Twin Springs / Old Baldy trailhead - vehicle clearance?

[slopvehicle]

I took my hatchback up these roads for the first time today, attempting to hike Tumala Mountain. On the way in we took Tumala Mountain Rd to NF-4613 to NF-4610. Though we dealt with potholes continuously along the route, when we were about 6 miles from the trailhead the road got too rutted for my car to reliably navigate and we decided to turn around.

Is this typical for the rest of the way up to the trailhead or is this just a result of our wet winter? I'm wondering if it's really more of a "high clearance 2WD" rated road, because I was the only passenger car up there today... everyone else was in a lifted pickup or jeep.

[RobFromRedland]

I went all the way up to the slide area a couple weeks ago, and it was worse than the last time I had been up there. 4610 was never a great road when you got a ways out on it, but it has degraded significantly in spots. Some spots are great, and then you'll run into potholes that you can swim in - or you'll run into water runoff trenches that require higher clearance. I did see a car at Lookout Springs last weekend, but they said it was REALLY tough going. The further you go, the worse the road gets.

If you want to hike Old Baldy, I'd suggest going to one of the access points on 4614.