Saved buildings
save our heritage organisation

Hiking Through History in Warner Springs
By Kathryn Fletcher
May/June 2025

Warner Valley grasslands are streaked with yellow wildflowers in spring.

Warner Springs is the 109th mile on the Pacific Crest Trail, measuring from the Southern Terminus in Campo. This National Scenic Trail, which starts in Mexico and ends in Canada, has become so popular that there is a lottery system to hike it.

About half the hikers are from other countries. The Warner Springs Community Resource Center, 30950 Highway 79, Warner Springs, 92086, welcomes about 50 hikers a day during the spring and provides food, supplies, cell phone recharging, internet access, outdoor showers, bucket laundry, and rides to the post office for hikers’ supply boxes. Volunteers who love supporting and interacting with the hikers coordinate all of this.

Eagle Rock, not far from the Warner-Carrillo Ranch House Museum, is a favorite, Instagram-worthy hiking destination. Photos by Kathryn Fletcher

One of the trail’s memorable landmarks is the majestic Eagle Rock, not far from the Warner-Carrillo Ranch House Museum, which SOHO invites you to visit, too. On weekends, lots of day hikers park at the Community Resource Center, which has space for cars and horse trailers, restrooms, and a pop-up coffee bar. The trail head to Eagle Rock (on Highway 79 past San Felipe Road and going north at the Cal Fire Station), leads visitors on a six-plus-mile round trip to the rock, where people understandably can’t resist having their picture taken.

Eagle Rock is sacred to the local Cupa and Cahuilla Indians of the Los Coyotes Reservation nearby. Hikers are asked not to climb the rock formation, as it may disintegrate or otherwise be damaged.

Hikers are often history lovers too, so a waterproof box at the trail head holds Warner-Carrillo Ranch House Museum rack cards to encourage visits. The valley is green now and soon the "gold field" wildflowers will create carpets of yellow. It's a good time to take a hike and take a tour.

BACK to table of contents

SOHO eNEWS

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

Mailing - PO Box 80788 · San Diego CA 92138 | Offices - 3525 Seventh Avenue · San Diego CA 92103
Offices, Museums & Shops (619) 297-9327
Home | Contact