Black Mountain Lookout

Cappie’s Scoop: The whole trail smelled like trees and pine cones! I even found a bit of snow towards the top but it wasn’t enough to zoom around in so I just hiked around it. At the top is a cool tower so I got a couple pictures and then we headed down through the trail of warm smelling pine! Don’t hesitate to add YOUR scoop in the comments below!

Tips: The trail is a bit steep most of the way up but has a few moments of leveling out at times. Like us, we noticed a different tree on the trail (almost out of place) and later confirmed it was in fact a sequoia tree planted by someone a long time ago. They are gorgeous among the other pines! Don’t forget to keep your nose open for those Jeffrey Pines. The warm sun hits the bark and it can smell like vanilla, cinnamon or for us butterscotch. Towards the end of the trail, if you’re looking at a map, there are two trails that head to the tower. We took the shorter route to the right past the concrete water tank and found the road in front of the tower. If you take the longer route, I think it only adds less than a mile since our total trip was 8 miles.

Directions: Take I-10 toward Banning and exit at Highway 243/San Gorgonio Avenue. Head south on 8th St. for 00.1 mile and then turn left onto Lincoln Street. Continue east for 0.5 mile and turn right onto S. San Gorgonio Ave./Highway 243 and drive uphill on the winding road for 16.3 miles. The turn off will be on your left and there should be a brown sign before the turn that says “Black Mountain Trail 2E35.” Turn left onto the dirt road and drive uphill a short distance until the road ends at the trailhead.