Trail: Bee Canyon to Indian Creek Truck Trail
I've take Bee Canyon to San Jacinto Ridge to Pine Cove several times, but have never made the turn at Indian Creek to head North. A friend of mine was itching to go out in his JK and had never been to the area, so I figured what better time to go than now.
The route is just under 13 miles, but because of trail conditions and several stops to let our kids explore the journey took 4hrs. High clearance and 4WD were needed to deal with washouts, slippery uphill conditions and a few inches of snow covered trail near the top.
The first part of Bee Canyon was definitely the worst. Several sections were washed out, the worst was the last which we decided to break out the shovels for. Not sure how effective we were, but we both were hanging wheels to get through.
Ruts were a pretty common site along the trail. Higher up on Indian Creek ruts would cross the road and it was generally pretty slick. I had to keep my moment going with stock tires and had to reverse a few times and give it another go.
Kids' stop #1 was at the intersection of Bee Canyon and Indian Creek. Great view and a mud puddle for the kids.
It wasn't long before we came to this washed out area. While we checked the route my oldest decided to practice his army crawl.
Kids' stop #2 was a turnout along Moller Creek. We did some rock scrambling down to a small water fall. Slick granite + adventurous kids = lots of yelling. The way the water had carved into the rock was pretty sweet.
I believe the snow covered peak is Black Mountain.
One of my favorite sections, it felt like we were on a hotwheels track.
Views were incredible for nearly the entire trip.
The edge of snow. Fortunately the road wasn't too torn up so navigating the trail wasn't anymore difficult, just a little slower.
Kids' stop #3. Fearing we'd leave the snow never to return, the kids kept wondering when we would stop. This area was relatively flat with a good mix of bush and tree for the kids to get lost in.
The trail was covered in snow for the last half mile. This lead to a lot of sliding at the turns, fortunately toward the mountain and not off the edge. Near the 243 we came across a couple families playing in the middle of the trail.
It was fitting we had to break out the shovels once again to get back on the highway. There was a giant mound of snow and dirt from the snowplow.
The sides of the highway were packed with cars any where they could fit. A newer Tacoma ran off the road just north of Pine Cove, luckily in a section with no people and no drop off. Idyllwild was packed so we decided to eat lunch at Mile High Cafe at the south end of town. Food was good, but service was slow. After that was kids' stop #4 at the park. Parking along the highway was craptastic so we parked in snow where we normally park when there's no snow.
