Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Pinnacles, CA

This park has mostly long-term residents. It was super quiet, though there was a somewhat noisy road next to us. We were on the first site next to the road, so I suspect it would be a non issue for most of the sites.

The dog park is extremely well-maintained. Beautiful grass, very nice fence, a bench to sit on, water for your pets and plenty of space to run.

There a really nice stream to hike along. And underneath a bridge there are bat houses. We went under there at sundown and watched the bats come out. Strongly recommended!

The lady who runs the place was extremely nice and helpful.

Full hook-ups and relatively large, gravel sites with some shade. However, I needed to raise one wheel about 5 inches and another 2 to get level.

Short drive to downtown Morgan hill or Gilroy. And there’s a Camping World as well.

After being on the road for 2 1/2 months this place was just what we needed for a stop over on our way NORTH on 101. Clean everything, perfect level cement pad, large very nice dog park with room for the pups to run and play and a friendly helpful staff. This would be a perfect place to explore Pinnacle National or Hearst Castle. There is nothing near buy, except a Shell station with the lowest diesel prices I’ve seen in California. We ordered dinner from Luigi’s (located in Gonzales) they delivered for free and the food was fantastic. We will definitely stay here again.

Medium sized campground. Huge roomy sites. Busy little park with lots of vehicles going in and out all the time. Nice walking trail by creek for you and your furry buddy. Dog park was large and ours loved it. Close see to Morgan Hill which is a quaint friendly little town. We made a booking mistake and they were actually able to move some people around to accommodate us. Laundry room was extremely small but clean and functional. They have propane available. Friendly and very helpful staff. Would stay again if in area.

We visited the first week of December 2020.  The staff was helpful and the grounds were well maintained.  Flat easy pull through with full hook-ups.  Definitely in a canyon around the corner from Thousand Trails.  You can see the stars at night and it is a very quiet campground.  We were surprised at all the high-end rigs there, some full-timers.  A nice dog park area and a stroll along the creek - our dog loved it.  They recycle and are very environmentally aware. No pool or playground but lovely nature away from the hustle and bustle of silicon valley.  It is about 6 miles to shopping and many restaurants.  A very easy drive off the highway if you take the Tennant Road exit.

this KOA has everything you need. the streets are wide and the pull-ins are easy to access. the Wi-Fi here is good enough to check email but not for streaming or anything intensive. however you can get a good starlink connection and over 100 megabits per second. it is pet friendly and has a store filled with pretty much anything you would need. they also give cookies to guests and treats to dogs.

Lots of activities for kids, convenient location for area attractions, pet friendly. Local roads to the KOA were in pretty bad condition.

This campground is very nice. It’s a good place with large spots, flush toilets, hot coin showers, place for your dish, pet allowed and calm.

This place is so great! It is difficult to find BLM camping in California and this is a gem!

The road is in prone to mudslides and looked like is was recently cleared of mud in multiple spots. Warning though this is the kind of mud that is like clay and has to be scraped off of wheel wells and undercarriage. We collected quite a bit and the underneath of our RV looks like hundreds of stalactites grew and THAT was on the recently cleared spots! The road itself is paved but very potholed, patched and narrow. Be aware of blind corners on weekends when the traffic increases and people fly up the narrow road!

The campground has big flat parking areas for RVs, vans or tents. The individual spots are spaced out nicely and all seemed to have some shade. Also there are covered picnic tables, fire pits and a bathroom which consists of a clean pit toilet. There is NO water, hook ups, or garbage available so don't forget to bring extra water to extinguish your fire as this is a high risk fire zone. Pack in and pack out!

The days and nights are quiet and very relaxing! Bird and wildlife viewing abundant and hiking trails nearby. 

There is absolutely NO cell reception at the campground or the road in, NO AT&T, NO Verizon, and NO T-Mobile!

Will definitely come here again!

Great little place of Hwy 1. Cell phone...AT&T...no service. I thought I had a nice spot. Ground is a bit slanted. The spots to the left and right of me seemed way better for tents as far as flat goes. I use a popup and the pavement was good. If your looking for a ocean view site 6 is the only one. If you want seclusion 23 or 33 are surrounded by foliage. Group site 1 is also the best for seclusion, site 2 and 3 are side by side. Site 12, 13, 22, 23, 32 and 33 against the back are the best IMO. There is poison ivy so be careful with pets.

Easy walk to Sand Dollar Beach but you have to take a few stairs down for access.

