Parking | Chaparral Trailhead — Local services in Soledad

We entered the pinnacles on the West entrance on 11/28 and were told we could reenter the park within 7 days of our purchase receipt. We showed up at the East entertrance 11/30 ready to check out another hike on our way back to Santa Monica. We waited in a line of cars for 45 min not knowing why we were waiting or what was going on. There was absolutely no communication with those in the line and there was at least 20 cars behind us and 5 cars left in front of us. The one person at the park entrance was awful. She made no effort to let any of the cars know what was going on. After an hour she finally started to hand out pamphlets to everyone waiting and finally told us it's one car in, and one car out. Firstly in what world does a National Park not communicate this. It's a long drive in and not everyone in line is a local therefore we ended up wasting 1.5 hours for nothing. This park increased there entry prices from $15 to $30. What was this for exactly?? If you are going to pay $30 with the hopes you can go back and reenter, or check out the different hikes offered, I recommend saving your money. This park needs to get their shit together. If charging more, then hire more staff to inform people sitting in long lines as to WHAT is going on. I will be reporting this to Elon Musk. Maybe this park will get their shit together then. Thanks for wasting our time, gas and money. I have visited tons of national parks all over the world and very popular ones too. This is the only park I can truthfully say I was extremely disappointed in. Not to mention, both times I did attempt to get in the West Entrance has 2 women's restrooms at Bear Gulch. We got there early and one of the bathroom doors has a lock missing, no lighting, and was dirty. I was to the visitor bathroom on the east side entrance to while sitting in line and that one was even more disgusting then the others. If you're not having more restrooms, and not maintaining the park why are we paying so...

The chaparral trailhead is the heart of west side of pinnacles national Park. It has about 40 Parking slots. During the weekend and holidays, the parking spaces are filled up very quickly. Be sure to arrive before 9:30AM, otherwise you need to park at the overflowing parking lot half mile away. If you arrive around noon, most likely you need to wait in a queue to enter the park. It is not an very enjoyable experience considering the hot temperature and scorching sun.

There is no vending machine, nor shop near the parking lot, so bring your own food and water. You need lot of water because the park is dry and hot for most time of the year. The restroom is the super clean, which is a big plus.

The trailhead is the start point of numerous tails. The two most popular trails are balcony cave trail and Juniper Canyon to High Peaks Trail. Balcony cave is short easy trail, 2 mile round trip with about 200 feet elevation. The cave is closed in spring. Juniper Canyon to High Peaks trail is strenous 5 mile trail with over 1400 feet elvation. The post at trailhead says the trail is 4.3 mile long with 1250 feet elevation. According the data recorded by the iwatch, it is an understatement. The trail starts with 1.3 miles on Juniper canyon trail, with an elevation of 750 feet. Then the road split, to the left, you have Tunnel Trail ( The tunnel is only about a hundred feet away). To the right you continue with Juniper canyon tail. It does not matter which way you take because it is a loop. The summit of the loop is the high peak, where you will see condors flying around and overhead. If you are lucky, at the top of the hill, you may meet with resting condor less than...

We hiked Juniper Canyon, High Peaks, Condor Gulch overlook then Bear Gulch day-use area and back. It is a loop trail around a 10-mile moderate level hike. Parking lot available at the trailhead was full when we arrived. So we parked the car in an overflow parking lot available 0.3 miles away from the Chaparral trailhead. Portable restrooms are available in the parking lot and at the intersection of Juniper Canyon trail and High Peaks trail, 1.5 miles away from the trailhead. Water taps and restrooms with flowing water are available at the Bear gulch day-use area. Starting early helped to avoid the Sun as this is an open trail and only a few sections are shaded. The hike isn’t hard but there are few difficult sections where handrails are available. This hike can be challenging on a hot day which is very common in Pinnacles national park. Don’t forget to carry lots of drinking water (at least 2-3 liter per person), sunscreen, and a hat. It was not a much-crowded trail except from the intersection of Juniper Canyon trail and High Peaks trail to the intersection of Tunnel trail and High Peaks trail. We took some time to cross this section as it is a very narrow path and only one person can cross at a time. The amazing part was a lot of stunning views. Highlight of the hike was California condors, a huge bird which revived in Pinnacles after they got almost extinct. The best...