Cougar Buttes, in the Johnson Valley OHV Recreation Area, is home to a number of rock crawling trails, but none quite like this three-quarter mile stretch.
Hammer Down is a serious 4x4 trail that is likely to break, bend, dent and possibly roll your rig. From Gate Keeper to Gate Keeper, the rock obstacles here are continuous. It's hard to tell where Hammer Down obstacles end and the next starts. Boulder, after boulder, after waterfall, after hard rock notches, after boulder, this trail will keep you in low range, with your head out the window watching your tire placement.
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From Lucerne Valley, head east on 247.
Turn left onto Camp Rock Road.
Cougar Buttes is on the east side of the road.
Turn right onto Astral Road/Cambria Road.
Continue straight onto Astral Road.
Continue onto Solar Road.
Continue on Granite Road and cut south @ ~34.485615, -116.823531
There might be a lot of confusion lately with the San Bernardino National Forest order ( No. 05-12-00-23-03 ) closing almost all forest trails in southern California. This trail is still open.
Fun trail several hard lines available. Seen some nice rigs damaged at the gate keeper so just pick a safe line. I flopped on one of the notches inside. Luckily I turned into it and just had a few scratches.
Had a ton of fun on this trail. It has gotten a lot hard from last year. Everyone got body damage or broke... Fun times.
FYI - the fun path is on the left of waypoint 6
When some plans with another group fell through as I was in route to this trail, it lead to an opportunity to meet and run Hammer Down Trail with a great meet-up group; SoCal Jeepers.
After helping to winch a disabled Jeep out of the gate keeper, these guys welcomed me into their trail run and I got to run Hammer Down as planned. Thanks, guys! Great group, great trail!
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G. Martin, gm4x4 on Youtube , is a California native, born and raised in northern California and now living and wheeling in southern California. He enjoys exploring new trails and setting up camp in the remote outdoors.
You may come across him in the middle of the Mojave Desert, the mountains of Big Bear, in the central Sierras near Shaver Lake or any other dirty, rocky road in the southwest.
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