Saturday August 8th, the boys wanted to get out on the trails and get some elevation to escape the heat as well. We were going to leave in the late afternoon in order to catch the sunset so the trail head had to be as close as possible. After searching through the AllTrails app to find the nearest trail it was a pretty easy decision to take Maple Springs Truck Trail, only 50 mins from my house, up to Modjeska Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains. In Orange County the Santa Ana Mountains are the only place you can really go off-roading, if you travel a bit further into Riverside County your options get a whole lot greater, but this trip was just about getting up a trail quickly so we could grill some hot dogs, have a beer and catch an epic SoCal Sunset.

The trail started out incredibly dusty with a layer of silt covering the top of the trail, but as we climbed higher passing about 4,000ft the trail turned into complete rock. At this point I wishing we had aired down the tires but we had to press forward and crawl over the pure rock trail, praying to not get a puncture on my 4 year old KO2’s. Thankfully these tires are absolute beasts and they carried us to the top with no issues and enough time to set up a spot to chill for sunset.

This was a familiar view, I had previously been up to Santiago Peak twice, via Indian Truck Trail, before visiting Modjeska Peak on this trip. From Modjeska you don’t get any views to the North, North-East; but with the sun setting over the ocean we had all the views we could need.

From 5400ft you can see all of Orange County, DTLA, and into San Diego County and this was on a hazy day with the marine layer on it’s way in. Even after the sun dipped under the horizon we were treated to some incredible views during blue hour and got to watch SoCal cities and freeways turn on their lights.

With the sun gone and the temperature dropping, we packed out and made the drive down Maple Springs Truck Trail in the dark until finally reaching Silverado Canyon a zipping on home. It was such a great spot and I know I’ll be back again, maybe next time for a shoot!

Gear List:

A7iii w/ Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Art
2007 Fj Cruiser