Lower Bear Gulch Cave is hands down our favorite short hike at Pinnacles National Park in California. Only a mile round trip, this hike has everything from mysterious caves, dramatic rock formations, a lush fern chamber, and sweeping landscapes. You also have many options to extend this hike depending on your interests and abilities. For an additional 0.2 miles round trip, you can reach the serene Bear Gulch Reservoir, or another 5 miles to complete the loop to High Peaks. Whichever way you choose, you won’t be disappointed. In this blog, we’ll show you how to do the 1-mile loop from Moses Spring Parking Lot to Lower Bear Gulch Cave.
Closest Parking:
Pinnacle Moses Spring
36.478515, -121.183740
Additional Parking:
(0.22 miles extra each way)
Bear Gulch Day Use Area
36.481338, -121.181184
Pinnacle Moses Spring parking is smaller than Bear Gulch Day Use. Both of these parking lots are paved.
There is a fee to enter Pinnacles National Park. For up-to-date pricing, check out the park’s website. You can also use your America the Beautiful pass!
Vault toilets are available at both parking lots.
Leave your pet at home. They are not allowed on the trail!
1 mile R.T. | Additional 0.1 miles each way to the Reservoir
235 ft
Easy
Takes about 1-2 hours
Bear Gulch is beautiful year-round. We recommend checking out the cave when there’s a lot of daylight. The section at the bottom of the cave is especially beautiful when there is sunlight shining through it. Before you go, make sure to check the cave’s opening schedule.
Bear Gulch Cave has two different sections, Lower and Upper Cave. The Lower Cave is usually open for nearly ten months each year, from mid-July to mid-May, as long as the hibernating bats are not disturbed. The Upper Cave is rarely open to protect the bats. During especially warm springs, the entire cave may close before mid-May if a maternity colony is present. For more info, check out the park’s website.
The trailhead for Lower Bear Gulch Cave is located on the eastern side of the Pinnacles National Park. It is about 3.3 miles to the parking lot for Moses Spring Trail. The Moses Spring Trail parking lot is the closest parking lot to the trailhead. To access Bear Gulch Cave, you’ll need to take the Moses Spring. This parking lot is not that big. If that is full, you can also park at the Bear Gulch Day Use Area, which is an additional 0.22 miles each way.
This area can get very busy during peak season, weekends, or holidays. Therefore, you may want to get to the trailhead early. If you’re visiting in late winter and spring, a shuttle service is available from 8 am – 5:30 pm, Friday through Sunday. The shuttle starts from Pinnacles Campground. The last shuttle leaves Bear Gulch Day Use Area at 5:30 pm.
Since we visited Pinnacles National Park on a weekday, it wasn’t busy. There was a lot of parking at the Moses Spring parking lot. After parking, we followed the sign for Moses Spring trail, which led up a small hill.
At about 0.1 mile, we reached our first intersection. Here, we went left to follow the sign for Bear Gulch Cave Trail. Even though this hike is pretty short, it is beautiful. So, you may want to give yourself some time to admire the surroundings. The trail weaves in and out of dramatic rock formations, towering walls, and lush foliage. At one point, the trail runs through a short tunnel carved into rock. It was really neat.
After another 0.2 miles, we reached the second intersection. This section can be done as a loop. If you go right (counter-clockwise), you’ll continue on the Moses Spring trail to climb up and circle to the top entrance of the Lower Bear Gulch Cave. Going left (clockwise) will lead you straight into the cave. If you only want to go to the cave and back, going right is the shorter route. However, we think the cave view from the top down is more interesting. Either way, we highly recommend doing the whole loop. The whole thing is really beautiful.
Since we already did the top-down as part of the Condor Gulch to High Peaks trail, this time, we went left to go straight into the cave. After a short distance, we reached a really beautiful area with short corridors created from tall rock walls covered in green vegetation. Some of these vegetations are poison oak, so make sure you don’t touch them.
