Pinnacles National Park is a U.S. National Park protecting a mountainous area located east of the Salinas Valley in Central California, about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Soledad and 80 miles (130 km) southeast of San Jose. The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of the western half of an extinct volcano that has moved 150 miles (240 km) from its original location on the San Andreas Fault, embedded in a portion of the California Pacific Coast Ranges. Pinnacles is managed by the National Park Service and the majority of the park is protected as wilderness.

The national park is divided by the rock formations into East and West Divisions, connected by foot trails; there is no through road that connects the east and west entrances to the park. The east side has shade and water, the west has high walls. The rock formations provide for spectacular pinnacles that attract rock climbers. The park features unusual talus caves that house at least thirteen species of bat. Pinnacles is most often visited in spring or fall because of the intense heat during the summer months. Park lands are prime habitat for prairie falcons, and are a release site for California Condors that have been hatched in captivity.

The caves at Pinnacles are talus caves, formed when steep, narrow canyons were filled with boulders, leaving passages between the larger rocks. The Bear Gulch on the east side of the park and Balconies caves on the west side are seasonally open to visitors. These caves house breeding colonies for Townsend's big-eared bat and are closed during pupping season. The caves may be flooded at times of high water.

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