Deer Peak trail via Drinkwater trail SoCal

The Trail head is located off of San Francisquito canyon road for Drinkwater trail, it starts out nice and steep! You can do this in a stock 4x4 with proper tires and inflation, but not recommended.





The second climb can be a challenge if you pick the right side of the trail, one nice thing about this trail is you can pick easy or very difficult lines.



Looking back down at the staging area after the second climb, that black dot is a full size pickup!



Despite the lack of trees, this trail is quite scenic and gives the allusion of being out in the middle of know were!(it's 15 minutes from my house and town)



Straight at this junction would keep us on Drinkwater trail, we will take a right turn here onto fire road 5N27 then another right onto 6N21







Then left onto the trail head(it's not very far)



A lot of the trail is very mellow and you can actually pick up the pace quite a bit.







Then you come to this very steep climb up to the Deer Peak summit! If you have never seen your pitch gauge go into red you are in for a treat. Pictures do not do it credit. Definitely the crown jewel of the trail.





A couple of shots from the top, one looking back at the trail were just drove.





The trail is mellow and you know you are near the end when you get to the cross. after that you will arrive at Deer Peak junction. You can go left or right and it will take you to Bouquet canyon rd. If you go left(from drivers seat perspective) make sure you take the first right or you will end up at a locked gate. Also if you go right like I did, you can stop at Big Oaks Lodge for a tasty beverage. Closed on weekdays.







This shot you can see bouquet canyon rd below, and Bouquet single track trail on the mountain across the valley.



Hope you enjoyed the ride!

 

Nice pics and write up!

 

Thanks!

 

sub'd

 

Nice. I was just there today . It's a fun trail !

 

Nice Pix, scenery and write up!

 

Nice! I'd be down to hit this trail sometime in the next couple of weeks before the Rowher meet, never done this one before

 

awsome write up

 

bump

 

This is a great local trail, hit it.

 

Definitely not a 2wd trail as was witness today.

 

Nice. Thanks for the info.

 

Did the trail last Saturday, a nice local journey. On a 3 day weekend we saw one solo dirt bike rider and then a group of about 5/6 in another over about 3 hours.

Added a couple of pics and info.

San Francisquito Canyon, on the south end, starts at Copper Hill Drive. Drive north 5 miles to the Drinkwater Flats sign & staging area. They are on the left, or west side, of the road.

Could you find the undies? I knew you could!

The trail starts on the east side of the road.

 

Pretty easy to stay on the trail, I used GAIA GPS. Most, if not all, of the trail is on Google Maps but they use street/road names. Not the designations by the USFS. Phone service was nil to spotty in the canyons.

At Deer Peak Junction is where you take 6N18. I never saw the plumbing pipe cross.

Here is a pic of the fork of 6N18 and 6N19. The water tank there is gone but the cement base is easy to spot. 6N19, on the far right - to the east, will take you out to Bouquet Canyon. I stayed to the left and drove down to the locked gate. Then I realized where I was and drove back. OP mentions another trail you can take but I forgot that notation and drove back to 6N18/6N19.

 

You come out at Bouquet Canyon Rd. There is another sign across the road. I included a pic in case someone wanted to start from here. Plenty of other roads and trails to explore in the area.