The Pinnacles Campground offers a variety of sections to fit the need of most every type of camper. There are two sections to the park - an east and a west side which are not connected very easily unless you hike through the Pinnacles themselves. However, the main Campground offers a ranger station and store that provides books, snacks, and information on the park. There is wifi and a pool and showers available. Sections include group sites (which were the ones I stayed at), good for families, school trips, or camps, and more family style camps, and places where you can glamp in your RV fully equipped with hook ups.

The pinnacles is unique because they are one of two spots in California where you can see the California Condors, a huge giant scavenging bird that almost became extinct. From the campsite you can watch them soar back to their roosts in the higher Pinnacles through binoculars. Truly a wonderful experience.

Cons: Watch out for the raccoons. They will eat everything you don't lock away!

Good spot to explore Pinnicales National Park. Typical TT resort park off the beaten path, far out but nice place, we enjoyed our stay. At the time we were there a lot of the riverfront sports were out of order. Park does have a lot of those devil spikes in the grass so beware of those with the dogs or bare feet. I did see someone bare foot walking and I was confused as how he was not stepping on them little spiked mines/ thorns then it happened and he went down having to crawl back to the road and get shoes. Pinnacles NP has lots of great hikes, bird watching is a thing out here and home to the California Condors. Near the town of Gilroy home of the garlic festival. A little out of the way but a nice scenic backroad alternate from I5 or 99 if traveling north/south.

If it hadn’t been for the mudslide closure of Rt 1 on the coast, I never would have found this tucked away campground. It is actually on the Fort Hunter Ligget military base, but it is open to the public (unless there is a military exercise that closes things down). It sits back a little ways from the road so it is nice and quiet, even with the military garage next door. I’m not sure what the spindly trees were, but they provided some light shade and a place to hang a hammock (but not in all sites). The sites are spread out a bit so you are not on top of your neighbors. Most sites have a picnic table and fire pit, and some have grills. Everything was super dry, but there was no ban on fires (yet). The privy was closed, so there were porta potties and a hand washing station. This campground was almost empty while I was there, but apparently it is very popular during hunting season. I thought the rates were reasonable, but it was the first time I had seen an additional fee for pets (altho at $2, not a big deal). I also thought it was interesting that they had monthly rates. If you are RV’ing it, there are full hookups available. There wasn’t much to do here; I suppose there are social hiking trails for hunters, thou I didn’t see any trail heads. There is a mission on the base that is apparently one of the older ones in California, but I was in a hurry to move on and get back to the coast.

Great place to hike, spectacular views. Rock climbers will enjoy the pinnacle rock formations. Talus caves add to the wonderful hikes and offer a refreshing break from the sun. Spring and fall best, summers are hot. You may also see a California condor overhead.

Per my rating system, this is very close to being 5 stars, meaning it's worth planning a trip from out of state just to visit this park and surrounding national/state forest for 3 days or more  The only reason it's 4 stars instead of 5 is that Pinnacles isn't quite big enough to explore exclusively for a minimum of 3 days. You've got a solid and long day of hiking through the park (6 miles, but very intense and exposed). Then a half day of exploring the parts of the park you didn't get to on the hike  And then. . well, by then you've probably seen most of what is worth seeing in the park. So hop in the car and drive to Monterey.  Go to the aquarium, eat some seafood, and then drive back to Pinnacles (about 3 hours round trip, but worth it if you spend the whole day in Monterey).  This is the definition of 4 stars by my system: a park definitely worth visiting if its part of a larger trip to a region.  And for locals, this is a must-visit spot, a place that will be on the regular camping rotation.

The park, which is located in a tight valley in San Benito county, is a geologically unique spot nestled in oak studded rolling California coastal mountains. There are two entrances into the park, but the campground is only accessible from the Gilroy/Hollister side.  If you're coming from the Bay Area, take Hwy 101 through Gilroy and then get on Hwy 25 South. As you wind your way on Hwy 25, you pass ranch land and within 10 miles of getting off the freeway, you feel like you're pretty far away from it all. That's the thing about California.  Get off the main thoroughfares and out of the population centers, and things get rugged fast. In the days of trillion-dollar market caps for Silicon Valley technology companies, people often forget that California has a rich agricultural history. I've lived in California for going on 3 decades, and I sometimes wonder what the more quintessentially central California experience is: Shopping at the Apple Store in San Francisco and then dining at a fine restaurant as the fog rolls in, or buying produce from a farm stand in a valley bordered by rolling hills.  It's probably both. San Benito county is a great place to experience the latter.

