West side BLM Camping

[ElaineGilstrom]

Hey y'all,

I've been searching around for info about places to stay on the west side of pinnacles and came across Ricky's post from last year (http://www.mudncrud.com/forums/index.php?topic=3030.0) In that post I saw a couple people mention BLM land around the area and I managed to find the land mentioned in the post... but looking at street view it looks like every single road leading to it is behind a gate, many of which have prominent private property and no camping signs on them (As seen from google street view). Does anyone have any information on whether it is possible to access these lands? I found 4 possible access points, but none of them look very promising (here is a caltopo map of what I found: https://caltopo.com/m/60RNN)

Does anyone have any beta on if it is possible to actually get through any of these gates and what the owners of the roads are like? Any info would be much appreciated!

- Elaine

[NOAL]

Hey Elaine,

There's nowhere to camp near the West Side.  The BLM campsite I mention in that thread is on the East Side near Bitterwater. 

[ElaineGilstrom]

Hey Elaine,

There's nowhere to camp near the West Side.  The BLM campsite I mention in that thread is on the East Side near Bitterwater.

Thanks for the clarification NOAL, I was slightly under the impression that there was stuff over there because the map Ricky linked to (https://goo.gl/maps/bF3weeSWab4pR4Ee8) roughly correlated to the plot of BLM land that is quite close to being accessible via Gloria rd and no one mentioned that it is inaccessible (although I guess your reply did hint at that)

I noticed there are a couple parcels of BLM land west and southwest of Soledad as well, but they are completely encapsulated by private land with no public roads cutting through them as well. (Some come quite close from what I've seen, but every road I looked at is cut off prematurely)

[Brad Young]

To add to the information out there, Arroyo Seco Campground used to be available for the West Side, across the Salinas Valley and out Arroyo Seco Road. This wasn't exactly convenient; the campground is almost an hour's drive from the West Side. But it is a very pretty campground, with a river running next to it.

But the campground and the road getting to it are closed right now. The (paved) road getting to it was destroyed last winter and must be completely rebuilt. Arroyo Seco Campground won't be open this Pinnacles season.

[NOAL]

When I was rebolting Power Tools two summers ago I drove out to Arroyo Seco one evening to look for a campsite. There were two that were inaccessible then (maybe pandemic related) and the big campground at the lake was full.  It works on the reservation system like Pinns.  No walk up sites.  It was packed in the summer.

I ended up sleeping in my van on a side street in Soledad.

[JC w KC redux]

Hey y'all,
I've been searching around for info about places to stay on the west side of pinnacles and came across Ricky's post from last year

Something appears to be wrong with me as I think Pinnacles is one of the best climbing destinations in California.

Hi Elaine and welcome to the forum. I thought I recognized your name from occasionally prowling Pinns on mtn proj to see what's new - so I went out to check and there you were (I seemed to recall you posting Steve's Folly and I was correct). You obviously have a taste for adventure. I tried that route in 2014, rebolted it with Bruce a couple weeks later and revisited it with Brad in 2017. I doubt anyone else has been on it. It's a great place for the park biologist to study moss 

I took a peek at Ricky's post and got a chuckle or two so thanks for that. Laughs are much appreciated these days.

Yes it is really too bad there is no camping on the west side since it is such a magical place (there used to be a campground there decades ago). I know of no possible solution with the exception of the possibility that some kind land owner of one of the ranches on hwy 146 might be willing to set something up for camping. It seems like a fairly lucrative idea these days. We stayed at a private campground outside City of Rocks last year that a landowner had developed on his property. Really nice owner and sites. I talked to a guy on the east side that mentioned he might be interested in setting up something on his ranch (just a few miles outside the east side entrance) but I never followed up with him. That was before the pandemic and he was just getting ready to retire from being the shuttle bus driver at the park. I can't find any evidence that he did what he was potentially planning. The only other camping I know of is about 45 minutes from the east side in the New Idria area. Went there with clink some years back. Good luck and happy climbing.

[JC w KC redux]

I ended up sleeping in my van on a side street in Soledad.

[NOAL]

There's a river in Soledad!?

I think in one of Natalies' trip reports she mentions that she stayed at the shuttle driver's ranch. 

[Brad Young]

I think in one of Natalies' trip reports she mentions that she stayed at the shuttle driver's ranch.

She can pitch in here if she's checking the internet from Red Rocks. But I think that place she stayed in and posted about is up by Paicines.

[ElaineGilstrom]

Thanks for the replies y'all!

It is such a shame the west side is as inaccessible to longer trips as it is (as someone who's coming from the bay area, doesn't have a van to stealth camp in and is too broke to pay for a motel). There is so much out there I'd really like to do. On that note, I'll be going there next weekend and I'm trying to convince my partner to checkout the stronghold with me currently.

Also, since it seems like the map isn't going to be particularly helpful, I'm probably going to delete it. I'll leave the export of it pinned as an attachment so it isn't completely lost though. (Had to rename it to a .txt file to attach it, so just remove the .txt extension before importing it into mapping software if you want to use it)

She can pitch in here if she's checking the internet from Red Rocks. But I think that place she stayed in and posted about is up by Paicines.

I didn't realize Natalie had stayed on the west side before. She is actually one of my friends and coworkers. (although I knew her before I got hired there) She likes to talk about the adventures she's had with Brad

Hi Elaine and welcome to the forum. I thought I recognized your name from occasionally prowling Pinns on mtn proj to see what's new - so I went out to check and there you were (I seemed to recall you posting Steve's Folly and I was correct). You obviously have a taste for adventure. I tried that route in 2014, rebolted it with Bruce a couple weeks later and revisited it with Brad in 2017. I doubt anyone else has been on it. It's a great place for the park biologist to study moss 

Steve's Folly was definitely very mossy. Its a very satisfying feeling type of moss from what I remember. I'd really like to go back and climb it again sometime.

[NOAL]

I didn't realize Natalie had stayed on the west side before. She is actually one of my friends and coworkers. (although I knew her before I got hired there) She likes to talk about the adventures she's had with Brad   

The ranch that Natalie stayed at is on the East Side near Paicines. There is really no where to stay on the West Side unless you want to stay in a motel or bed and breakfast.

[ElaineGilstrom]

The ranch that Natalie stayed at is on the East Side near Paicines. There is really no where to stay on the West Side unless you want to stay in a motel or bed and breakfast.

My bad, hopes got the better of me and I missed that mention

[NOAL]

I wish there was somewhere to camp too but honestly, I would rather drive home to San Mateo and sleep in my own bed. Mr.Mud and I would do that all the time.  Work on routes until sundown drive back, have a couple of beers at the bar, sleep for 5 or 6 hours and meet back up at 5 am to head back down.  We also were taking naps while we belayed each other.

It's freakin' cold down there at night.

[burnsbabe]

Hey folks. Catching up after a ton of sandstone time. Yes, the ranch I stayed at the one time is the Bar SZ Ranch, bookable through HipCamp. It's here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/gbSWnVEMo4EpKLhh8

So it's closer than Paicines, which recommends it. It does look like it's maybe gotten more expensive since I stayed this past spring? Or they're just charging in-season prices now? Who knows? It really feels like someone could do something similar on the West Side on their private land. I'm tempted to make a couple dozen copies of a note with an innocent request, my contact info, and a statement that I'd be willing to pay a small amount if I could pitch a tent or park one car somewhere along 146, or Metz Road.

[JC w KC redux]

^
Yep I saw the place on HipCamp and thought $60 a night was outrageous and the location inconvenient (very indirect roads from there).
I can stay half price at Pinnacles campground.