On Pinnacles and Needles of Pine

By national park standards, Pinnacles is relatively small--16,000 acres. But there’s a lot of park packed in and around the towering rock pinnacles that give the national monument its name.

Besides the high spires, there are slopes bristling with gray pine, dark caves, wildflower-strewn meadows, rolling grassland and a pretty canyon cut by Chalone Creek. Most of the monument’s major features can only be visited on foot.

Its highest summit is 3,304-foot North Chalone Peak. From the peak’s lookout, hikers are rewarded with a 360-degree panorama that includes most of the Pinnacles, the Salinas Valley, the Diablo Range to the east and the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

A wide, well-engineered pathway and fire road (closed to all but official vehicles) take hikers to the top. The Civilian Conservation Corps began work on a path linking North Chalone Peak to South Chalone Peak, but World War II intervened and the project was abandoned.

For many years the path was blanketed by chaparral but has been partially restored and is passable.

Directions to trail head: From U.S. 101 in King City, take the First Street exit and travel a mile north through town to Highway G13. Head east on the highway (called Bitterwater Road in Monterey County and King City Road in San Benito County) 15 miles to a junction with California 25. Turn left (north) and continue 14.2 miles to California 146. Turn left and drive five miles to the Pinnacles National Monument Bear Gulch Visitor Center.

Begin from the Pinnacles National Monument Visitor Center or continue another 0.3 mile to the end of the road.

The hike: Follow Moses Spring Trail or Bear Gulch Trail to Bear Gulch Reservoir. From the east side of the reservoir’s Bear Gulch Dam, the Chalone Peak Trail passes among coast live oak, then ascends brushy slopes blanketed with chemise, manzanita and toyon.

Rewarding your efforts well before the summit are views of the monument’s High Peaks as well as Mt. Defiance and Little Pinnacles.

About 3.5 miles from the trail head, the track briefly joins a fire road, then the peak’s lookout road, which leads half a mile along the summit ridge to North Chalone Peak.

Dominating the southern view is, of course, South Chalone Peak. To get there, descend a quarter-mile and pick up the trail.

Descend 0.6 mile to a saddle between North and South Chalone peaks, then climb another 0.6 mile to the summit of South Chalone.

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WHERE: North Chalone and South Chalone peaks.

DISTANCE: To North Chalone Peak is 8.4 miles round trip with 2,000-foot elevation gain.

TERRAIN: National monument’s high point.

HIGHLIGHTS: Terrific 360-degree vistas.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Strenuous

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Pinnacles National Monument, Paicines, CA 95403; tel. (408) 389-4485