The long, winding Route 243 descent from Idyllwild toward Banning — switchbacks and vista turnouts hung high on the range's north face, looking out over the San Gorgonio Pass to the 11,500-foot bulk of Old Greyback.
You're over the top now and starting the long, winding descent of Route 243 down the north side of the range toward Banning — and this stretch has some of the biggest views of the whole drive, so use the turnouts. As the road switchbacks down, the trees open up again and again on enormous vistas: straight ahead and below you is the deep trench of the San Gorgonio Pass, and rising on the far side of it is a mountain even bigger than the one you're on — San Gorgonio Mountain, "Old Greyback," the highest peak in all of Southern California at over eleven thousand five hundred feet, often white with snow into the summer.
This is the grand finale of the scenery, and it runs the whole transect in reverse: you'll drop back down out of the tall pines, through the chaparral, and back toward the desert edge, watching the forest thin and the air warm as you go. It's a steep, curvy grade, so take it easy — and Boone's got a couple more tales for you as we come down. Pull off at the vista points, take the pictures, and let the brakes cool. Banning and the pass are waiting at the bottom.
Photo: Seauton · CC BY-SA 4.0
