Trona Pinnacles

3-4/3-5-25 stay. I’m not sure why this is listed just as an overnight on AllStays. I really think they need to change this designation from OP to BLM land. The BLM signage at the entrance road says camping is limited to 14 days. There is a clearly designated campground with specific campsites & fire rings. No dispersed camping. As others have said, GPS kept trying to route me to enter from the south end, even while I was at the north entrance. However, I took their advise to enter from the north end about 17 miles east of Ridgecrest off Hwy 178 also called Trona Rd. The entrance was well marked & had welcome boards with information about the park. The road past the signage gets pretty rough & is washboard most of the way back to the campground. There were only about a half dozen or so others there when I was there for an overnight on my way to Death Valley in early March. It was a long, slow, bumpy road for just an overnight, but the tufa formations were interesting & I wish I had had more time to explore the park. I got there just before dusk, so I just grabbed one of the first sites I saw. Lots of room between sites. But, mine was not at all level, so I had to break out the leveling blocks. If I’d had more daylight & if I were going to stay longer I would have checked to see if there were more level sites available. I have Verizon & had no cell signal from the campground. https://www.blm.gov/visit/trona-pinnacles#

Fun location with lots of interesting tufa formations to explore. The main road is from Trona on the north side; if your GPS tries to take you via the southwest route near Ridgecrest just keep driving on 178 east to the north entrance. Road is well maintained with easy washboards. Lots of places to camp throughout the area. The main complex of pinnacles has a pit toilet and a large flat area for camping and parking. The main loop road is well maintained and drivable with 2WD vehicle. However, access to the other complexes of pinnacles requires high clearance 4WD, ATV or mountain bike.

Nice natural park. Very alien looking. I believe this was a set location for at least one Star Trek episode?

Would strongly recommend coming in via the north entrance. Google maps will try to show only the route from the south which is a lot of sketchy dirt roads not frequently maintained. The northern roads are used more frequently and maintained.