Arrowhead Pinnacles Trail
Short but legitimately hard. About 3.5 miles round-trip with ~1,000 ft of gain to a cluster of granite pinnacles north of the lake off Highway 173. The route is faint, rocky, and easy to lose — download offline maps. Also one of SoCal's best bolted climbing areas (~500 routes), with rock locals compare to Joshua Tree.
The facts
- Difficulty
- Hard (scrambling, route-finding)
- Distance
- 3.5 miles round-trip
- Elevation gain
- ~1,025 ft
- Time needed
- 2–2.5 hours
- Pass required
- Adventure Pass for forest parking areas
- Parking
- Informal roadside pullouts off Hwy 173; no facilities
- Dogs
- Fit, agile dogs only — boulder sections
- Restrooms
- No
- Cell coverage
- Surprisingly decent on the ridgelines
- Best season
- Fall–spring; exposed and hot midsummer
Getting there
Get directions →The hike
The Pinnacles are a ridgeline of granite towers and boulder piles northwest of Lake Arrowhead, and the 'trail' is really a climbers' approach path: faint in places, braided in others, with bouldery sections that need hands. The reward is a summit block panorama that takes in the lake on one side and the Mojave on the other.
This is the area hike where people most often get turned around — download an offline track (AllTrails, Gaia) before leaving pavement, wear grippy shoes, and skip it in summer heat; the granite radiates like an oven.
For climbers
The Pinnacles are the San Bernardinos' quiet climbing gem: roughly 500 bolted routes across at least five main walls, on featured granite that regulars compare to Joshua Tree without the crowds. See Mountain Project's Lake Arrowhead Pinnacles page for route beta. Approach and descent gullies are loose — helmets are not overkill here.
Frequently asked questions
How hard is the Arrowhead Pinnacles trail?
Rated hard despite being only 3.5 miles round-trip: over 1,000 feet of gain, sustained rocky sections, some hands-on scrambling near the top, and a faint route that's easy to lose without offline maps.
Where do you park for the Pinnacles?
Informal dirt pullouts off Highway 173 north of the lake near the trailhead. No facilities, no signage to speak of — another reason to have the route downloaded before you go.
Is the rock climbing good at the Pinnacles?
Genuinely, yes — about 500 bolted routes on Joshua Tree-quality granite with a fraction of the traffic. It's the best developed climbing in the Lake Arrowhead area.
Facts on this page last verified July 17, 2026. Fees, hours, and access rules change seasonally — confirm with the official source before a long drive.