Heard there was some good hiking there ...as well as native american history.

 

The Los Coyotes Indian Reservation is near Warner Springs, CA. Is it in this area?

 

Last I heard, it has been closed years ago.

 

It is open again, We did some trails up there end of last year. Expect a lot of pin striping. It might be better now, but was very overgrown last year for not been used in years.

 

Around 2005, when the Tribe closed the reservation to off-roading, it cost $20 a day to run their trails. They used to collect the fee at the main gate. Is that still the case? Did you take the trail to the top of Hot Springs Mountain? It is the highest spot in San Diego County, about 6.500' as I remember. There is an old abandon fire spotting tower there. The only trails I can remember are "The Squeeze," "Left Turn Hill," which caused a good deal of damage if you didn't turn at the correct time (there were four 90 degree left turns) and there was a trail that ran up or down a series of water falls which were frequently wet in the winter and spring. They also used to have a campground where you could stay over night. Are all of these trails/places open?

 

Can't remember how much we paid but I think it was $20. The gate is still there and so is the camp ground. We went all the way up to the old fire look out and the view is great. Took a few trails to the left on our way down, I think it is called "bob sled", Big old v-notch with lots of room for body damage if you get it wrong.

 

Your " big old V-notch" sounds like the enterance to "the Squeeze" of my days. To exit you had to make a 90 degree left at the bottom and then climb three foot vertical rock wall to leave. Sound familiar? They used to give you a map of the trails around the reservation at the Main Gate. Do they still do that?
DF

 

I think they gave us 1 map for the group. There was a sharp turn at the bottom of the v-notch to the left, but more like 60 degrees with a bad camber leaning into the turn with a big boulder to make it super tight. Then it was flat and whining for a long before the climbing started again. There was no 3 foot walls to climb.

Bad pictures but this is the part I am talking about.

 

Your photo shows what we used to call "the Squeeze." I found a lot of photos on line at:
http://www.dirtopia.com/wiki/Los_Coy...n_Reservation/
Photos of most of the trails from 1996 - 2002 taken by the "Spinnin Fours" 4X4 club. I don't know where they are out of. They have several photos of a trail called "El Hill" which I remember well. All-in all, Los Coyotes used to have some of the nastiest trails in SD County. 4X4 clubs would come from other states just to run them. I'm glad to hear & see that the Reservation in once again open to 4X4's. The magic formula was: 35's + 4.56 R&P gears + lockers front and rear + 4:1 "T" case + a final crawl ratio of around 80:1 would make the trails at Los Coyotes a Sunday drive. Anything less would increase the pucker factor proportionally. In any case - expect body damage. DF