Wrightwood Snow Play

Updated: 12/28/22 Original Post: 01/25/21

Since this was our girl’s first time experiencing snow, we wanted to find a less busy place for them to play.   Normally that means renting a cabin for some crazy expensive rate or playing in it right off the highway, which can be somewhat dangerous.  We didn’t want to worry about any of that, so we decided to drive up for some Wrightwood snow play.

Having had friends who had lived in the town in the past, we knew Wrightwood had many great little spots where we could take the girls to be away from the larger crowds off the highway and still not bother the locals.  As a result, we found a nice dead-end street with a large open space to play in for hours by ourselves!  The girls loved it. We loved it, and it was a perfect day in a not so perfect world.

See Our Montage Video Below

Wrightwood Snow Play Visiting Information

• GPS Coordinates:
  • 34.35139243778662, -117.60661427116449 (Open snow play area)
  • 34.343576172875736, -117.60620906026196 (Hill for sledding)
  • Be sure to download the map to use offline before heading out just in case there isn’t any cell phone reception in the area. 
• Price:
  • Free
• Parking:
  • For the open snow play area, parking was free. We recommend always checking the parking signs to make sure it is okay to park around the neighborhood. 
  • For the sledding area, we couldn’t figure out if it was on national forest lands so we decided to display our Adventure Pass just to be safe. 
  • Adventure Pass is required only on national forest lands: $5/day or $30/year. We purchased ours at Big 5. 
  • There was no one there to check the pass but we didn’t want to risk our car being towed while sledding. 
• Activities:
  • Sledding.
  • Make snowballs and snow angels.
  • Build a snowman.
• Time spent:
  • 2 ½ hours.
• Places to eat:
  • Mile High Pizza (5996 Cedar St, Wrightwood, CA 92397)
  • Grizzly Cafe (1455 CA-2, Wrightwood, CA 92397)
• Restrooms:
  • No but Wrightwood Market (1315 CA-2, Wrightwood, CA 92397) would be the closest place to a public restroom. We had brought our own portable toilet and @Suds2go portable handwash. 

Extra info

• What we observed:
  • Check here for live cam footage for current weather conditions: http://incidentcontrol.com/cam/townlive.htm
  • We prefer to check on Instagram to find recent photos/videos using Wrightwood hashtags and/or location tags for weather conditions. If we see any snow post, we comment or message a few people to ask if their visit was recent and more details of their location and snow condition of their post.
  • We took the back way up (CA-138 to CA-2) and it was snowing on our drive. We would have not been able to make it up to Wrightwood without our cable tire chains.   
  • Please be careful if it is snowing. Lots of cars were trying to drive to Wrightwood without chains and they were sliding on the roads. 
  • We now prefer to visit snow play areas a day or two after it has snowed. That way the roads have been cleared and we can still enjoy some powdered snow. 
  • The hill at the sledding area is a bit steep. 
  • The open play area is just a flat area for the kids to play. This area was away from the road traffic and crowds.
  • Our phone batteries drained so fast in the cold. We were glad we had our Sony camera to document our adventure. We suggest bringing an external phone charger if you go. 
  • Always have a set of snow chains in your car. 
  • We don’t recommend parking on the side of the road with kids. Best to park in a designated parking lot area or a legal pulloff. 
  • Make sure to pack extra food, water, blankets, cash and fill up your gas tank just in case you run into traffic or road closure.
  • We recommending finding a wide and open area to sled. Make sure it doesn’t end near a drop, creek or road and always stay away from rocks, trees, and poles.

things to bring

• Clothing:
  • Check the weather before you go. The weather can be changeable; layered clothing would be best. 
• What we packed:
  • Snow chains for the car, sunscreen, sunglasses, sled, snowball maker tool, external phone charger, Adventure pass, snow gear (beanie, jacket, pants, gloves, shoes), bag to put the wet clothes, extra clothes to change afterwards, carrot to make snowman, meal, fruits, veggies, and water.
• Ways to save money:
  • Pack your own food. Borrow snow gear and sled from friends or family.
• Pls pack in, pack out and leave no trace.

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See you again with more around California with kids.