Discover Wrightwood: Events, Nature, and Local History

Wrightwood offers a variety of highlights to shape your trip planning: Mountaineer Days, trails along the Blue Ridge Trail, lessons at Mountain High, and insights into local history. When looking for a hotel in Wrightwood, it may help to first decide which of these themes you want your trip to focus on.

Events and Local Flavors

Mountaineer Days is an annual Wrightwood tradition that celebrates the town’s heritage and community. The program includes historic games, pony rides, a petting zoo, axe-throwing competitions, and a parade. Dates and programming may vary from year to year. So if you want to plan your trip around the festival, check the dates and announced activities in advance.

At the Chili Cook-Off & Salsa Contest, visitors can sample a variety of chili and salsa creations and vote for their favorites. This combines tasting with a competition: you can discover different creations while also voting on the entries.

Taste of the Village offers a culinary tasting experience in Wrightwood, featuring a selection of local flavors. Dates and participating vendors may vary from year to year. The events differ in focus: the chili and salsa competition includes voting and competition as part of the experience, while Taste of the Village focuses on sampling local flavors. Check the dates for each event and, for Taste of the Village, the participating vendors before making an event a fixed part of your trip plans.

Hiking the Blue Ridge Trail

The Blue Ridge Trailhead near Wrightwood provides access to the Blue Ridge Trail. It climbs steeply for more than two miles and meets the Pacific Crest Trail. Take the described climb into account when planning. As access and trail conditions may change due to closures, check the current trail status before your hike.

The Blue Ridge Trail follows a scenic, mostly shaded route through oak and pine forests. The upper section offers expansive views of the San Gabriel Mountains. The hike thus combines forest sections with a view from higher ground; both are part of the trail’s character.

Lessons at Mountain High

Mountain High offers children’s, adult, and private lessons in Wrightwood. These are different types of lessons: children’s and adult lessons differ by audience, while private lessons differ by format. Mountain High Resort is located at 24510 California 2 in Wrightwood.

Wrightwood’s Local History

The Wrightwood Museum presents local history through artifacts and memorabilia collected, preserved, displayed, and interpreted by the Wrightwood Historical Society. Free museum visits are offered; donations are accepted. Check current visitor information before your visit.

The history of the Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church building can also be traced through its former uses: it originally served as accommodation for Wright Ranch workers, and later as a community hall and schoolhouse. This sequence shows three different functions of the building—accommodation, community use, and education.

Another historical detail can be found among the homes along Mountain View and Apple Streets: trees still stand on a former apple orchard. This small glimpse of the townscape adds to the stories that can be encountered at the museum and in historic buildings.

Discover more destinations: Big Bear Lake, Parker Dam, Twentynine Palms, Upland, Phelan, Pioneertown, Fawnskin, Searles Valley.

For the broader travel overview: San Bernardino.