find our way into and out of the Balconies cave and cliff trails. My advice is fire up your phone before you leave Soledad, and download the park map and maybe a Google map of...

6/11/20 The westside Visitor Center is actually CLOSED during the #coronavirus #lockdown although they DO put Maps out for people , & it's actually free entry , (which was not a special surprise for me because I have an annual pass and I'm actually disappointed because I couldn't use any of the national parks for the last couple of months even though I have the annual pass and am wondering if they're going to give us an extension cuz it expires at the end of June should get a couple extra months) .

you CAN park at the trailhead & all the trails are open BUT the caves are closed with Gates and locks... otherwise...