Not to be confused with Pinnacles National Park north of Paso Robles, the Pinnacles (elev. 5,737′) is an HPS-listed summit north of Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino mountains – when in the High Desert area near Hesperia, the peak’s conical shape is an appealing landmark on the southern horizon. We intended to hike here a couple of weeks ago but decided we didn’t have the time that day – now with a couple of free days, we made the hour-long drive from Wrightwood to pay the place a visit for what we expected to be a 5-mile roundtrip hike. Arriving at the trailhead a little after 11am, we passed several cars parked at the signed lot – we had read that the real trailhead was a few hundred yards down the road next to a shooting range, so we searched for parking there but, finding none, we returned to the signed lot and parked there. We were then surprised to find that a connector trail ran away to the west, as a large group of hikers came walking back on it as we got ready to head out – apparently, the trail described elsewhere has been replaced by this one, as the former main trail is now blocked off at its junction with the connector. No matter – we promptly headed out first north, then west up a shallow valley, passing some Jeffrey pines while marveling at the abundance of rocky granite outcroppings on the surrounding hills. The first half mile was very mild through rolling terrain before turning northward up a draw to reach a low ridgeline that we followed back west – this was the first climb of significance on the hike, and it paled in comparison to what was to come. After about 200 yards, the trail turned north again up a deeper and steeper canyon, what amounted to a rock garden that we picked our way through, avoiding both sharp yucca points and slick sand on a hard granite base. This second climb alternated steep and gentle stretches all the way north and west to a shallow saddle in the ridge to the west, and the views eastward improved with every step. As we finally reached the top of the saddle, we could see for the first time our destination rising to the west – to get there, we crossed a swale filled with very tall manzanita that blocked all views as we made our way through this natural maze of foliage. Reaching the base of the summit hill, we again had to pick our way up the steep trail, sometimes using our hands to hoist ourselves up – suddenly, though, we emerged at the top to absolutely wonderful views all round. Hesperia and the desert were laid out broadly to the north, to the east were the high peaks of the San Bernardinos, and to the south we could even see the silhouette of Santiago Peak in Orange County rising over the ridgeline – however, the grandest view was to the west, where the San Gabriels stood majestically over Silverwood Lake in the foreground. The harder parts of the climb quickly faded from memory as we soaked in the views – there was even a visible corona around the sun directly overhead. We found the summit register in an ammo box, all the pages full of writing, so we wrote an inscription on the cover of one of the many booklets before heading back. Going down was far more of an adventure than going up – tedious footing and large steps were the order of the day through all the steep spots, but, while the ascent had been quite slow, the descent passed quickly, and we were soon back on the flats and reached the Jeep without incident. The GPS logged only 3.6 miles, so maybe the 5-mile descriptions we had seen only felt that long. This was a really fun hike – the steep terrain and rugged path make it unadvisable for small kids, but the views are awesome and the rock formations engaging. This time of year, the colors in the trees to the south are particularly beautiful – a short but challenging trip that’s definitely recommended.