Parking
Start at Peaks View Picnic Area on the east side. NPS lists a paved lot with 43 spaces, including accessible spaces, plus an accessible vault restroom, picnic tables, a water station, and spotting scopes. The park entrance fee applies.
Overview
About Bench Trail Accessible Section
Why go
- A short, gently rolling section the park promotes for wheelchair users
- Oak woodland with High Peaks views
Heads up
- The exact hardened limits and grade details aren’t published
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Pinnacles map
Full mapElevation965–1,007 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
2 active Pinnacles alerts
- CautionVery high fire danger restrictionsVery high fire danger is active at Pinnacles; follow these restrictions to reduce wildfire risk. - Do not use wood-burning fires or charcoal grills.Official details
- CautionHot conditions and heat alertHot conditions and a heat alert are active at Pinnacles; limit strenuous hiking to early morning and late evening and prepare for extreme heat.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Pinnacles Tour Guide
Your drive to Bench Trail Accessible Section, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Pinnacles National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Peaks View Picnic Stop0:00 / 0:16
“Peaks View Parking Area is coming up, a handy picnic stop with a modest view of the formations. The spotting scopes beside the bench give you a closer look.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Pinnacles Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- North Chalone Peak via Bear Gulch
- Bench Trail from the Campground
- Bear Gulch to High Peaks
- Old Pinnacles and Machete Ridge
- 12 audio storiesacross Pinnacles’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor California Condor, Mule Deer, Chipmunk, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 25 trails, 23 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Bench Trail Accessible Section
A short walk from Peaks ViewThis is a gently rolling out-and-back on the accessible section of Bench Trail.
This is a gently rolling out-and-back on the accessible section of Bench Trail. From Peaks View Picnic Area, the mapped stretch to the nearby trail continuation is about 0.4 mile; walk it back for about 0.8 mile total. Allow roughly 30 to 45 minutes. It’s an easy way to get into Pinnacles’ oak woodland without taking on a long hike.
Oak woodland and rock viewsThe path passes through oak woodland, with views toward the High Peaks rock formation.
The path passes through oak woodland, with views toward the High Peaks rock formation. The park describes the accessible section as recently hardened and graded, and gently rolling. When the rocks come into view, frame them with the oaks and a little trail foreground so the setting still reads as a walk, not just a distant ridge.
Check the accessible limitsPeaks View has accessible parking, an accessible vault restroom, picnic tables, a water…
Peaks View has accessible parking, an accessible vault restroom, picnic tables, a water station, and spotting scopes. The park map marks wheelchair-accessible Bench Trail segments of 0.6 and 0.7 mile near this area, but the accessibility page doesn’t say exactly which mapped endpoints match the recently hardened section or how far that treatment continues. If you need a specific grade, cross-slope, or surface clearance, confirm the route with the park before setting out. Pets aren’t allowed on park trails; fill up at the trailhead, since water isn’t available on most trails.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Pinnacles
47 sightingsCalifornia CondorMost seen around 1 PMSighting map
26 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
19 sightingsChipmunkMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
33 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around noonSighting map
26 sightingsAcorn WoodpeckerMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
16 sightingsSteller's JayMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Pinnacles. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
