On Thursday we got the jeep cleaned and detailed. As everyone knows this just means you have to go out and get it dirty again We headed out early on Saturday morning before Mother’s Day to drop off flowers and cards to our relatives which put us in the Inland Empire late in the morning. We decided, since we had some time to burn before our guests for the weekend showed up, that we’d do some exploring on the backside of Palomar Mountain.

 We headed east on the State Highway 79 South out of Temecula. You drive until you find the left hand turn to the State Highway 371. Continue on the 79 for another 1/4 mile and there is a turn out on the right for a resort/camping ground. Make that right and continue past the resort, you will see a dirt road that continues up the hill. There are some no trespassing signs posted here, but after talking with a nearby ranger we found out those are posted for the trail that goes up the wash. If you take the hard pack trail up the hill you’ll be ok.

The trail climbs towards a fire lookout tower located at the top of the hill. While there are not super difficult spots the trail is tight and technical. I really enjoyed the rolling whoop-de-doos that you can almost catch air on if your going fast enough (only do this on the portions of the trail that are wider and straight, would not be fun to do a little jump and run out of trail, taking the fast way down the mountain).

There were some nice panoramic views both on the ride up there and when you got to the top of the mountain.

Unfortunately we were limited on time and the camera batteries died  so there was a lot we left undone on this trip. We’ll have a follow up trip with more pictures and more exploring. There were two hiking trails in the area that we didn’t go on and well as a couple of abandoned mines to explore. Once you got on top of the hill there was plenty of great areas to have picnics and just hang out, so you can easily make a day of it. The road to the fire tower was also closed so we’ll hike up there next time as well, your supposed to be able to see the ocean from up there on a clear day.

admin