Thursday morning we left the desert floor of Palm Springs and drove up a twisting, turning two lane road, in the San Jacinto Mountains, until we got to the 6,000 ft. level and the small resort village of Idyllwild, CA. – about a one hour trip altogether.
That’s I-10 way down there. I took this shot from around the 3000 ft level
On the way up to Idyllwild, we drove through desert, rocky canyons, brush and boulders and at the 4,000 ft. level we encountered Pine trees as we entered the San Bernardino Forest. At the 5,000 ft. level we hit snow, but luckily, the road was bare and dry with the snow scattered throughout the hills, forests and in the ditches on the sides of the road.
The San Bernardino Forest was a nice sight with the pines and evergreens
It was a very scenic drive with lots of places along the way to stop and look down and across at the vast expanse of Riverside County far below. Off in the distance, we could see I-10 and its straight path through Banning. Banning is where we turned south off of I-10 to make the long, twisting climb up the mountain to Idyllwild.
Idyllwild has many little shops, restaurants and stores similar to these
When we drove into the town centre, it looked pretty much like any other small resort village catering to tourists. There are a lot of rather unique looking shops, restaurants and specialty stores located on a circular road in the middle of town. We parked the truck and spent about 45 minutes walking around and looking in store windows. We did notice a lot of lodges and resorts both on the way up and in town so that, plus tourism, seems to be the main business of Idyllwild.
As you can see, I dressed for snow again – shorts and sandals
One of Idyllwild's attractions is that it offers all four seasons, yet in snowy winter is only an hour's drive down to the warm desert area of Palm Springs. Another advantage—to many—is that it offers no lake for speedboats and no downhill skiing, thus the hill has been minimally developed over the years and remains a center for hiking, mountain and rock climbing, and horseback riding.
The highway cut thru a lot of these very smooth faced rocks
Idyllwild was known originally as Strawberry Valley because of the wild strawberries that grow there. Shepherds regularly brought their flocks to the valley. In the 1880s, the Domenigoni family of San Jacinto homesteaded land near what is now the Idyllwild Arts Academy. In 1889, George and Sarah Hannahs built a summer camp next to the site of their sawmill in upper Dutch Flat; they named it Camp Idyllwild.
This isn’t shot from an plane – it’s a high-up scenic point on San Jacinto
With the invention of the automobile, Idyllwild became a weekend tourist attraction for people in Southern California. For many years, the town presented itself as an alpine village, and hotels and businesses had German or German-sounding names, but this practice ended during World War II.
Not sure what Rylie was thinking here, but I’m sure glad she was on a leash!
In the late 1960s and 1970s, there was an influx of hippies in Idyllwild, which changed the nature of the town and alarmed many longtime residents. Timothy Leary lived on a ranch in nearby Garner Valley, with the ranch serving as the headquarters of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love. Currently the ranch encampment in Garner Valley is operated by Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times as a year-round retreat for children with cancer and their families.
That’s the city of Banning, far below and in the distance
By the time we finished up looking around Idyllwild it was almost noon, so we hopped back in the truck and headed back down the steep road to I-10 and then to Desert Hot Springs. The temperature back at the RV Park was 72F and just perfect for a swim – which is exactly what I did. The rest of the afternoon and evening, we just relaxed outside, read and watched some TV.
Have a great Friday, and thanks again for visiting!
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