On my recent trip to SoCal I went to the Oak Glen Apple growing region in the San Bernardino Mountains. The area is best known for growing Apples and is most busy in the fall, but even off season it’s worth taking a couple hours to explore the region.
In the Summer there are lots of places that are closed until the fall, but we decided to visit the The Wildlands Conservancy nature trail at Los Rios Rancho. (Winter hours are currently 10 a m. – 5 p. m., Wednesday – Sunday ) The trail is quite a nice short hike and there are areas of shade to keep you cool. The weather is usually at least 10 degrees cooler then lower altitudes so it’s usually pretty nice on a hot day.
Here are some panoramas photos I took. The place does not look like what we think of when we hear Southern California.
The clouds were amazing that day.
The next stop was to drive down to Riley’s Farm which features berry picking and, a bit oddly Colonial theming. The owners seem to make sure there is something always going on at their land to attract people to visit with Civil War reenactments, pirate festivals, jazz concerts, summer camp and more. In the past we have picked berries, but this time we were just going for lunch at their Hawks Head Public Inn which features some really good food. I had the Chicken Pot Pie which was served with some really fresh green beans. There you can sit in the natural light of the Inn in your high back wooden bench drinking out of a faux pewter stien and enjoying the mellowness of it all. Next time I am there I would like to try their Apple Dumplings.
With a full tummy we headed back, stopping only to get a mile-high Apple Pie to go with the steak we had for dinner that night.
Someday I will go to Oak Glen during the apple season. I hear the Apple Cider Donuts are really awesome.
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