As we got closer, there was a narrow opening between moss-covered boulders. As soon as we went in, the area got darker. When we went through here the last time, it was earlier in the day. So, sunlight was pouring through the gap, making this place quite enchanting. Even now, it was still charming. We love the way the moss-covered boulders are stacked on top of each other. There is a narrow rocky path running along a small stream of water, leading to a metal gate. Here, the whole cave got a lot darker.
Similar to Balconies Cave, Bear Gulch Cave is also a talus cave. Talus caves are formed by weaker rock, such as rhyolite, piling up in narrow canyons. During the last ice age, tectonic fractures and narrow canyons were filled with rhyolitic debris. Then, flowing water removed smaller rocks and gravel, leaving large boulders wedged in place. This formed a series of interconnecting passages and rooms. The talus caves at Pinnacles are known to have some of the largest rooms in the U.S., with Bear Gulch Cave being the largest. Here, you’ll find stairs constructed by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s for easier access.
Once you reach the stairs, you’ll be in awe of how massive this room inside Lower Bear Gulch Cave is. Even though it is nowhere near as big as the Big Room at Carlsbad Caverns, we were surprised by its size. These stairs seemed to go on forever. Along the way, there are small waterfalls dripping along the side of the cave. There was water on the staircases as well. You’ll be gaining about 150ft in up the stairs in a short distance. So, if you need to take a break and take in the impressive size of this cave, feel free to do so.
Eventually, we made our way to the top of the stairs. Here, there is a squeeze between a small gap before exiting through another metal gate. After the gate, there are more stairs, scrambling, and squeezing before we get to the junction for Moses Spring Trail. At this point, if you want to make that short walk to the Bear Gulch Reservoir, turn left. We highly recommend doing so. Since we already did that last time, we went right to finish the loop back to the parking lot.
Lower Bear Gulch Cave is definitely the highlight of this trail. However, this loop section is also very beautiful in its own right. The trail curves along a series of moss-covered boulders. Here, we could see the Lower Bear Gulch Cave below. It was interesting to see the cave from a different perspective. From here, it just looks like piles of big boulders.
The trail runs along a few narrow ledges alongside the cliff. From here, we can see fantastic views of the canyons and impressive rock formations. Another highlight on this trail for us is the Fern Chamber. It reminded us of Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. This is where the trail cuts through a dense patch of verdant fern. There is a tiny stream of water running through. And on the wall, there is a really cool small cave that looks like it was carved out by the wind.
After the Fern Chamber, we hiked a short distance before reaching the start of the loop. From here, we returned the way we came. This trail reminds us of the Echo Canyon Grottoes in Chiricahua National Monument. If you love caves, we recommend checking Goschute Cave in Nevada or the Tabernacles Lave Tubes in Utah. They are super cool.
Happy Adventuring. Don’t forget to check out the related posts below for more inspiration on your upcoming adventures. While at it, follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel! We’ll love you forever!
These are the gear that we personally use and find helpful for this particular adventure. Don’t forget to check out our Recommended Gear section as well.
Our favorite biodegradable, eco-friendly, reef-safe sunscreen!
This is Vy's favorite hiking bag! It has tons of room for snacks and water!
It's always good to bring a GPS tracker with you. We use the Garmin inReach.
This jacket is packable into a super small and light little ball. Perfect for when you just need a little…
This jacket is packable into a super small and light little ball. Perfect for when you just need a little…
Our favorite hiking/travel jacket. It's warm and packable, perfect to bring on a hike or a road trip.
Our favorite hiking/travel jacket. It's warm and packable, perfect to bring on a hike or a road trip.
If you tend to have foot blisters on hikes, get this! We use this all the time.
Our favorite head light! It's super bright and long-lasting. We bring this on hikes, caving, and more.
Compact GoPro pole that extends to 25", perfect to bring on your adventure.
This is our go-to camera for all of our adventures. It comes with us everywhere!
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Hi! We are Dustin & Vy, the proud creators of Live That Adventure. We created this website because we wanted to inspire others to live their lives to the fullest. On here, you’ll find everything from hiking, canyoneering, kayaking, and snorkeling to adventure and travel tips, gear reviews, and bucket list items such as bungee jumping or wing walking. We’ll show you the ropes so you can do them too!
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