4th July Camping Trip!

Happy 4th July! 🎆

We decided to celebrate traitor day by going camping in the wilderness. 

It was a weekend of amazing view points and the drive up was no exception. It took about an hour and half and as we drove through the mountain, Mitchell (struggling to stay awake) finally sorted out the radio stations in the car and we found it was already tuned in to a country music station. Now this isn't usually what we'd listen to, but driving through the wide open country with desert on one side and mountains on the other, we felt it was the perfect accompanyment for our journey on the most American day of the year.  

The town of Idyllwild, when we arrived, was very small and made up of mostly log cabins, all nestled within the dense trees. It was a little cooler up there, but still about 30c. The campground was huge and essentially a dirt road through the forest with patches to the sides for pitching tents. Each site had a fire pit and picnic bench and most groups had already set up for the weekend with whole gazebos to hold their grills and massive food hauls. Our site seemed to have the same family group either side of us, so we set up our single tent a bit further back into the trees.

Setting up camp in the forest

Our new tent was very easy to pitch and in a matter of minutes we were ready to start adventuring! The campground was surrounded by trails into Idyllwild Regional Park so we picked a direction and started walking. We ended up on the perimeter trail which climbed a little way up into the mountain. At points along the path there were huge boulders where you could take a break and enjoy the view across the valley. 

We took a quick detour onto the centennial loop, but we had no idea how long that hike would be and as it was already after 5pm and we were getting hungry, we turned back for the day. Because of the wildfire risk, campfires and charcoal barbeques weren't allowed, but we could use our propane stove. We hadn't had time to find a pot to go on it, so all our food for the weekend had to be cooked via toasting forks. We made it work, we speared vegetarian hot dogs and some vegetables and finished up with smores!

Graham crackers, chocolate and toasted marshmallow make excellent smores

Saturday (which was America day) we were off to do the long hike into the wilderness park! I woke Mitchell up early because I was so excited to go and we quickly fuelled up on breakfast, packed lunch, a first aid kit and three litres of water each. Before we were allowed to go on the hike we had to stop by the ranger station and fill out a wilderness permit with our contact information in case we got lost in there (or eaten). 

Permit complete, we started our hike from Deer Springs Trailhead at about 8:30am. When we crossed over the boundary into San Jacinto State Park Wilderness we were greeted with a sign warning us about the potential dangerous wildlife. 

Look out!

About a mile up we paused for a viewpoint. It was already warm and the way had been pretty steep so we were glad of the short rest. Another mile and we came to the junction where we could choose to take an extra route out to suicide rock where the views were meant to be amazing. We took the challenge and although I think this was the hardest part of our route (so steep!) it was worth it once we got there. 

Which path?

We made it!

We stopped here for some snacks and to see how we were feeling. It was about 11:30am by this point and we could either call it a day and go back down or go on to the next checkpoint. You'll be glad to know that we took the hard option and carried on!

Just trees and mountains for as far as the eye can see

We walked through the forest some more, seeing huge trees, huge pine cones and huge boulders (made of granite or similar for you fellow geology nerds). I've said before that some areas around here look like they could be straight from Greece or the Middle East, but this was all North America. 

There's a legend from the Cahuilla people about one of the outcrops on the mountain. They say that the Shaman Tahquitz was banished to the canyon when his tricks became more violent and the leader realised he was becoming a demon. When there's an earthquake or strange lights over the peak this is his spirit trying to escape! 

We didn't see any of Tahquitz, but when we reached Strawberry Junction campground (for people who like to hike with all their stuff on their back and camp out in the REAL wilderness) we ate our lunch and then scrambled up some rocks to find even more amazing views of the canyon stretching out before us. 

I am the view

It was about 2pm by this point so we turned around to make our way back down the mountain. It was a lot quicker going down! But it was still about five miles so we didn't get back to camp until about 5pm, water bottles nearly empty and ready to wash all the dust we'd collected on this very dry trail (my legs were brown from the knees down). 

On the way down, as well as the hundreds of tiny lizards, we saw what we thought were small squirrels, but when we got a better look, we think they were chipmunks. One we came across, when he saw us, he stopped dead and just flattened himself against the tree branch rather than run away. It must work as a hiding tactic, as all the photos we took of him it's almost impossible to work out what it's a picture of! Fortunately, we did not see any lions or bears, just these little critters. 

Chipmunk!

After we had cooked and eaten dinner and were sitting outside star gazing (which was pretty amazing as we were at least an hour away from the nearest city) we heard some squeaking and saw bats streaking over our camp! They were quite small and seemed to be having a great time catching all the bugs (much to Mitchell's delight). 

The next morning, after we'd started packing up our camp 😭 I wanted to visit the Nature Centre which was part of the Idyllwild Park and had a little museum about the flora and fauna found in the area and about the Cahuilla people. Unfortunately, this is only open on the weekends so we had missed it. But there was a little self guided trail around the area and a small display outside so we had a pleasant last morning before we went back to the car and drove home. 

If you'd like to see all of our photos from the weekend (all of the good ones at least) you can see them in this online album here. 

We had such a good weekend, we might go back to the same place as there are so many different trails around the area, but first we want to visit all of the other parks around us like Big Bear and the sequoia trees! And now we have a tent we can even do just one night at some of the closer locations and really make the most of being surrounded by so much amazing scenery. 

The meadow behind the campground

Until next time,

Emily and Mitchell

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