Palomar Mountain

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Palomar Observatory

Palomar Mountain is a mountain in northern San Diego County, California, United States. It is most famous as being home to the Palomar Observatory. It is also the location of Palomar Mountain State Park, a California state park. There are campgrounds for vacationers, as well as a campground for local schoolchildren. The park averages 70,000 visitors annually. It is one of the highest peaks in San Diego County, at around 6,000 feet, although it is still dwarfed by the 11,000 foot San Bernardino Mountains a little ways north in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

South Grade Road, the stretch of San Diego County Route S6 going from California State Route 76 to the summit, is popular among sport bike riders and sports car drivers due to its challenging nature (over 20 hairpin turns over the distance of less than 7 miles) and slow traffic. At the base of Palomar Mountain on S6 is Oak Knoll Campground, formerly known as Palomar Gardens. Palomar Gardens was made somewhat famous by an earlier resident George Adamski. Adamski had an observatory at Palomar Gardens and photographed objects in the night sky that he claimed were UFOs. Adamski co-authored Flying Saucers Have Landed in 1953, about his alien encounter experiences. It is also home to the Palomar Outdoor School for 6th grade students in the San Diego Unified School District.

Additionally, there is a small pond at the top of the mountain that is one of the only places stocked with trout during the hot summer months. The limit for anglers is five fish, and is usually pretty easy to achieve with small spinners such as Mepp's or Roostertail, or the usual dough baits or night crawlers.