Warner’s ranch is a vast meadow, mostly level, but sloping from northeast to southwest, with rolling hills and sunken valleys around its eastern edge.  A chain of mountains, steep and timber laden, almost encircles the ranch.  For a boundary mark on the northeastern side of the ranch, are steep, rocky and forbidding looking mountains.  Beyond them, the desert.  The ranch comprises some 57,000 acres, nearly all valley land.  It is well watered, filled with lakes, springs, meadows and running streams, all draining to its lowest point, and forming the head waters of the San Luis Rey River.

You follow the road by which you enter the ranch, to the left, and in a few miles’ travel you bring up at Warner’s Hot Springs, a resort famed for many years for the curative properties of its waters.  The springs are now in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Stanford, and are kept in an admirable manner, considering all of the difficulties they labor under.  The run from Los Angeles to the springs is about 140 miles, and can be made easily in a day.  Once there, the choice of many interesting trips is open to you.

Past Temecula.

After leaving Temecula, another road much frequented by the autoists is the right hand road by the Red Mountain grade to Fallbrook, either to Del Mar, by way of Oceanside, or into the Escondido Valley by way of Bonsal, Vista and San Marcos.  The third route, the center one between those I have described, leads to Pala.  With a party of five in a six-cylinder Franklin car, I went over the latter route on April 20th, 1911.  Every inch of the road was full of interest.  We passed through Pala, with its ancient mission of that name, and its horde of Indian inhabitants.  The children of the Indian school were having a recess, and they carried on just about in the same manner that so many “pale-faced” children would.  Leaving Pala, we followed the main road along the left bank of the San Luis Rey River—­where the San Diego Highway Commission is now doing work, which will, when finished, bring one to Warner’s ranch by an easy grade—­until we had gotten a few miles into the Pauma rancho.  We crossed the Pauma Creek, and some distance beyond it we left the river to our right, turned sharply to the left, and ran up to the base of Smith’s, or Palomar Mountain.  Then came the grade up the mountain.

If you are not stout-hearted, and haven’t a powerful machine, avoid this beautiful drive.  If you are not driving an air-cooled car, carry extra water with you.  You will need it before you reach the top.  The road is a narrow zigzag, making an ascent of 4000 feet in a distance of from ten to twelve miles of switch-backing around the face of a steep rock-ribbed mountain.  To add to its difficulties, the turns are so short that a long car is compelled to back up to negotiate them.  About an hour and a quarter is required to make the trip up the mountain.  We did all of it on low gear.  When the top is finally reached, the view of the surrounding country is simply beyond description.