There's something about trading the hum of the freeway for the crunch of dirt under your tires that resets your whole perspective. This trip was exactly that — a rugged overlanding adventure up into the forested peaks of Southern California's high country, where the pine-scented air runs thin and the desert sprawls out beneath you like a map come to life.
This quick 2 night trip includes the company of Brent and his red Jeep ZJ. I have not recorded this adventure in multiple days, rather preferring to complete the story in a singular post. This is due to my waning commitment to capture the trip in real time each day.
City Lights from a World Away
The trip started with a hard earned meal (driving in traffic for hours is hard, right?) at Charmer's Fresh Burgers. This was a welcomed relief and we were quite pleased with the quality of our meal, as well as the price. We definitely won't mind making this a ritual stop!
Then we encounter a view that puts everything into scale. From high up on a granite overlook, the city lights of the Inland Empire stretched across the valley floor in a glowing amber ribbon, the dark silhouette of a ridgeline cutting the earth from the sky. Standing up there in the cold mountain air, watching thousands of tiny lights flicker below, it's impossible not to feel the distance between that world and this one.
With bellies full and the feeling that we've captured something that nobody else below us can comprehend, we bed down for the night.
Sunrise Magic
If you've never watched the sun rise from a mountaintop overlooking the desert, put it on your list. As the light faded in, the distant ranges to the north caught fire — the kind of warm, rosy alpenglow that turns bare rock into something almost otherworldly. Bands of orange and pink washed across the ridgelines while the valleys below faded into deep purple shadow. On the opposite side, a marine layer crept over the southeastern foothills, the last glow of sunset painting the cloud deck in soft pastels. It was one of those mornings where you just sit on a rock and don't say much.
Night 1 Camp
Camp was set up on a granite shelf tucked among tall pines, with views stretching out toward distant mountain ranges. The kind of spot where you wake up, unzip the tent, and the first thing you see is a panorama that most people only get from a postcard. No hookups, no neighbors, no cell signal. Just the way it should be.
The Road In
Into the Canopy
The Panoramic Ridge
Higher up, the terrain opened to a dramatic rocky ridgeline. From the edge, you could look straight down into the desert — wind turbines dotting the valley floor, the San Gorgonio Pass stretched out wide, and layer after layer of distant mountain ranges fading into haze. The granite here was smooth and sun-bleached, scattered with hardy shrubs and a few wind-bent pines clinging to the exposed rock. It felt like standing on the edge of two completely different worlds — lush mountain forest behind you, vast arid desert ahead.
Ruins in the Wilderness
One of the most striking discoveries on the hike was stumbling upon the remains of an old structure nestled in the mountain landscape. A tall brick chimney, weathered and crumbling at the edges, stood as the last vertical remnant of what was once a building — its stone-and-mortar base still intact, flanked by metal railings and a concrete slab that hinted at a much larger footprint. From a distance, framed against the forested hillside and granite outcroppings, the lone chimney looked almost like a monument.
Nearby, the remains of an old swimming pool sat half-buried in debris — its blue-painted concrete walls chipped and faded, the basin filled with charred rubble and twisted material. Behind it, massive granite boulders and dense pine forest rose steeply into the mountains. The whole scene spoke to a different era — likely a former mountain resort or camp that was claimed by wildfire long ago. It was a sobering and fascinating place to explore, the kind of ruin that makes you wonder about the people who once gathered there.
I was able to find a story online written by someone who alleges to have attended the camp. The page can be found at http://camplackey.com/documents/AboutTheCamp.htm, though it is not a secure site, so browse at your own risk. Here's what it says:
Camp Lackey was a summer camp in the Black Mountain / Idyllwild area between San Jacinto and Palm Desert, CA. The camp operated from an unknown date before 1979 (my first year there) to around 1986 or 1987. I think I was there for the very last year, but I’m not sure. The camp ran for about 2 months each summer, with sets of campers attending 1 week at a time. Staff members typically stayed for the entire 2 months.
Camp Lackey is located along a dirt road, about 11.5 miles off of Highway 243 between Banning and Idyllwild. It was comprised of 23 buildings (6 boy cabins, 6 girl cabins, the boy’s head, the girl’s head, the dining hall, the infirmiry, 1 building next to the infirmiry for housing staff, the craft shack, the camp director’s house, 2 single-wide mobiles for staff housing, the pool shack, and the generator house). The cabins (where the campers stayed) had 10 fixed bunks each and could accommodate 2 additional metal spring fold-up beds. Each cabin typically had 1 counselor and 1 assistant counselor, leaving 8 to 10 beds per cabin for the campers. The maximum bed space would have been 120 campers plus 24 counselors and assistant counselors. I think the normal meal run in the cafeteria was around 120 to 140 plates per meal.
Fall Color and Fire Recovery
The mountain landscape told a layered story. In one valley, pockets of golden and orange foliage — likely aspens or black oaks — blazed among the green conifers and bleached-white standing dead trees. It was a beautiful but bittersweet scene: the fall colors were stunning, but the skeletal snags and charred logs scattered throughout were reminders of past wildfires. New growth was pushing through everywhere, though — manzanita, young pines, wildflowers reclaiming the scorched ground. The forest was healing on its own timeline.
Final Camp
With a full day of exploratory hiking under our belts, we settle into our camp and make our dinner. The setting of the sun triggered an immense wind that tore through the camp the whole night. Though we wanted to enjoy the ambience of the evening, I chose to tuck in early to escape the gusts of cold.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Make sure you check back in the Trips category to see the other trips I’ve taken with my blue yota!