Santa Rosa/Toro Peak

Amid the arid landscape and sparse brush of southeast California is an unobtrusive forest road leading up and onto little-known Santa Rosa mountain. The mountain encompasses views of the ocean, the desert, the Salton Sea, and rippling hills in between.

My buddies Kyle and Patrick and I decided to have an alternative New Year's celebration this year, and went up on December 31 for a short camping trip. Having passed through this area and the surrounding mountains many times, we grabbed our gear and hopped in Kyle's truck, and hit the mountain in about two and a half hours. The forest road was a little bit bumpy and a little bit icy from a recent snowstorm, but fairly well maintained. We were trying to hike up to the top of Toro Peak, which we thought was part of the Santa Rosa national forest area. However, when we reached the end of the road, we realized that the summit was property of the Cahuilla Indian Reservation, and reaching the top meant trespassing. We decided to double back and wander around the Santa Rosa area instead, but we were quickly loosing daylight, so exploration would have to wait until tomorrow.

That night, we were sure we had the mountain to ourselves. We stayed in one of the campsites, made a big fire and roasted some ham to bring the new year in properly. There were no fireworks, no celebratory toasts, no palpable, nostalgic sensations of human warmth and merriment. To be honest, it was a little bit lonely. Yet it made me think of how arbitrary New Year's Eve is. We choose a day out of the year to reflect on where we have been, where we want to be, to spend time with the people we care about, to celebrate life. But why does is have to be just one day? Wouldn't our lives be richer if we did these things more often?

The next day we woke up at sunrise, packed up our campsite, and started to wander around. The area didn't seem to have any well defined hiking trails, but the terrain was very mild, so we simply meandered along the ridge connecting Toro Peak and Santa Rosa Mountain. The ridge was somewhat flat, and covered in a bed of soft pine needles. On our right we could see Palm Springs and the Salton Sea, and on our left we saw hills and valleys leading all the way to the ocean. Continuing along the ridge, we finally made it to Santa Rosa Mountain, also climbing a high outcrop of boulders just southwest of it to catch some better views.

Details

The mountain is a national forest area with several large campgrounds, the best one being literally on the summit of Santa Rosa mountain. To get there, just get onto Highway 74 South of Idyllwild (AKA Pines to Palms Highway) and turn onto forest road S702, which is very clearly marked with a large sign. The coordinates of the forest road are 33.567699,-116.511662. A great map of both Santa Rosa mountain and Toro Peak can be found here. If you want to drive up to the top of Santa Rosa Mountain instead of hiking, you can. However, the turn off point from the forest road isn't marked well. On the forest road, you will pass a tree painted with a message urging you to prevent forest fires. Past this tree a couple hundred meters will be a road cutting to the right, indicated by a thin yellow sign. This road will take you to the prime campgrounds near the top. 

The best time to go, in my opinion, is in the winter months. Being in Southern California, the winter temperatures are very mild, and during the Summer it may get uncomfortably hot. That being said, the mountain can catch some snow occasionally, making it difficult or impossible to get up the forest road with a non-4WD or chainless vehicle. However, the place seems to be very sparsely populated during the winter, so if you enjoy the solitude, winter is the time to go. 

There appears to be only one marked hiking trail, called the Sawmill trail (see map), which we didn't have time to explore. However, the ridge between Toro Peak and Santa Rosa Mountain makes a great casual hike with amazing views. For more information call the Idyllwild ranger station at (909)-382-2921.