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Pinnacles National Park Facts

Pinnacles National Park Facts
Pinnacles National Park is a 26,606 acre park located in Central California's Gabilan Range. Approximately 23 million years ago, erupting volcanoes created the area that would later become Pinnacles National Monument, and eventually Pinnacles National Park. The region that encompasses the park was inhabited by Native Americans in the 1700s when Spanish explorers arrived. By 1810 disease and displacement from the arrival of settlers had removed the last of the Native Americans, who had been living in the area for at least 10,000 years. The park got its name for the rock formations located in its region. Pinnacles are high, pointed pieces of rock, which today are popular with sigh-seers and with rock climbers.
Interesting Pinnacles National Park Facts:
It is believed that Native Americans inhabited California, and specifically Pinnacles National Park's region, for more than 10,000 years.
The Spanish arrived in the region of Pinnacles National Park in the 1700s, but it wasn't until a homesteader from Michigan named Schuyler Hain arrived in 1891 that the area began to become popular as a tourist destination.
Schuyler Hain became known as the 'Father of Pinnacles' over the 20 year period he took tourists into Pinnacle's caves, wrote about the area, and worked to protect it.
In 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt declared 2500 acres as Pinnacles National Monument.
Beginning in 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps began to work to create and improve trails that would make it easier for tourists to visit Pinnacles National Monument.
From the time Pinnacles was declared a National Monument in 1908, until it was declared a national park in 2013 by President Barack Obama, it grew from 2500 acres to 26,606 acres.
15,985 acres of Pinnacle National Park is designated as Hain Wilderness. Wilderness designation provides additional protection for the park.
Pinnacles National Park is located 80 miles south of San Francisco Bay and 40 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, making it a Mediterranean/semi-arid climate. In some of the higher areas, snowfall is reported in December and January.
Pinnacles National Park is located near the San Andreas Fault line, and the pinnacles in the park are believed to have been moved by the Pacific Plate along the fault line to their present location.
Pinnacles National Park is popular with prairie falcons, which breed more in this area than anywhere else in North America. Other birds that breed in the park include peregrine falcons, and condors.
Wildlife that can be seen in Pinnacles National Park include cougars, golden eagles, gray fox, quail, racoons, great horned owls, coyotes, bobcats, and at times wild pigs.
Trees found within Pinnacles National Park include gray pine, canyon live oak, and blue oak, and other vegetation found in its boundaries including greasewood, manzanita, California buckeye, coffeeberry, and elderberry.
Pinnacles National Park was the 59th national park designated as such in the United States.
There are more than 400 species of bees that can be found in Pinnacles National Park.
Pinnacles National Park is popular with rock climbers, star gazers, cave explorers, hikers, and bird watchers, as well as those interested in camping.


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