Big Black Mountain

I found this spot the night before I drove out, googled the roads and made sure they’re were marked as open online, drove 4 hours there kind of rushing because everything online makes this sound like a popular spot, everything I found online says it’s open year round. The gate was closed. Words cannot describe how upsetting that is because this looks like a great spot. Ended up driving an extra hour to Pine Creek Road Dispersed camping which was open.

We love to boondock camp. I’ve been scoping this site for a long time. My wife and I wanted to go do some camping this weekend without the kids. So last weekend we scouted out the spot and just our half ton 2005 GMC sierra 2 Wheel Drive. We made it up and it was a challenge. It was thrilling to get there and our boys and I rode back down most of the way, before it got too dark. I think that this is a place where some parties happen. We saw lots of broken bottles. The views are amazing! It’s worth a tent trip if you had a group.

We were heading to San Diego and wanted a place to camp, this was amazing. We drove are wagon up the road without trouble but roads were super washed out lots of bumps and tight turns that would be harder for a lot of bigger vehicles. We came through in May so it was a little cooler at the altitude (5,000'+). There is plenty of wood for a fire.the bathrooms at the end were locked when we were here. In the morning the fog had started to roll in when we stooped for a picture the a local couple stopped to take pictures to said that it's a clear view usually but this thick of fog was a unusual sight, was a nice bonus to our adventure.

This a great little spot. Only a few places to setup but I doubt it's crowded often.

There are a few people that come up to see the view but everyone was really nice. I highly recommend this spot but you will need to have a little clearance on your car/truck. It's not Abbas road but you have to take it slow and watch out for your clearance.

I'm giving this one 5 stars from me, in spite of the difficulty of getting up the mountain and the times that there are trash, etc. left from previous campers. Everything else about it is absolutely amazing. I've stayed here multiple times now, and I'm bound to do so again in the future!

You absolutely need 4WD/AWD and some higher clearance to get up here. There's also some tight curves--getting tighter the higher you go--that can limit any kind of trailer or larger rig for sure. A 4WD pickup camper or good 4WD van should be able to get up here, assuming good clearance. My Subaru Outback (2015, 8.7" clearance) struggles on a few spots getting up here due mainly to clearance, but taking it slow and choosing the right paths, I'm able to get up without any significant issues (except some new scrapes to the paint job). It seems to especially be worse with the recent el nino storms coming through the area, as I remember some parts being much easier than this most recent time I've come through.

Other note of accessibility: Google Maps has tried to take me on an approach from the north in the past, but this appears to always be gated and the roads closed. The only access I've ever seen open is from the south, typically approaching via Pamo Road from just outside the town of Ramona.

The road up does also close due to fire and/or safety hazards regularly. It's a good idea to either look it up on the website, or to be absolutely sure, call the ranger station for verification. No permits are required, and they post the fire restrictions around some of the sites these days, so if the roads are open, it's pretty great, free camping.

Verizon signal is extremely spotty. TMobile signal is pretty strong, once you get far enough out of the coverage hole that is Pamo Valley. Near the summit, where the GPS coordinates point to, TMobile is especially great. Verizon is especially iffy. You might not even get voice on Verizon, but you might get 4G. You never really know.

I've seen some broken glass and plastic bags and such lying around. Never too terrible. I try to pick up what I can and leave it cleaner than I found it. It's never been so bad that I was really bothered, especially after doing a quick sweep to clean up a bit myself. Can't really earn 5 stars for cleanliness, but it's never been bad enough to even bother me significantly.

All of that said, this is my favorite spot I have found to date. The views to the west stretch all of western San Diego County. On a clear day, you can see clear over the Pacific Ocean, maybe even making out some of the islands out there! You can see South to Mexico, and North towards Riverside and Orange Counties, although they tend to be blocked by additional mountains. The East is pretty well blocked by mountains, but they're stunningly beautiful mountains in their own right. The sunsets are consistently some of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen up here.

If you're up at the peak, there's a weather station powered by solar panels at the true summit, which also has a webcam. That's not as creepy as it sounds, because you can find the webcam feed with some googling, and you end up being a small, indiscernible dot in the images. Still pretty cool to look at, though, and the weather station can give you surprisingly accurate weather from NOAA for this location.

Some of the local hikers, mountain bikers, and different off-roading communities do like to go up and down this mountain, but they're minimal. I've had pleasant encounters with all of them that I've run into on this mountain, and they don't detract from me giving this 5 stars for noise at all. It is otherwise stunningly quiet, with only an occasional airplane flying overhead being of minimal note.

Also, there are trees to hang a hammock steadily on. And the weather is the perfect San Diego weather. It gets a little chilly during the winter months and a little toasty during the summer months, but never too terribly bad. It's just a lovely spot to enjoy a remote area of Cleveland National Forest!

Even if it only got 1 star for Access, it's still earned the 5 stars for me. It is reigning as my all time favorite spot, if you can struggle your way up the jeep trail to get here!