What makes Pinnacles geologically unique is that the park is formed from bulbous rock formations.  These are somewhat reminiscent of what one would find in southern Utah, at a place like Arches. The main hike, which is a loop that begins and ends at the parking lot, takes you up the ridge line and then across the rock faces. It's an intense and fun hike. It's just under 6 miles, but it will take the entire day.  Pack a lunch and plenty of water.  There are no water sources on the trail.  If you're lucky, you'll see condors floating in the thermal currents.

Speaking of thermal currents, Pinnacles is extremely hot in the summer. I've never come here past April.  The winter is ideal for Pinnacles.  But if you are in the Bay Area in the summer, it's worth checking out.  But be prepared for heat.

There are two campgrounds loops: one is for RV's and the other is for tents and RV "dry camping" (i.e. no hookups). I was in the tent section, dry camping my Airstream. The RV loop is easy to get in and out of.  The loop I was in was a bit trickier - "blue square" difficulty level for a 28' trailer. I had a back-in spot, but the angle of the spot made it easy to back in.  The tricky part was that it was kind of narrow, with railroad ties on either side. It was a good spot, and I'd definitely take that one again. But, if you want full hookups on the RV loop, spots 50 and 51 are the ones to get.  Many of the spots on the RV loop were really exposed, and it can get hot in Pinnacles, even in the winter during the day.

As I mentioned in the introduction of this post, there is a lot to do within a 2-3 hour (round trip) drive of Pinnacles.  You could go up to the southern Bay Area.  You can go to Monterey.  You could go wine tasting in Paso Robles. This is a great place to plan a 3-4 night trip. It's always on my short list of places to go.

Although many national parks are busier, more frantic camping experiences, Pinnacles provided a very relaxed, pleasant few days of hiking and camping.

The campground itself was a basic national park setup: pretty spacious and scenic sites, picnic tables, flush toilets, and running water. They also have coin showers and a dump station for RVs.

Since Pinnacles is in a more remote area, the access to the park from the campground was clutch. We were able to get an early start and beat the (few) crowds out to the best trails. In our four days in the park, we hiked almost every trail. The trail system is extensive and can be connected in many ways, but here were our favorite parts:

• High Peaks area - on the map it’s called “steep and narrow”
• Bear Gulch and Balconies talus caves
• Chalone Peak Trail

Pinnacles is the newest national park, and it’s quite small, so you can do it justice in a day, but I’d suggest slowing down and spending the night. It’s a perfect place to take it easy!

You can read much more about our four days in the park on our blog: Switchback Kids (Pinnacles)

Campsite Review:

Ventana Campground

Ventana Campground is a tent only campground, which I love as I feel like it’s harder and harder to find now a days. They can’t accommodate RV’s, motor homes, travel trailers or pop-up tent trailers. Although we did see a few of the rental company camper vans and trucks with roof tents or small campers on top. This campground isn’t cheap… But for the Big Sur area, I guess it’s “reasonable” as this campground is right in the middle of Pfieffer Big Sur and Julia Pfieffer Burns State Parks. It really is in a great location to explore the coast That being said, I did find it a little disappointing just how close the campsites are to each other here, meaning you’re not going to get anything close to a secluded camping experience. These (like almost all campground now a days) come with a fire ring and picnic table. We were lucky enough to get randomly placed in a spot right next to a wonderful little 2-foot waterfall on the creek that runs through the campground. We lucked out as there was never anyone at the front gate and there was just a list of everyone’s per-assigned campsite. There were some other campsites which were right on top of each other and you had to basically walk through someone else’s area to get to “your” table and fire ring.

It was nice that there was both recycling/trash and potable water stations scattered throughout and the bath facilities were decently maintained, and as they say “modern” (i.e. flush toilets). However, I was blown away that they only have coin-operated showers available (2 minutes per quarter). This and they really did pack in the 60+ sites plus a “glamping” area in the back for $425-695 (average ~$600) a night…

The tent site campground is reservable by phone at 1-855-391-8683 or online ($85 for Sunday-Thursday, $105 for Friday & Saturday)

While we don’t have one, I know people like to know that dogs are allowed at the campsite on leash (2 per campground).

For me personally the campground only gets 3/5 stars :

Overall, remember that while you have great access to the beauty that Big Sur Coast has to offer and the campground is pet friendly you’re definitely, not really going to get a remote camping experience and there’s a lot lacking for how much you’re paying. The facilities don’t have dish washing areas and while they are nicely cleaned and maintained things like a shower shouldn’t have cost extra…

These rules are copied from their pamphlet.

