Mt.Thomas\Idyllwild(So Cal)

[1996XJ]

Not much of a journal but some pictures for anyone who might be interested in camping/ off roading in the national forest near Idyllwild California (The other big mountain near Big Bear). A lot of forest service roads and truck trails in the area. Yellow post campsites for free camping. Hiking Trails are everywhere. A choice of lakes for fishing. And downtown Idyllwild is pretty cool and nice to take a walk around. The mayor is a golden retriever. Mt. Thomas is one of the lesser-known peaks in the area. The Forest Service road up it to the campsites is about an hour of offroad driving but is worth it. I think only one other person was on the entire mountain camping besides us. Palm springs and the Salton Sea is about an hour to the east. Anza Borrego Park and San Diego County are about an hour south. And you have Big Bear mountains about two hours to the North of Mt. Thomas. Mt. Thomas road is just past Lake Hemet if you are heading south on the 74. That takes you up the north slope of the mountain. Mt. Thomas truck trail takes you up the southern end of the mountain. It is essentially the same road and connects to other forest service roads that allow for many miles and hours of offroad driving.

First a few pictures of the campsites from Mt. Thomas. We had our choice of all three sites on the very peak. No neighbors and unbeatable views and sunset.

View to the north west

View north of Lake Hemet and Idyllwild

View South of Mt. Cahuilla and San Diego county beyond

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[1996XJ]

Some pictures of Idyllwild on 4th of July. We took our dog to meet the mayor Max. Got a free tie and he is now deputy mayor. Lots to do on Idyllwild. We went up to Humber park and walked the dogs on Ernie Maxwell trail for a while. We just needed to get our older dog away from the fireworks being let off of down where we live.
Tahquitz Peak from the trail.

Suicide Rock viewed from the trail.

The Mayor of Idyllwild

New Deputy Mayor

 

[Burghardphotography]

Man this brings back memories. On my 21st birthday we piled into my ‘88 YJ and did the trail up from hemet, then camped in that very campground.

Don’t know if they still call it this, but we hiked to the top of Suicide Rock overlooking Idyllwild below. Hiking out, we got caught in the middle of the most intense lightning storm I have ever been in. Got back to the Jeep to that camp, and we had left the tent windows open ??‍

We found a dry room outside of town where we at least could get dry sleep. Next morning we were bit by bedbugs! We couldn’t win! Hahaha

 

[1996XJ]

Man this brings back memories. On my 21st birthday we piled into my ‘88 YJ and did the trail up from hemet, then camped in that very campground.

Don’t know if they still call it this, but we hiked to the top of Suicide Rock overlooking Idyllwild below. Hiking out, we got caught in the middle of the most intense lightning storm I have ever been in. Got back to the Jeep to that camp, and we had left the tent windows open ??‍

We found a dry room outside of town where we at least could get dry sleep. Next morning we were bit by bedbugs! We couldn’t win! Hahaha

Thats awesome man! That story made my night. Lol sounds like some of my luck too. I just discovered yesterday you can take Rouse Hill Truck trail in Hemet all the way to Thomas then down the southside of Thomas. I don't know if I got the guts to do it alone with the family but it's definitely on the list of roads i want to check out. You could actually drive from Idyllwild using San Jacinto Truck trail/ to Bee truck Trail/ and then onto Rouse Truck trail all the way to Anza. That would be an insanely long offroad trip though. They still call it suicide rock. I included a crappy picture of it in my post above.

 

[mx5red]

Thats awesome man! That story made my night. Lol sounds like some of my luck too. I just discovered yesterday you can take Rouse Hill Truck trail in Hemet all the way to Thomas then down the southside of Thomas. I don't know if I got the guts to do it alone with the family but it's definitely on the list of roads i want to check out. You could actually drive from Idyllwild using San Jacinto Truck trail/ to Bee truck Trail/ and then onto Rouse Truck trail all the way to Anza. That would be an insanely long offroad trip though. They still call it suicide rock. I included a crappy picture of it in my post above.

Wow, and I thought bee canyon to San Jacinto ridge truck trail was a pretty long drive. That Rouse trail is pretty long by itself!

 

[1996XJ]

Wow, and I thought bee canyon to San Jacinto ridge truck trail was a pretty long drive. That Rouse trail is pretty long by itself!

Have you done the Bee Canyon to San Jacinto Truck trail? I seen people doing this with snow on the ground and during a light rain on youtube so i have to assume its not too bad. Kind of want to try this one out. Rouse Trail videos seem like its pretty cool drive.

 

[1996XJ]

Trails Offroad has a few trails listed in the area.

https://www.trailsoffroad.com/trails/2057-5s15-rouse-hill

Yeah that's the long one that I want to check out some time. It takes you up into Thomas Mountain from down in Hemet. Thanks for the website! When bringing pets and family solo any info i can get is great.

 

[mx5red]

Have you done the Bee Canyon to San Jacinto Truck trail? I seen people doing this with snow on the ground and during a light rain on youtube so i have to assume its not too bad. Kind of want to try this one out. Rouse Trail videos seem like its pretty cool drive.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...o-with-your-gladiator-today.19626/post-948243
I have, it’s not a hard or overly rocky trail. Pretty open and packed sand until you get up pretty high the last bit towards idyllwild, and you go over stone creek.
My test for difficult is could a Subaru do it without scraping, and it could.
Where 4S21 Indian mountain breaks off, that looks more difficult. Not sure about the Subaru making it up the gatekeeper without getting pretty tippy.

As always, pictures don’t do it any justice. Not crazy by Jeep standards but tippy enough I didn’t want to go solo with my son in the back.

 

[1996XJ]

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...o-with-your-gladiator-today.19626/post-948243
I have, it’s not a hard or overly rocky trail. Pretty open and packed sand until you get up pretty high the last bit towards idyllwild, and you go over stone creek.
My test for difficult is could a Subaru do it without scraping, and it could.
Where 4S21 Indian mountain breaks off, that looks more difficult. Not sure about the Subaru making it up the gatekeeper without getting pretty tippy.

As always, pictures don’t do it any justice. Not crazy by Jeep standards but tippy enough I didn’t want to go solo with my son in the back.

Nice. I seen some youtube stuff on this when it was snowing. Im going to have to check this one out too.

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