Took the band mates out from Jeff From Work. This was right before the real stuff started happening to my car. The campground was the Dutchman, and Google Maps said the most efficient way there was Lockwood Pass and Miller Jeep Trail (the campground is right at the finish of that). The planned route was through the Gorman OHV section, which is a mostly pleasant dirt road up — and crosses a creek we’d end up swimming in and discovering the game of extreme bocce ball.
August 31, 2019
If you go
Dutchman is a campground in the Los Padres National Forest up in the Mt. Pinos / Frazier Park country off I-5 at Gorman. Here’s the catch Google Maps won’t tell you: it’ll route you over Miller Jeep Trail, which is a genuine high-clearance, 4WD-only route — not a road for a stock car, and exactly the kind of ‘most efficient way’ that strands people. The Gorman OHV dirt-road approach is the saner line for most vehicles.
When to go: late spring through fall — the creek crossing is the whole appeal in summer heat. Check fire restrictions before you count on a campfire; this area goes under fire closures often.
