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I went shooting last weekend with Hanie, my sister Julie, and her boyfriend Mike. We went shooting at a place that Mike was very familiar with, Orosco Ridge. As opposed to an indoor shooting range, Orosco Ridge is basically an open area where you can freely fire guns in the Cleveland National Forest. There are various spots and ridges where you can pull over and shoot. There are no paved roads. It is basically mother nature, you, and some guns. Set on the outskirts of Ramona, Orosco Ridge overlooks the very picturesque Pamo Valley, which although partially scorched by the recent Witch Fire, still looked breathtaking after the recent rains. You will need a National Forest Adventure Pass to enter the Orosco Ridge area. However, there is no ranger station or physically manned booth that checks for the pass.

We went late afternoon and there were only a few people in the area. I don’t know if that is how it is all the time or we just got lucky. The area feels very remote and you feel like you are the only ones shooting. There isn’t that unsettling claustrophobia that you feel at indoor ranges, where strangers are shooting literally right next to you. We arrived at one of the many ridge locations, just as two relatively young guys were finishing up shooting. They left in a Nissan Sentra, which we all found both surprising and impressive, since the road to get there is rather uneven, unpaved, and peppered with rocks. We probably had a much easier and fun time getting there in a truck.

We all shot 2 different guns: a .45 revolver and a pump action shotgun.

The .45 is heavy, massive, and incredibly loud. The bullets are huge, dwarfing the more common 9mm or .22. The sound is also deafening. It is distinctly louder than other handguns. Where most handguns have a popping sound, the .45 is more of a thunderous boom. You can feel it in your chest. Mike brought out a bowling pin for us to shoot at. The bowling pin is surprisingly dense and shatter resistant.

The shotgun was a blast, no pun intended. It was surprisingly light and quieter than the .45. We shot clay targets, which is both extremely fun and challenging. I think I hit 10 or 15 percent of my targets.

Regardless, I had a lot of fun, as did everyone else. After an hour or so, we picked up all our spent shotgun shells and headed out of the area as the sun was setting. It was a fun time.