Hungry Valley, September 1996

Summary:

• Who: Gregg, Joe, Reilly and Lloyd all in my '95 Jeep Wrangler.
• What: Fun in the Hungry Valley SVRA
• Where: CA - Hungry Valley in the Los Padres National Forest near Gorman
• When: September 1996
• Difficulty: Easy

Trip Report:

After lunch we explored some of the roads in the park. Most were pretty easy, with only a couple of tricky parts. All were fun. However, this place is more geared for motorcycles. Many of the passes were motorcycle only, too narrow for 4wd. A couple of the more difficult trails were Brome and Homestead. Backbone and Badlands were motorcycle only. Then, we headed up Gold Hill Road towards Alamo Mountain. This was an easy route to the top where we camped for the night.

The next morning we noticed the Miller Jeep Trail heading down the other side of the mountain. This is the difficult route (very difficult). It was very steep with huge ruts. We didn't drive it. We could barely walk it. It was clear a stock vehicle would have a lot of trouble, even going down. We went down the way we came up. Back in the recreation area, we explored more of the roads, including an open driving area. Driving haphazardly in the sand was fun. In the end, we covered most of the 4wd accessible roads on the map.

I can't remember if we went out the main entrance or if there was an exit to the south that was open...

Maps, books, etc.

More info on the Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area