Coalinga Mineral Springs

The trailhead is not actually hard to find, just not well documented/​reported. I was about to park at the entrance and take a faint trail across the stream; but good to be patient enough to drive a little bit further, over a flooded dirt road. Once I saw the bulletin board, everything went smoothly thereafter. The map box was empty. I was amazed that David D mentioned that someone put maps there sometimes. Based on his post time, I assume he visited there in April/​May, not too bad, but not as good as in December. BTW, I have never seen a picnic area as abandoned as this one. There must be a story behind the scene. Overall, it is not a scenic hike; but as a «National» freak and peakbagger, I bagged a peak on a National Recreational Trail.

A very hard to find place located in a recreation area that was in complete disarray.
Wow, I like when things are «off the beaten path» but this was more like «hey, need an idea for a location for a horror movie» or «is this where they would film a California version of True Detective?». Yikes, if someone who works for the bureau of land management reads this, please clean up this area since it has some potential.
This trailhead I was looking for, located in Coalinga Springs Park, leads up to Kreyenhagen Peak – a different kind of landscape I really wanted to see and hike through – supposedly there is a buried treasure up there and everything! The idea was to find a hike in a different area in some familiar mountains I see all the time driving up and down the 5. However, going into it, I knew it was going to be hard. All the directions online were just general and not specific. Coupled with the tons of signs along a hidden road which said «private property» and «no hunting», overgrown brush, and scenes of blighted old houses and junk strewn about it was really hard to find.
So, I’m going to describe how to get there for you. First, you want to add the location I added to your google maps and navigate there. What you are looking for is a road called Coalinga Mineral Springs Road and it is about 20 miles west of the city of Coalinga. You’re going to drive down this road for about 5 miles; riding past blighted houses, some active ranches (what are these people doing back here?), old junk (trucks, machinery, bathtubs), and some beehives. You’ll come to an area guarded by two blighted houses – drive a little past that and you’ll see the remains of what appears to be a former picnic area. There’s a bathroom (see pic) and lots of overgrowth. In the Northeast corner you’ll see a sign for the trailhead (again see pics). I took some hopefully useful pics for you. The trail itself is overgrown with mega-​amounts of bugs you’ll need to look out for (ticks especially). However, the area is really beautiful and worth it if you have the appropriate gear such as pants and DEET, or a flamethrower (JK). The peak is about 1.5 miles of hiking to an eventual elevation of around 3400 ft.
The main problem I have with the area is not nature’s fault (e.g. the heat, flora, and fauna). No, it’s the creeptastic houses and overgrowth – I mean, look at the pic of the men’s room I posted. In addition, I didn’t even mention the guy who was camping out near one of the blighted houses. What, exactly, is he doing there? I know people hunt around there but really the campground/​picnic area was in shambles so I don’t know (we did find some spent shotgun shells). The odd thing is that someone is putting printed out maps in the container near the trailhead so someone must know about this place and want people to hike it – who knows, maybe they want only the most stalwart hikers to work at finding it!