Last week my husband, our three year-old and I hitched up our trailer and headed north to Pinnacles National Park. We’re still new campers and I didn’t realize how insanely quickly campsites book up so after reading a review of this park in Sunset magazine (listed as one of the best parks to visit in the spring), I grabbed the first reservation I could find which just happened to be a Sunday - Tuesday (stay tuned for a funny story about that…).

Pinnacles NP is around 4.5 hours north of LA and it’s a super easy drive up the 5. At a certain point you start to head west on a one lane highway through rolling hills and meadows and it was a legit beautiful drive. We arrived at the campsite around 4, had an easy check in and stopped by the camp store (loved having a store onsite!). If you have a small trailer with you, I highly recommend booking one of the tent spots that allow trailers because there is so much more space and privacy as opposed to at the trailer hook up spots in the lot. We were at site 52 and it was perfect. We had plenty of space from our neighbors on one side and although our other neighbor was closer it still felt spacious and private. There was tons of room to put up our pop-up tent, park our trailer and car and we had direct access down a little hill that led down to the creek which our daughter loved. There were also two picnic tables and a nice fire pit (we bought firewood on our way in from the camp store).

We loved sitting out in the dark enjoying the quiet and stars and had a great night of sleep which was surprising with an energetic, marshmallow-fueled toddler. As we were driving up the day before I realized I made a mistake and had looked at so many different campsite reservations that our reservations were actually for Sunday - Tuesday, not Monday - Wednesday as I had thought. Luckily Pinnacles has several first-come first-served spots so I was able to snag a different campsite for night two (site #204). It was another great spot in a different section that was more exposed to our neighbors but still a site I would highly recommend.

During the day we went hiking at Bear Gulch and Moses Spring and it was absolutely amazing! You hike up rock formations, through caves and end up at a reservoir high at the top of the hike. Our three year-old was able to do almost the entire hike by herself with just a little bit of help through the caves and steeper areas. If you go, make sure to bring a head-lamp or flashlight to get through the caves safely.

Overall this was a really amazing trip and I highly recommend the campsite. The host was extremely helpful when I realized I booked the wrong night (and also then lost and ran over my debit card - seriously I was having a morning lol), the sites were all well-spaced, the campers were respectful, there were no noise issues and the park itself was really beautiful. It was such a fun trip I can’t wait to get on the road again soon.

Happy camping!

- Callie