Agile Trekker: Balconies Cliffs-Balconies Cave Loop and Jawbone Trail, Pinnacles National Park, California

Monday, May 4, 2026

Balconies Cliffs-Balconies Cave Loop and Jawbone Trail, Pinnacles National Park, California

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/10/2026	2.9 miles	2 hours 57 minutes	300'	1.6 mph	77.4

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/10/2026	3.5 miles	1 hour 49 minutes	585'	2.0 mph	80.9

Parking:

Balconies Trail: Chaparral Parking Area
Jawbone Trail: State Route 146

Map:

Gaia GPS app
National Park map, available at the nature center.

Directions:

Balconies Trail: Take the Balconies Trail. Where the trail splits, keep left on the Balconies Cliffs Trail. Stay straight to take the Balconies Caves Trail. Stay straight to return on the Balconies Trail.
Jawbone Trail: Hike from Route 146 to the Jawbone Parking area. Return the same way. Note there is a small loop within the trail that we did.
See descriptions at the visitor center.

Today's forecast was for rain and possible thunderstorms, so we did a shorter hike starting from the west side. We hiked on the Balconies Trail and did a clockwise loop on the Balconies Cliffs Trail. Again, there were so many wildflowers in bloom. We turned onto Balconies Cave Trail and entered the cave. They tell you that you will be in darkness for 15 minutes. There was lots of rock scrambling in the cave - it was fun. One of my friends is claustrophobic and was swearing, but she made it through and loved it after the fact. We returned back on the Balconies Trail.

We took a lunch break at the trailhead and spent our time talking to a couple from San Francisco (one originally from Alaska). They were grilling "real" food on a Coleman grill. We were jealous.

Then Dian and I hiked from West Visitor Center Contact Station and hiked the Prevett Point Trail to the Jawbone Trail to the Jawbone Parking area and back. It was easy going on the way out and a bit of a climb coming back. We saw two kinds of lizards.

Back at the hotel, we had guacamole with half of our avocados (10 avocados for 50 cents) and una cerveza.