Keller Peak via Exploration Trail

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Features Birding · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

This route will take you to the oldest fire lookout in the San Bernardino Mountains. From here, on a clear day, you can see from the Mojave Desert to Catalina Island! The volunteers are incredibly friendly and happy to answer questions and demonstrate their equipment.

You can drive your car up to the lookout (though parking is VERY limited) if you have children or other family members who can't make the journey on foot.

From the trailhead, take the trail to the right where you'll see an information sign and a half-log bench. Follow this path as it traverses some creek beds and climbs a rocky ridge before entering a black oak forest community. Enjoy the shade of the oaks and admire the towering sugar pines as you ascend the western flank of Keller Peak. Between miles 3 and 4, scenic vistas of the high San Gabriel Mountains open up to the west. Just after 4 1/2 miles the Exploration Trail ends at Keller Peak Road. Follow this one lane paved road 1 1/2 miles to the peak of the mountain and the fire lookout that is perched here.

Just below the lookout, along the road, look for the memorial plaque for the WWII aircrew that lost their lives when their B-26 crashed into the peak on Dec. 31, 1941.