Imperial Valley press., 1919-06-11
LURE Of LACUNA.
CAMPING SPOT
IS DESCRIBED
s. ". O. johnson

s. ". Q. johnson
imperial Valley people may not
know {. but there is = SPOT between
here and san Diego that, according u
the best authorities, is the l,op t
mountain resort south of the IcEa-
chepi.
l.. a. Ba1r,t, jbe assistant forester
for the states Of California and j'aa,
says that foG.VS teen YeaT5 ago h. c-u2
aeloss lmrclial valley and Es,st c.
p-Cr.i t4eee mouu.air2. lie was
sGu>l, with tho idC- tEat The laGuna
alea W.u.G make Il .slle1jlI cgoi -
sort for t3e peo0lo Of the valley.
LIVER since. h haS pushed the De ei-
ofment Of The place with this END N
view. Three wears ago n induced
the United States Forestry DcpolJ-
ment 10 tegin the building of fine
automobile road from The Descanso
r. I'D to the top Of Laglma mountain.
This road We completed last Eear 1t
cost Ct $4,000, and the region Is
now fitted up a. a splendid recle2-
tionll area.
Iacuna Mountain park is really 4
big table land about ! by ) mics III
area. 1t is q part Of the forest ril-
meval, place in which beautiful omen
meadows are interSpcrsed with RIDGES
covered with pine, oak and other for-
dst trees There are several small
brooks Of cool water, and the whole
auDcarance is that of some great
park. The oak and pine trees are
among the largest in Southern Cali
fornia. Wild flowers are everywhere.
In q recent visit forty different va
Il Shoot
inc is not allowed, consequently there
are large number of wild birds Of
many varieties, squirrels and rabbits.
At night the covotes can be heard
from the neighhoring mountains, an
occasional deer Is seen and there arc
rumors Of Panthers.
Seldom does one feel as completely
AWAY from civilization rs after get
tiag ittle away from the antonio
bile road Tie eround IS covered with
iiue needles and ouk leaves, which
make splendid beds for carpe.5.
/ There are SIX public camping
! OF ounds and any enc can camp there
+ for any length cf time without
charge. Ii addition, If one wishes
to lease a small lot upon which TO put
up a shspE or cottage ha can do this
at reasonable cost.
Tae whole table land averages 5000
feet high. II might be expected thaz
one from the Imperial Valley wuuld
suffer fram thG eod nights "ad morn
ings. On the contrary, althou"h u
is cool enough to slcen under a cou-
pie of blankets, the ar is 50 balny
,lat or" does not feel any chill
y. f. Harbison. direetgr of Soc'ey
Center, camped FOR some weeks in
1889 on I4euna mountain. and says
that from Monument Peak, which Is
, C321 feet hgh, he has many times
seen Catalina Island, the Guif of Low
cr California, and ether far distant
POINTS in Southern California. Monu-
ment Peak stands en- the very edge Of
/ the table land and one can look down
q sheer 1860 feet to Imperial Valley
sand beneath.
Last year Iagu0a was open for the
tiUs5 time and several htui.ed psoplc
visited and campcd there.
Forester 8@1et tells US that he is
very much disappointed because I'M
pcrial Valley people are falling 10
take advantage Of this wonderful re-
sort He says that people from San
Diego ard other coast cities are al
most the oniV ones visiting the noun
tain. I.aguna is only ninety miles
from El Centre. The roads are in
( excellent condition all the way and it
takes but little longer tc reach than
Moreno Dam.
1t is icpcd that Farm Bureau mem
bols who eXpe1t to 20 Cut Of tn" Val
icy this sumner VIII visit Lagura
and Sc for Themselves this wonderful
forest located so near, end So acccs-
sihle For anVcna who wants the real
forest, this Is the place to &c. Take
the Descanso road where it branches
to the right just before reaching
Campo.