SGTTOM
New Explorer
Hello,
Just wanted to take a minute to share my recent day trip to the San Jacinto/Santa Rosa Mountains which tower above Cochella Valley in Southern California. We started off around 10am loaded up the truck with the dog and a picinic lunch and started up the CA-74 where it leaves Hwy-111 in Palm Desert, CA. I really didn't intend on taking any serious trails that day, I didn't even know if I was going to leave the pavement, we just went exploring our local area. As we climbed up the mountain enjoying the breath taking views of the valley below I decided that we should take a drive on Thomas Mountain Road, which I have been wanting to do for a while. I knew it was short enough for a day drive and I was told it was a good road. So, when the turn off came we took it.
Once we left CA-74 we followed the still paved road through some beautiful horse ranches with the most amazing, huge houses on them. After a short distance we passed a sign that said "end of paved road", this is where the fun began. We started accending the road and I was quickly surpised at the fact that the road wasn't graded like I had imagined. While still easily passible it made the drive much more fun. As we continued the drive we started getting into some areas where there were lots of rocks so I decided I should air down the tires just to be safe. As we climbed we started to realize that the drive had be very under-rated as the views were very spectacular at times you could see for great distances on both sides of the ridge. We stopped for a picinic and and let the dog run around. There were also quite a few great camp sites all nice single secluded sites, perfect for some back country camping. No hook ups, just an occasional fire ring. There was once area where we had our lunch where there was a pit restroom. Overall this is a very worth while drive. If you follow Thomas Mountain Rd to it's end you come out of the forrest right behind Lake Hemet. If you feel like more back country driving you can take Rouse Hill Rd(next drive when we go back) which goes much further and drops you back on CA-74 between Idylwild and Hemet.
As far as the road condition it was an easy drive but I would recommend 4 wheel drive just to be safe and a high clearance vehicle. I made the drive just fine in my full-size Silverado and I saw a few other full-size trucks camping for the holiday weekend along the way. I even saw a three vehicle convoy of Jeep Rubicons that were begining their drive as I was airing my tires back up. I could see it being a lot more difficult and very muddy during poor weather and I would not recommend it with snow. The drive took about 3-4 hours with a long stop for lunch and a short hike. It took longer than I thought and was a little more serious of a drive than I thought, but still easy and very fun. I would highly recommend this drive to any one, it is very worth while.
Thanks for reading!
Just wanted to take a minute to share my recent day trip to the San Jacinto/Santa Rosa Mountains which tower above Cochella Valley in Southern California. We started off around 10am loaded up the truck with the dog and a picinic lunch and started up the CA-74 where it leaves Hwy-111 in Palm Desert, CA. I really didn't intend on taking any serious trails that day, I didn't even know if I was going to leave the pavement, we just went exploring our local area. As we climbed up the mountain enjoying the breath taking views of the valley below I decided that we should take a drive on Thomas Mountain Road, which I have been wanting to do for a while. I knew it was short enough for a day drive and I was told it was a good road. So, when the turn off came we took it.
Once we left CA-74 we followed the still paved road through some beautiful horse ranches with the most amazing, huge houses on them. After a short distance we passed a sign that said "end of paved road", this is where the fun began. We started accending the road and I was quickly surpised at the fact that the road wasn't graded like I had imagined. While still easily passible it made the drive much more fun. As we continued the drive we started getting into some areas where there were lots of rocks so I decided I should air down the tires just to be safe. As we climbed we started to realize that the drive had be very under-rated as the views were very spectacular at times you could see for great distances on both sides of the ridge. We stopped for a picinic and and let the dog run around. There were also quite a few great camp sites all nice single secluded sites, perfect for some back country camping. No hook ups, just an occasional fire ring. There was once area where we had our lunch where there was a pit restroom. Overall this is a very worth while drive. If you follow Thomas Mountain Rd to it's end you come out of the forrest right behind Lake Hemet. If you feel like more back country driving you can take Rouse Hill Rd(next drive when we go back) which goes much further and drops you back on CA-74 between Idylwild and Hemet.
As far as the road condition it was an easy drive but I would recommend 4 wheel drive just to be safe and a high clearance vehicle. I made the drive just fine in my full-size Silverado and I saw a few other full-size trucks camping for the holiday weekend along the way. I even saw a three vehicle convoy of Jeep Rubicons that were begining their drive as I was airing my tires back up. I could see it being a lot more difficult and very muddy during poor weather and I would not recommend it with snow. The drive took about 3-4 hours with a long stop for lunch and a short hike. It took longer than I thought and was a little more serious of a drive than I thought, but still easy and very fun. I would highly recommend this drive to any one, it is very worth while.
Thanks for reading!
