When you are travelling the historic Old Ridge Route to search for the excellent multicache No Room at the Inns, you might also want to make a stop at the site of the southernmost inn on the road, the National Forest Inn.
To learn more about the Ridge Route and its sights and sites, you can read a fine article from Westways magazine or, for even more detail, you can peruse Mr. Harrison Scott's excellent and comprehensive site about the Ridge Route. There is even a page on this fine site specifically for the National Forest Inn.
Things to know before you go:
First, to access the route from the southern end, take the I-5 to Parker Rd exit, and turn eastward onto Parker Rd, which turns into Old Ridge Route when it crosses the bridge over the freeway. Just stay on that road.
Second, to access the route from the north, follow CA route 138 from either its eastern end near Palmdale or its western terminus at Gorman on the I-5. The turnoff is on the southern side, just beyond the eastern edge of Quail Lake.
Third, this is now National Forest road 8N04, and there are several gates along it and one at each end, any of which can be closed, due to weather and rockslides. Only try this trip in good weather and after there have been a few days of good weather. I made it twice in a 2WD halfton pickup, and I was glad of the high clearance, due to the rocks. You can usually find a notice as to whether the gates are open on the home page of ridgeroute.com.
Fourth, this site is considerably farther south on the Route than the caches in the No Room at the Inns multicache, just so you know. Expect to spend about 3 hours to drive it all with photo stops, then add on whatever time you think you'll need to locate the caches you are pursuing.
Fifth, if you want to log this one, you need to email me with the number of steps at the coordinates. Please do not log the answer to this question on this page, even in encrypted form!
Now get out there and have a wonderful road trip!
This cache was developed
by a member
and a canine affiliate
of the Southern California Geocachers.