Parking
Start at Parking | Old Pinnacles Trailhead on Chalone Creek Road. The complete walk begins with the connected Old Pinnacles access trail before joining Blue Oak; parking capacity and fill patterns were not found.
Overview
About Blue Oak Trail
Why go
- A moderate east-side approach to the High Peaks network.
Heads up
- The access connector makes the parking-lot hike longer than the 2-mile Blue Oak label.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Pinnacles map
Full mapElevation1,027–2,320 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 Blue Oak Trail, 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
Old Pinnacles and Machete Ridge0:00 / 0:26
“Old Pinnacles Trailhead is coming up, the east-side start for the walk beneath Machete Ridge to Balconies Cave. The moderate cave-and-cliffs outing is about five and a half miles and takes three to five hours.”
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
- Bear Gulch to High Peaks
- Peaks View Picnic Stop
- Bear Gulch Cave and Reservoir
- 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 Blue Oak Trail
The full walkBlue Oak is an east-side out-and-back to the High Peaks trail junction.
Blue Oak is an east-side out-and-back to the High Peaks trail junction. Starting at Old Pinnacles Trailhead Parking, the complete mapped trip is about 5.3 miles round trip: roughly 0.7 mile each way on the access trails, then the park-map 2-mile Blue Oak segment. Turn around where it meets High Peaks; continuing onto that network makes a different hike. Allow 3 to 4 hours for the climb, a pause at the junction and the return.
The routeFrom the lot, follow the connected Old Pinnacles access toward Blue Oak.
From the lot, follow the connected Old Pinnacles access toward Blue Oak. A short linking trail joins the named route, which climbs west in repeated bends to the High Peaks junction. The map's 2-mile figure is for Blue Oak itself, not the complete walk from the lot. Follow the same corridor back. The natural-ground trail is maintained and marked moderate on the park map.
Oak country into the rocksThe eastern stretch is described with oak trees and tall grasses; the western end reaches the…
The eastern stretch is described with oak trees and tall grasses; the western end reaches the rocky High Peaks network. That change in scenery is the main payoff. No named overlook is marked along Blue Oak, so treat the junction as the turnaround rather than expecting a separate viewpoint.
Water, heat, and dogsRestrooms and drinking water are marked at the parking area, but there is no water along the…
Restrooms and drinking water are marked at the parking area, but there is no water along the route. Much of the walk is exposed, and the park advises avoiding the hottest summer hours, roughly 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dogs are not allowed on park 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.
