Fun trails in the OC/surrounding area?

I have a stock 4x4 TRD-OR and want to gain some experience and test the capabilities of my truck. I have been checking dirtopia and it seems informative but a little overwhelming and outdated. Any suggested trails and/or ways to find some on my own? Thanks!!

 

Step in to this room please and introduce yourself and the other thread and we shall get you there
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/orange-county-meetups.217178/page-2693#post-15434377

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...h-for-next-trail-run-in-july-big-bear.488858/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/wheelers-anonymous.425646/

 

i use https://www.trailsoffroad.com/ but only trail i have done around here has been cleghorn. it was a fun trail and could be as easy or hard as you want cant wait to see other answers i have been wanting to go out

 

I am headed to big bear this weekend to do Cleghorn and then scout for the 2wd section I started. We welcome 4x4's too.

 

check out Santiago peak as well

 

I've been up to santiago peak twice now (once in late April this year and just last weekend on Father's Day), once off of Ortega going up main divide road on a completely stock 4x4 sr5 with factory Dunlop AT20 245/75r16s. Did that really not knowing what to expect and that was my first time out ever. According to the AllTrails app, up main divide off Ortega is one of the harder ways to go(stupid me didn't realize that before I went). This second time I went up on new Ko2s and a mild ome/5100 lift but went up through Silverado canyon and this route was much smoother and took about an hour less time to get up to the peak. There's trabuco creek road/holy jim and those are fun and something you can do even without a lift and is usually pretty empty if you go early in the morning. It's a good spot to get used to how your truck feels, get the butterflies out

 

I went out there yesterday and got to the trail head. There is a small road that goes past the trail head and it wasn't blocked off. Can you drive up there? I wasn't sure so I turned around. Definitively some fun spots off the trail leading out there. I also had a question on trail etiquette. If you are travelling up a single car trail and someone is coming towards you, what the heck do you do? Back up to a turn out or does the uphill truck back up? Seems like a nightmare!!!

 

All the roads in Holy Jim eventually come to a dead end. Across from the RC Airplane airport is a fun road that leads up pretty high. gets a little sketchy in some areas but its fun.

If its a single track and youre going up, you have the right away. Reason is a truck coming down will have more control reversing up. Reversing down a steep single track and be pretty scary, easier to lose control, and pick up speed easier.

 

At holy Jim you should be able to fit 2 cars through any pass just need to hug the wall... trabuco it's on the way up to holy Jim off the 55 off chapman

 

If you don't mind traveling a bit up to the north end of LA county you can get to Rowher Flats and Drinkwater Flats (outside the Santa Clarita Valley), both great wheeling trips with fantastic views. Variety of trails ranging from easy 2wd fire roads to more technical 4x4 only stuff.

 

I should clarify, Drinkwater Flats main entrance is off of San Francisquito and that entrance is definitely 4x4 only, the "gatekeeper" obstacle is right at the very beginning and takes you up a very steep switchback with a cliff drop-off on your passenger side and big rocks to climb over. The other entrance is off of Bouquet Canyon Rd and is very easy to miss if you don't know where to look for it, but that one starts you off on a fire road. That's the one you'd want to take in/out if you're 2wd.

 

For Drinkwater Flats, is that doable with a stock TRD OR 4x4?

 

Yeah, if you stay on the main course throughout you'll be fine. I did it a few times in my '04 TRD 4x4 when it was stock height and no armor. The main obstacle in the beginning is about as hard as it gets, but toward the end there's a very long, steep, rocky climb that takes you to the fire road that exits out. You definitely want 4x4 if you're going up that, I always lock the rear too. The good thing about Drinkwater is it's all very wide and out in the open, so you can see what you're about to get into and the few tough spots have bypasses you can take if you're not comfortable going the hard way.

There are a lot of criss-crossing trails though at Drinkwater so it can be easy to get turned around if you're a first-timer with no one there to help guide you

 

One of these days, I'll have to get my behind over there...

Ahhhhh, my personal favorite off-road trail minus the crazies with guns and ghosts!!! I've done 3x night runs there now and always enjoy the trail and never get bored of it!!!

@Mahmer09 MAY BE some day we can meetup and do Santiago Peak? NOT a hard trail at all. There are some loose dirt/rock areas that can be a wee bit challenging, but nothing your stock can't handle for sure. I know many people with 2wd's that can do that trail just fine!!!

 

Can you access Santiago Peak by the Maple Springs Truck Trail?

 

LOL!!! Coming back down, I made a wrong turn and my GPS, surprisingly, knew that I was on "Indian Truck Trail" and I ended up on the "15fwy side of the mountain". It was all good though, because it actually shaved some driving time off as I needed to get to my sister's place in Ontario!!!

Btw, there is a "blank brown sign" at one of the forks... take the RIGHT passage because if you take the LEFT, like I did, you are now on Indian Truck Trail. At least that is what had happened to me, LOL!!! Again, I eventually ended on the 15fwy side of the mountain.

This is, essentially, the beginning of the trail (see the first picture and notice the sign in the middle of the picture) as well as some of the views from the top.












The trailhead eventually leads into the trail that goes to the top. I only soloed once and it was at night. I would NOT mind going again for sure. I just don't have my truck for the moment and it's just too HOT right now, even at night. I'd rather go when it gets much cooler for sure. These were taken around May and even that night was pretty damn warm. I wanted to crack my window open, but there was still too much dust and I have enough as it is in my truck already, LOL!!! So, I turned the AC ON from time to time. I was at the peak for a few hours because I wanted to try different camera shots and settings. I had a lot of FUN that evening for sure!!!

 

@Oside7even6ixty a friend of mine lives in O'side!!! It's where we were born/raised!!! I'm there from time to time and maybe we could get together and go hang out. I miss going to the Harbor Fish & Chips... very well known to the locals!!! It's a little bit pricey, but, to me at least, well worth it!!! Their fish tacos are HUGE and very good if you've never been???!!!

 

Quick trail driving question. I plan on going up Maple Springs Truck Road this coming weekend and hopefully going to the top of Saddleback Mountain. One thing that has me a little sketched out is the passing situation. If I am headed up the road, the truck coming down needs to back up until he/she gets to some space for me to pass? Is that tough to do? If that has to be me on the way down, I don't want to roll of the side of a hill, haha. No seriously.

 

Trail etiquette states that vehicles going uphill have the right of way, but in my experience it really depends on who has the easiest ability to pull over and allow room for the other to pass.

 

and if you're riding solo and you come up on a group of a few or more, unless they're right by an area that they can all safely pull over in, it's generally just easier to back up to the nearest spot where you can let them all go through. Trying to squeeze past several vehicles isn't fun