Posted on 06/02/2023 1:17:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Pinnacles National Park recorded its busiest April ever and busiest month since it became a national park.
In April, the park saw 56,339 recreational visitors. That's the most recreational visits in a single month since Pinnacles was designated as a National Park in January 2013.
Data on visits to Pinnacles, which date back to 1979, show only one month with more visitors than April 2023: May 2011.
In May 2011, when Pinnacles was only a national monument, the park saw 59,878 visitors.
Winter-spring is Pinnacle's busy season, mainly because of the cooler temperatures. In 2022, the park saw almost 10,000 fewer visitors per month on average in the summer-fall season.
The busy April underscores the park's bounce-back from the winter storms earlier this year. Despite major sections of the park shutting down in January, Richard Moorer, a park spokesperson, said all trails and roads are fully operational. The only sections of the park that are inaccessible to the public are those designated for animal habitats.
This recovery is notable, given how severe the winter storms were in the park. Pinnacles exceeded its annual rainfall average in a matter of days in early January.
Several trail sections and roads were washed out, dozens of boulders and trees were dislodged and at least one bridge was deemed unsafe to cross.
Six months later, Pinnacles National Park is wrapping up one of its busiest springs ever.
(Excerpt) Read more at ksbw.com ...
I’ve been to Pinnacles. Once. It can have brutal heat!
My small seaside community is overflowing already this year.
It’s an interesting place. Difficult to visit, though. It’s not exactly near anything. When you get there, it’s steep hiking. I’ve been in from both sides pre-Park status. Did a little rock climbing.
Pinnacles is a average state park. There are the California Condors, which are hard to distinguish from the vultures.
I have decided to boycott the California State Parks because they don’t follow the National parks and give veterans a break on entry fees. So it looks like I won’t be going any time soon.
So they only do it certain days? There should be a group to pressure them.
I first visited Pinnacles in the summer of ‘74 or ‘75. It was July or August and I think I was the only person in the entire park. More likely, I was the only one stupid enough to hike in the hot summer weather there.
It used to be such an out-of-the way place and not easy to get to that it was rarely crowded. Now...ugh.
Been there, done that, and will again.
LOTs and LOTs of water! Especially if you go over High Peaks Trail.
I did Almaden Quicksilver in April and it was superb. Visited the ghost towns, the furnace. Lots of poppies blooming all over and clear as a bell skies.
Bring a tent - stay for the summer?
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