Pinyon Mountain Road

Nestled in the vastness of the Anza Borrego desert, Pinyon Mountain is a challenging off-road trail with many unique obstacles.  The two most notable of these obstacles are “The Squeeze” and “Heart Attack Hill”.

The Squeeze is exactly that - a small gap through which you must thread the entirety of your vehicle.  As a point of reference, drivers of JL/JK Jeep Wranglers are left with only 1-2 inches on each side of the vehicle at best, and any error in your line can and will result in immediate contact with the rock sidewalls.  Many have conquered this obstacle unscathed and many have not. As with any other major trail/obstacle - do your research in the context of your rig and figure out if it’s in the cards for you.  Do understand though, that this is not an optional obstacle, so a bypass will not be an option once you’re out there.

Heart Attack Hill is another matter entirely.  This large, steep drop-off lies at the end of the trail as it connects down into the canyon.  Special care must be taken in choosing a line down, and careful braking and momentum control is crucial for ensuring that you make it all the way down with the shiny side up.  We won’t provide any more guidance than that here as this again falls under the “do your research” category, but there are a number of great videos out there from creators who have run this trail, and they provide an excellent opportunity to learn vicariously.

All that said, Pinyon Mountain is definitely a trail you should take on if able.  We certainly don’t want to scare you away from it.  Like anything worth doing, it just takes the right amount of preparation.  We promise it will definitely be worth the drive.

To get a better picture of the challenges this trail has to offer, we recommend starting with this video from Brad and the crew at TrailRecon.