Wonders of the Central Coast: Pinnacles National Park

This week on Wonders of the Central Coast, we take you to a place where condors soar and stone monoliths reach into the sky. But hidden in its canyons, you’ll find a rather unique environment.

Pinnacles National Park was established as a national monument in 1908.

“Pinnacles was originally set aside for the rocks and the caves,”
explained Paul Johnson, a wildlife biologist with the park service.

Named for the rocky spires that shape the landscape high in the Gabilan Range, the park also protects a variety of ecosystems– like the lush Bear Gulch area. Bear Gulch includes a series of unique caves.

“It’s hard to find this kind of cave, called a talus cave, just about anywhere,” said Johnson.

Talus caves are named for talus or large rocks and boulders. The caves are formed when water erodes passages between large voids in the jumble of stones. In the Bear Gulch Caves, you’ll find large rooms and narrow passages with light filtering down from above. At different times of the day, the light can completely change the caves’ appearance.

“The caves are nice and cool,” said Johnson. “It’s a place where some wildlife might go to get away from the heat. It’s a place where visitors who come here in the summer can go to escape the heat.”

In fact, the caves’ environment supports populations of bats and frogs and may be closed seasonally to protect the animals.

During the rainy season, the caves’ lightly trickling stream can become a series of raging waterfalls. That water is a big part of the ecosystem throughout Bear Gulch.

“It’s got permanent water down there that flows year round and there are oak trees and sycamores and it’s really a shady, moist area,” said Johnson.

It all adds up to a unique environment that seems contrary to the surrounding, arid mountains.

“Absolutely, it’s one of the Wonders of the Central Coast,” said Johnson.
“Every year, I realize there’s more and more and more to explore and to discover and I definitely encourage people to come out and see what they can find out.”

“It’s amazing,” said Kathryn Adamek, who was visiting the caves from Hollister on a recent August day. “You walk in and it feels a little bit eerie because it’s so dark and once you get to a breaking point where you can kind of see where you are, you realize how unbelievably beautiful this area is.”

The Bear Gulch area is only a part of the natural spectacle that is Pinnacles National Park. Rangers advise that to avoid crowds, try visiting outside of the spring wildflower season. If you want to visit in the summer but don’t like the heat, they also have a series of night hikes. Information about those hikes and the park in general is here.