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Jan 31 Cleveland Forest (Main Divide 3S04)

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Old 01-30-2009, 10:07 PM
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Jan 31 Cleveland Forest (Main Divide 3S04)

Guys, gals i know this is sort of last minute. For those of you not going to the memorial show at Ken Grody, how about hanging out with me? Hehe. Post here or call me on my cell if you would like to make a day run with me.
626-488-8016

Ive been taking the truck and kids to Azusa for the past 4 weekends in a row. Ive gotta keep this weekend as short as possible due to Super Bowl, so i want to make a day run up to the Cleveland Forest on Main Divide Road 3S04 on Saturday 31. Its an easy road, very very scenic with views overlooking Orange County and Corona. Its been very clear so we will probably see out to Malilbu and Catalina Islands. Id like to meet at the bottom of Ortega Highway at 10am, and head up the road to the Main Divide entrance.

Here is a writeup on the road accompanied by great pics.
http://www.4x4xplor.com/maindivideroad.html MainDivide Road - Santa Ana Mountains, CA

Forest service website
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/cleveland/conditions/]Cleveland National Forest - Current Conditions

PDF Maps of the entire forest
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/forestvisitormaps/cleveland Cleveland National Forest Vistor Map

Main Divide Rd is between Corona and San Juan Capistrano. You can get to it from Orange County and Riverside County by Lake Elsinore.

Main Divide Road
 
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Old 02-02-2009, 10:51 AM
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So Dave - did you go? Got pics?
 
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Old 02-02-2009, 11:23 AM
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Originally Posted by SteveBricks
So Dave - did you go? Got pics?
Yeah we went, what a friggin good time! We should go next weekend, or at least very soon!

Main Divide Road, 3S04
Main Divide Road - Dirtopia, the Off-Road Encyclopedia

Total trip time with 3 kids: 7 hours :lol:

forgot to reset odometer for trip mileage

Spectacular views of Orange County, LA County, Catalina and San Clemente Islands, Point Mugu, Corona, Lake Elsinore, Lake Perris, Inland Empire, San Diego County, and you can even see Mexico.

We loaded up all 3 kids early Saturday morning and headed down the 5 fwy to Ortega Highway towards Lake Elsinore. Shortly after passing The Candy Store in Ortega Oaks, and Hells Kitchen in El Cariso, we arrived at N Main Divide Road (3S04) after passing it once and ending up halfway down the road at The Look Out restaurant.

The first 2 miles are poorly paved and non exciting. 3S04 splits to the right from the road you are traveling on before you reach a nice campground called Blue Jay. From here the road turns into dirt, with scattered fallen rock and branches throughout the entire trail. 3S04 runs along the sides of the mountains with long steep drop offs.

Shortly after passing Upper Holy Jim trail on 3S04, the road climbs to the top of Santiago Peak where you can park and hike around to check out a huge complex of antennas and relays. Im not much of a communications buff, so i really didnt know what i was looking at. Someone who is into this stuff can spend a couple of hours up there.

After leaving Santiago Peak, you drive along some seriously steep mountainsides. In a couple of miles, Harding Truck Trail meets with 3S04. A few more miles, Bedford Motorway, Eagle Truck Trail, and several little hiking trails. I chose to stay on 3S04 because that was what the original plan was. There is another antenna site which i dont know the name of, and also a cool doppler radar along the route.

About a mile after the doppler radar is a cool site called Beek's Place. Beek's Place is an old homestead setup years ago to serve as a fire lookout. In 1941, some antenna or power line mounts were setup. You can see the dates in the concrete. Spend an hour or so walking around and checking things out. We ran into a nice guy in a yellow Jeep. He used to hang out on adventure4x4 as SOCALFJ. After we were done exploring, we took Skyline Drive down to the back of Corona, and went home. If you continue on Main Divide 3S04, you can visit Sierra Peak. Sierra Peak is the antenna site you can see from the 91 and northern OC.



























































 
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Old 02-02-2009, 11:24 AM
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Old 02-02-2009, 11:25 AM
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Old 02-02-2009, 11:34 AM
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Cool shots - I particularly like the evening panoramas.......

Can't do it this weekend, but I'd like to on the following.
 
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Old 02-02-2009, 12:23 PM
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Dave seems to go al over the place. Very cool shots.
 
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Old 02-02-2009, 12:23 PM
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i didnt know there was an upper Holly Jim trail...i have spent much time on the only holly jim trail i know about as well as in Santiago canyon its about 10 mins or so from my house...
 
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Old 02-03-2009, 11:07 PM
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The gates will be closed if it rains this week.

BTW, great pics!
 
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