Is Pinnacles West open?

[Francesco Meschia]

As per the subject line – does anyone know if the West entrance is open? I know the East one is because of the campground and store concessions, but the West side doesn’t have any such facility.
I’m considering going there on Saturday night.
Francesco

[Aris Pope]

Isn't there an issue with one of the rangers on the West End?

Aris

--
Observing Sites, Observing Reports, About TAC linked at top of:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/sf-bay-tac

Subscribers post to the mailing list at:

sf-ba...@googlegroups.com,
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Astronomy Connection (TAC)" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sf-bay-tac+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/890AF26E-202A-429E-8B4C-43AC0A74B620%40gmail.com.

[Francesco Meschia]

People have gone to PW since that report, if I’m not mistaken, and didn’t have a problem. Rangers are likely furloughed anyway.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/CAP5wcXnHvEGocSOWgvgJb1Atp1kRejbnBodb9vL8WLft5vNCYg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Ted Hauter]

The only upside to the insane shutdown.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/42AE434B-9CF6-44A3-908A-6C46A3D3DFAF%40gmail.com.

[John Pierce]

On Thu, Oct 16, 2025 at 8:21 AM Aris Pope <arispo...@gmail.com> wrote:

Isn't there an issue with one of the rangers on the West End?

the ranger situation was resolved shortly after it happened. 

[Nikola Nikolov]

Yes, West Entrance is open.

On Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 8:07 AM Francesco Meschia <francesc...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Peter Natscher]

I've been looking at the PinnWest site on Google Maps and with its colored traffic patterns enabled and have seen all week long quite a long length of the road approaching the gate totally colored red.  It lasts all day long. That's strange!  Is there a huge crowd of vehicles parked on the roadway all day?  There's probably nobody paying the park fee so many are entering for free access. it could be very busy there with no rangers managing things.  I wouldn't feel safe inside the park during the night.  Cell service is weak to non-existant.

PinnWest Entrance, Google Maps, Friday 10/17 7:45am

[Francesco Meschia]

Thank you, Peter – that’s a very interesting and useful observation (incl. the safety part).

I looked at PW in Apple Maps, which shows the road as being closed!

If I compare this map with the satellite view, the closure starts exactly at the automatic gate. I wonder what’s actually going on… the NPS website only has boilerplate information.

On Oct 17, 2025, at 07:43, 'Peter Natscher' via The Astronomy Connection (TAC) <sf-ba...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I've been looking at the PinnWest site on Google Maps and with its colored traffic patterns enabled and have seen all week long quite a long length of the road approaching the gate totally colored red.  It lasts all day long. That's strange!  Is there a huge crowd of vehicles parked on the roadway all day?  There's probably nobody paying the park fee so many are entering for free access. it could be very busy there with no rangers managing things.  I wouldn't feel safe inside the park during the night.  Cell service is weak to non-existant.

PinnWest Entrance, Google Maps, Friday 10/17 7:45am

<Screenshot 2025-10-17 at 7.41.10 AM.png>

On Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 12:51:08 PM UTC-7 Nikola Nikolov wrote:

Yes, West Entrance is open.

On Thu, Oct 16, 2025, 8:07 AM Francesco Meschia <francesc...@gmail.com> wrote:

As per the subject line – does anyone know if the West entrance is open? I know the East one is because of the campground and store concessions, but the West side doesn’t have any such facility.
I’m considering going there on Saturday night.
Francesco

--
Observing Sites, Observing Reports, About TAC linked at top of:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/sf-bay-tac

Subscribers post to the mailing list at:

sf-ba...@googlegroups.com,
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Astronomy Connection (TAC)" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sf-bay-tac+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/890AF26E-202A-429E-8B4C-43AC0A74B620%40gmail.com.

--
Observing Sites, Observing Reports, About TAC linked at top of:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/sf-bay-tac
 
Subscribers post to the mailing list at:
 
sf-ba...@googlegroups.com,
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Astronomy Connection (TAC)" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sf-bay-tac+...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/9bb0c31f-faff-4632-a1fa-59a0d476308en%40googlegroups.com.

[Francesco Meschia]

Here’s another suggestion that the West entrance may be closed:

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 17, 2025, at 08:07, Francesco Meschia <francesc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you, Peter – that’s a very interesting and useful observation (incl. the safety part).

I looked at PW in Apple Maps, which shows the road as being closed!

[Nikola Nikolov]

West is open according to reports from October 10

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/A4C8B417-0366-4233-AB94-886305341080%40gmail.com.

[Nikola Nikolov]

Btw, some folks will be at West tomorrow around 4 PM. They will tell me about the conditions before final decision. 

[Peter Natscher]

Taken from the Google Maps traffic, there's road congestion at both the PinnWest entrance gate and again at the trail head parking lots.  I think vehicles are driving into the park.  If you look at PinnEast, there's no traffic noted on Gooogle maps. The road could be closed on the east side of the park.

[Francesco Meschia]

I don’t think that’s the case on the East side, which is (even officially) open because the campground is run by a private concessionaire. See https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234015

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/33ed9d35-b869-473a-bf4e-341f891ef994n%40googlegroups.com.

[Francesco Meschia]

Interestingly enough, right now the access road seems clear of traffic:

with some residual traffic further down near the Chaparral lot:

But I am getting more and more aligned with Peter’s thinking that it may not be safe in the park at night. I may consider other venues for this weekend.

Thanks!

Francesco

On Oct 17, 2025, at 13:54, Francesco Meschia <francesc...@gmail.com> wrote:

I don’t think that’s the case on the East side, which is (even officially) open because the campground is run by a private concessionaire. See https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234015