Sawmill Road
8.1 mi
Distance
3 hrs 41 min
Time
terrain
3,514 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a moderate one way trail in Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument.
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
Solo day hiked Fri 12/8/23 – While the Lower Sawmill Trail is the dirt road to the old charcoal kiln as advertised, the Upper Sawmill Trail from the kiln to the Santa Rosa Truck Trail was a nice surprise. It’s a well-routed trail that takes you from the chaparral through a shaded oak forest before ending at the truck trail. It’s soft on the feet compared to the lower road with a nice set of switchbacks going up the last, steeper part of the trail. There are several trees (blowdowns) across the trail that aren’t too bad to bypass (thanks Hilary). Even though it’s not a high traffic trail, I found it easy to follow with only a few spots requiring a small bit of navigating. Once on the SR Truck Trail, I headed east and made a direct ascent (blue arrow markers on rocks by the road) south to the Santa Rosa Mtn summit. Nice to see the giant fireplace from Desert Steve’s summit cabin that burned down in 1996. Headed down to the truck trail and then east to Toro Peak North and then cross-country to Toro, Wind Chill and Toro Peak West. Went up Peak 7878 on the way back to the Sawmill Trail. Was a good weather day for views off the truck trail and summits, especially those of the Coachella Valley, Salton Sea and San Gabriel Mtn Range. The valley views coming down the lower Sawmill road at sunset were a nice way to end the day. If you want a good hike up these peaks without the help of a 4x4 on the truck trail, this is a good one and very scenic! Logged 25.8 miles/5555 vertical ft. with Gaia.
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Public Tracks
There are no published trips for this hike. There are 4 private trips.
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