Pinnacles National Park

Park Information

• Date Established: January 10, 2013
• Location: San Benito and Monterey Counties, west-central California
• Area: 26,000 acres

Overview

Pinnacles National Park is a government-protected area in the mountains of west-central California. The park was named for its great rock spires, which are the eroded remains of a dead volcano torn apart by California’s seismic activity. In addition to its signature spires, the park also features a series of caves, steep cliffs, canyons, and miles of hiking trails. Pinnacles National Park has a total area of about 40.6 square miles (105.2 square kilometers). It is located in the remote Gabilan Mountains about 37 miles (59.5 kilometers) east of Salinas, California, and about 120 miles (193 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.

Pinnacles is one of the newest national parks in the United States. It achieved national monument status in the early twentieth century, but it was not named a national park until more than a century later. According to the National Park Service, Pinnacles attracted 275,023 visitors in 2022. The park’s geology makes it popular with hikers and rock climbers. Among the park’s diverse wildlife is the highly endangered California condor. Pinnacles National Park is one of only a few places in the western United States where the species has been reintroduced to the wild.

History

Archeological evidence proves that humans hunted and gathered food in the area of the park at least as far back as two thousand years ago. A Native American people known as the Ohlone lived in the region, although no conclusive evidence has been found that they built any villages within the park. Spanish missionaries arrived in California in the late eighteenth century and set up the first mission in the Pinnacles area in 1791. Many Ohlone converted to Christianity, but in turn, their population was decimated by diseases unknowingly carried by the Spanish. California became part of Mexico in 1821 and was acquired in 1848 by the United States after the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). It became a state in 1850.

In the ensuing decades, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and settlers moved to California. One of those settlers was Schuyler Hain, who arrived in the area from Michigan in 1891. Hain realized that the natural beauty of the landscape could lure tourists to the region. While he saw the economic benefits tourism could provide, he also wanted to make sure the area was protected against development. Hain led tours of the Pinnacles, as the area was now called, and lobbied to have the region declared a nationally protected area. His efforts met with success in 1908 when President Theodore Roosevelt set aside 2,500 acres of the Pinnacles as a national monument.

The monument’s size slowly grew over the years as the government purchased more of the surrounding land. A group of local residents known as the Pinnacle Boys helped in the early development of the park. In the 1930s, members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a government work program that was part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal initiative, helped construct many of the park’s buildings and hiking trails. In 2012, Congress voted to designate the Pinnacles as a national park. The measure was signed on January 10, 2013, by President Barack Obama. The designation added 3,000 acres of wilderness, increasing the park to its current size.

Geology and Ecology

About twenty-three million years ago, two giant sections, or plates, of the earth’s crust collided in what would become California. One of those plates, the North American plate, began riding up and over the Farallon plate, producing several volcanoes, including an 8,000-foot (2,438-meter) volcano called Neenach. The volcano was located about 195 miles (314 kilometers) southeast of Pinnacles National Park, near the modern-day city of Lancaster, California. Eventually, the North American plate completely overwhelmed the Farallon plate and came into contact with the Pacific plate. Neenach’s supply of magma dried up and it became extinct.

Neither the North American nor Pacific plate began overriding the other; instead, they started moving horizontally to one another. The boundary between these plates is known as the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault ran through the center of the extinct Neenach. Over the course of millions of years, the Pacific plate moved northward while the North American plate moved southward. This process tore the volcano in two. At the same time, millions of years of wind and weather also eroded the volcano. Pinnacles National Park is what remains of the volcano’s western half, now moved 195 miles north of its birthplace. The plate, and the park, is still moving northward at a rate of about 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) per year.

Erosion and landslides caused by frequent earthquakes sculpted the dead volcano into a landscape of steep cliffs, boulders, canyons, and the park’s iconic rock pillars. The park is also noted for its distinct caves, known as talus caves. These caves were formed when thousands of years of running water carved channels in the rock. Parts of this rock eventually fragmented and broke off, sending boulders and rubble into the channels. The larger pieces of rock were too big to fit inside and formed a roof over the channel, creating the talus caves.

Pinnacles National Park can get quite hot in the California summer, often reaching temperatures of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). The park is home to 28 species of mammals, including black-tailed deer, bobcats, jackrabbits, coyotes, mountain lions, and bats. Horned lizards, garter snakes, and western rattlesnakes are just some of the park’s 23 species of reptiles. Pinnacles also has 8 amphibian species, 70 species of butterflies, and 450 species of bees.

Of the park’s one hundred bird species, the most notable is the California condor, the largest land bird in North America, with a wingspan of about 9 feet (2.7 meters). The condor was nearly extinct by the 1980s. Its population had dwindled to less than twenty-five in 1987, forcing conservationists to capture the remaining birds to keep them safe for breeding purposes. In the 1990s, the condor population had increased enough to be reintroduced into the wild. They were released in several places in California and Arizona’s Grand Canyon. In 2003, the condor was introduced to Pinnacles National Park. By 2023, more than 90 of an estimated total population of about 347 California condors lived in the Pinnacles area.

Bibliography

“Born of Fire.” National Park Service, 18 Oct. 2024, www.nps.gov/pinn/index.htm. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Lindsey, John. “Once Almost Extinct, California Condors Are Thriving in Pinnacles National Park.” San Luis Obispo Tribune, 8 Apr. 2017, www.sanluisobispo.com/news/weather/weather-watch/article143552519.html. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

Mullally, David, and Linda Mullally. Hiking Pinnacles National Park: A Guide to the Park’s Greatest Hiking Adventures. Falcon Guides, 2015.

Oswald, Michael Joseph. “Pinnacles.” Your Guide to the National Parks: The Complete Guide to All 59 National Parks. Stone Road Press, 2017, pp. 489–498.

“Pinnacles National Park.” National Geographic, 20 Apr. 2015, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/pinnacles-national-park/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Pinnacles National Park.” National Park Foundation, www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/pinnacles-national-park. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

“Pinnacles Visitation by Year.” National Parked, 2018, www.nationalparked.com/pinnacles/visitation-statistics. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.

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