•        Respect the peacefulness and quiet of the redwoods.

•        QUIET HOURS 10 PM TO 7 AM.

•        No loud noise or loud music at anytime.

•        NO RVS. NO HOOK UPS. NO GENERATORS.

•        All fires must be in fire rings, under control at all times and extinguished before departure.

•        PLEASE DO NOT DEFACE TREES OR STUMPS.

•        Please purchase your firewood in Big Sur. Collecting groundwood is forbidden.

•        No fireworks or fire arms permitted on property.

•        LEAVE NO TRACE on campsites or facilities.

•        Conserve water. Firmly close water taps when not using.

•        Dogs must be quiet, on leash at all times and stay in campsites or roads. Please clean up after your dog. No dogs left unattended.

•        Recycle bins are available for plastic bottles, cans and glass. Please recycle.

•       Maximum five people, one vehicle, two dogs.

Gear Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt I sometimes get the opportunity to test out products and what I got to use during this trip for protecting our food from the wildlife and the elements was RovR’s RollR 60 cooler. While listed as “a 60-quart carrying, all-terrain attacking, patented design that can go anywhere you can. Engineered with the world's best cooling and organization design on the inside and built to carry your campsite, tailgate or party on the out.” It really turned out to be all this plus so much more. We had a really easy time wheeling it around and to our site and it was so much nicer than having to carry a cooler like I’ve done with my other rotomolded brands. Ugh… they get heavy with food and ice in them.

This cooler comes with a lot of really unique features that no other cooler has! Plus many other customization and add-on possibilities. Their coolers come with a folding tote container which is attached to the top with velcro straps so that while wheeling it around it won’t just slide right off. Good thinking there! When not in use this tote folds flat, and fits into an indention on the top thus serving possibly as a slight cushion for sitting.

When in use, the tote is unfolded and becomes an additional dry container for holding extra gear like a stove, pots and pans, paper towels, etc. You can also remove it entirely from the top and placed to the side or move it to a picnic table with all that dry gear you have for cooking or whats not. This “feature” is awesome - it is like having two carrying containers in one.

There are additional fixtures on the cooler which are designed to attached auxiliary items like a cutting board, umbrella or drink holders. There’s even a fixture for attaching an extension that can be attached to a bicycle. Thus, one can pull the cooler behind a bicycle like a trailer. Innovative game changer for those bike campers!

My favorite feature was Inside the cooler there is a special bin that can hold items that may not need to be chilled like bread, towels or utensils. This feature is so important to keep items separate and dry when moisture develops, or the ice starts to melt. The bin itself has an internal divider which further aids with organization. Sometimes you want things right on the ice, but other stuff isn’t going to do as well if you freeze it!! This was an awesome idea.

Overall, I give the cooler 5/5 stars. I really love the company’s innovation to the rotomolded cooler and even our cats approved! Go get ourselves one of these instead of some of those other rotomolded coolers at RovRproducts.com

Cooler’s Features:

•        Certified grizzly bear resistant rotationally molded body and lid with anchor pins for attaching prep station and accessories!!! Yes, please. Especially with all the bear cu

•        Up to 10 days of ice retention depending on use. Umm....need to test this out fully, but it lasted the 4 days i needed it with opening the cooler a few times per day.

•        Capacity: Without Deepfreeze dry bin installed: 60 cans and 20lbs. of ice. With Deepfreeze dry bin installed: 40 cans and 10 pounds of ice in main compartment and 4-6 bottles of spirits upright with meats, breads, fruits and vegies in dry compartments. 

•        High performance wheel assembly: 9-inch all-terrain rubber tires with interchangeable tube, aluminum hubs with 2 sealed bearings 

•        Aluminum pull handle with dual motocross style grips. This is great for pulling the heavy cooler around. Have you tried carrying one of the other brands without wheels?!?! It sucks!! They get really heavy, really fast.

I have to admit, I didn't even know Pinnacles NP exsisted. I'm glad I saw the sign and venture to check it out. It’s a beautiful park and has the largest population of California Condors in the world.

The campground is situated about 2.3 miles from the main trailheads. There's tent and RV campsites. It's a good campground with the NP visitor center located within the campground.

Note: There's only 30Amp service at the RV sites. Bring an adapter if you only have 50 or 20Amps.