3S08 - Vista Grande is a little used offroad 4wd trail in the San Bernardino National Forest. It is north of Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains. A beautiful trail at the top, in the pines, fir and cedar. It makes it's way down into a more desert climate and is actually in the Morongo Indian Reservation for it's last mile or so in the north. There are no signs, or gates to prevent your travel on the Reservation. Along with the trail it connects to in the north, it is the northern most Forest Service numbered trail in the San Jacinto Mountains. It meets up with 3S09 Hurley Flats at the end which you can take for a loop run back up to Hwy 243, a short distance from where you started.
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From Hemet, go east on Hwy 74 to Mountain Center. Take Hwy 243 and pass through Idyllwild and Pine Cove. The trailhead is on your right 0.2 miles past the Vista Grande Fire Station.
From Banning and the I10 Freeway, go south on 8th Street, turn left at Lincoln and turn right on Hwy 243. Take Hwy 243 to Twin Pines Road and turn left or east. Go 3.25 miles to its end at a Juvenile Detention Facility. A dirt road veers to the right and you will be at the trails end for 3S08 Vista Grande in 300 feet. There is a "Y" at that point, Vista Grande is to the left and 3S09 Hurley Flats is to the right.
If you wish to travel the trail in the direction of this write-up, don't turn on Twin Pines Road and continue up Hwy 243. The trailhead is on your left just before the Vista Grande Fire Station.
The trail was a very nice easy scenic trail. However, it is very narrow most of the way and has overgrown vegetation from all the rain we had. So you will get a lot of pinstriping. There were only two sections we found that did require spotting for proper tire placement due to some deep rutting in the road. Both these sections were near the end of the trail by waypoint #6. The last section of this area is near a ranch. The side of the road on the ranch side has a deep rut that went more than halfway up the side of 37" tires. To get past this obstacle, you need to stay driver's side which will put you off camber towards the passenger side of your vehicle and you will get heavy pinstriping on the driver's side. With good tire placement, you will be fine but be prepared if you slide down in the rut. Other than those two sections, it is very easygoing and again, scenic.
I did hurley flats and Vista grande together. Beautiful trail. Lots of pinstriping. Small amount of v notching and off camber situations. Not to bad though, pretty much the 3 rating comes from those situations. Rest of the trail was smooth.
Drove the road from top, returning back to CA 243 via 3S09 - Hurley Flats in a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk. Well maintained although seemingly less so near the bottom, very straight forward drive. Tiny bit of snow here and there. Otherwise no issues. Nice views of San Gorgonio and the Banning Pass all along the way.
Fun little trail, great for beginners to get their feet wet on a narrower fire road. Take care for traffic coming the other way as many stretches are too tight to pass. Overall, a fun day out and shouldn’t be a challenge for most any truck/suv.
Took off with 6 Jeeps, on a one day ride. Vista Grande was our run, and what a great trip we had. The weather was good. We did air down for this trail based on the information, and it made the trip worth while.
Great views and nice mix of terrain. We started at waypoint 1 and went downhill. Not much snow on the ground but the trail was wet, There were some very steep, very slick spots -- we got down okay, but I don't think we could have gotten back up
All trails in the San Jacinto Ranger District are under a fire closure until 08/31/18
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Dennis Clark was born in Los Angeles in 1942 and after 76 years of living in So Cal he moved to Emmett, Idaho with his wife Patricia, has four adult children with many grand and great grandchildren. He has loved the outdoors since his Cub Scout and Boy Scout days while camping with the family. He's an archer, hunter and fisherman but no longer wishes to harm animals. He has been involved with photography since the 1960's. He became more of a serious hiker in 2010 when he started Geocaching and has hiked the three tallest peaks in So Cal, Mt San Jacinto, Mt San Gorgonio and Mt Baldy, along with most of the lesser peaks in search of caches. Geocaching started his love for the USFS Trail system as he used the trails frequently to get to certain trailheads. He had a 2002 Ford Ranger 2wd and its amazing where that little pickup took him. In 5 years of weekly geocaching he was only stuck once in some Palm Springs sand. His 2016 Wrangler Sport Unlimited was purchased in 2015. He has become quite lazy in the hiking department as he can now drive to most locations. He's looking forward to posting some trails and don't hesitate to ask him for any help you might need.
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