Trip Report. SD>Joshua Tree>Big Bear

Annual April road trip with the boys. Last year was The Mojave Trail. This year we kept it closer and stayed within 3 hours of San Diego. Still found some incredible stuff and a reminder that So Cal has awesome diversity in such a small area. Ocean, mountains and desert are all right there for the taking.


Day one we left Pacific Beach for Joshua Tree. 7 friends, 3 rigs. Drove to Temecula and then east through Anza/Piñon Pines before dropping into Coachella Valley at Palm Desert. Navigated through the valley to the town of Coachella where we gassed up, aired down and got on dirt about Noon.



We were headed to a group camp site we reserved in Joshua Tree for the night and wanted to take the 4x4 trail trough Berdoo canyon. Great drive from the desert valley up into the park. A little bit of road and a pit stop in 29 Palms got us to our campsite at 5:30.



Epic JT night in a killer site. No wind and super mild conditions. Slept in my 4Runner with the lift gate open all night. Coffee and light breakfast before taking off again.


Quick aside - forgot gas for my jet boil but absolutely needed coffee. Did you know you could boil water in empty pacifico bottles and pour them into your French Press? Worked perfectly. Crisis avoided!





Drove to pioneer town and onto dirt again and headed for Big Bear via Burns Canyon and rattlesnake canyon trail. Super fun ride. Took our time with multiple stops and features to play on. Got up to BB and had a late lunch in town before driving to friends house in Lake Arrowhead. We were going to camp in BB but it was cold, damp and foggy so we took the civilized option.






Woke and hit the road at 8:30. Less than a mile from the house was a 4x4 trail that went all the way down the mountain to Silverwood Lake where we could jump on the 15 and head home. Took about 2 hours to but the pavement again but was a beautiful route and nice way to spend the last morning.




Left Thursday AM. Home Saturday at 2:30pm. So nice to have Sunday to relax and clean up.

4Runner ran great and always performs. Time to spend some money on a thorough detail. A muddy baja trip last month and this one makes for a happy but dirty Toyota.

 

Outstanding! Beautiful pictures, thanks for posting!

 

Looks like a fun and scenic adventure.

 

Joshua Tree is on my bucket!

Beautiful pics!

Thanks!

 

I recognize all those trails and pics since they were in my "back yard" when we lived in SoCal.
Another beautiful day above the IE.

 

Since those are places I will never go to, I appreciate the pictures.