Monthly So Cal Off-Road Run

yeah with the fire restrictions they way they are right now, you can only have a campfire at camp sites that have an on-site 'host'...basically a forest service employee that lives on site part of the year. There are two of those camp grounds in Big Bear that I know of, Holcomb Valley CG and San Gorgonio (sp?). Both are fee based campsites and fill up fast

AFAIK it's like that for all state/national forest camping in CA right now

 

Yeah try Big Bear. There is dispersed camping in Holcomb Valley but the fire restrictions as other have said are really strict right now. You could also do Joshua Tree Sunfair dry lake bed for BLM / free camping. Might be hot there though. Those are the 2 I frequent around here. Unless you want to venture up the 395 a bit farther.

 

I'm heading to Julian this weekend to do some fishing. Anybody know of fun trials near that area? I tried to to hit up one in Ramona last time I was there but it was just a massive fire road. Although I did see a few Jeeps towards the end that looked they were headed somewhere fun with all the mods/gear they were carrying. Any advice?

 

The BLM El Centro site has some maps of their San Diego and Imperial County land. Might make the search easier.

The state park is currently day use only.

Oriflamme and Rodriguez Canyon are out there.

 

Nice! I might try those out. Can’t find Rodriguez canyon through my all trails app. Which trail is more fun? What kind of terrain?

 

Thanks for the tips. Holcomb Valley might come in handy one day. We stayed in McCain Valley (BLM) two weeks ago. SW of AB. We had to wear layers at sunset - damned cold - and windy - at ~3,600'. It was a shock.

Six weeks ago we went to Chimney Wilderness area (40mi. NE of Kernville) on BLM land. Three days/two nights and only saw 4 vehicles and a pair of bicyclists.

Years ago we dropped into Oriflamme Canyon from Sunset Highway. Short and easy.

 

If you look at the Eastern San Diego map here https://www.blm.gov/maps/georeferenced-PDFs you can see the trail off 78 east of Julian. Alltrails has it all as Oriflamme but it's actually several different trails. I have only gone down and up one side (Oriflamme), it had good views and was interesting enough to drive. I wouldn't call it challenging but I have a little bit of experience off road. My truck was 2wd open when I did it and had to get pulled up over two spots. Would have easily made it with 4wd, probably could have made it 2wd locked. The rest of the group went down Rodriguez and up Oriflamme.

Also shout out to @computeruser6 for being the first I saw to post the BLM maps link

 

Nice I will definitely check that out! Thank you for the description and tips.

 

Also those Blm maps are super cool! No idea those existed but will be using them often now.

 

If you download them in the Avenza app you can see where you are on the map.

 

Count me in

 

I'm new to BLM land, but caltopo.com has worked great for me. It is free for one map. I paid the $20 year for many maps (100?). Turn on the PUBLIC LANDS layer to locate BLM (orange color). You can also see USFS, NPS, FWS, and State land marked in different colors. Create the waypoints online. Save the map and use their phone app to access and download. I just recently realized my phone works as a GPS even when not connected to a phone satellite.

 

Do they still have that 4x4 playground there?

 

Yep

 

Still went to cleghorn and the fire road is getting pretty sketchy now. I can’t imagine a 2wd making it through anymore with out at least a locker

 

What comms do most people use?

 

Here's a popular entry hand held unit. Although this is for a dual pack, you can buy them singular.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01HICB5M4

Other folks use various in-cab mounted ham radios.

 

Thanks. I'm a noob when it comes to radios. Do I need a ham license for that?

 

The simple answer is yes. Although most do not have one.