Pinnacle Pass

Pinnacle Pass. . After dinner a ride of 2 miles brought us to the outlet of this romantic vale, a very narrow pass, just wide enough for a wagon, and on either side very high, jagged. and thin walls of granite.... This is called the "Pinnacle Pass." -- J. Goldsborough Bruff, 1849 , The emigrants heading west on the California Trail probably fanned out as they crossed this basin, converging again at Pinnacle Pass, a gap in the rocks directly in front of you. They often did not travel in single-file lines; fanning out helped avoid dust from those ahead. Nor would many emigrants be riding in the wagons; most would have walked. , Pinnacle Pass provided the westbound exit from the City of Rocks. More than one traveler described the pass as narrow and rugged. In later years teamsters used cables to ease heavy freight wagons down the far side. Pinnacle Pass was rugged enough that 20th-century road builders avoided it by dynamiting an easier route farther to the right for the present-day road.