Hello Tom, Right now, as the current situation stands the USFS parking lot is only accessable by four wheel drive from the east or the west. In the past at various times you could get to it with two wheel drive but I have discussed in other post in this thread why that changed. People who go around the Bowen Ranch take the road that cuts off to the right, just a couple hundred yards or so before the ranch, and then you follow it for aprox 2.3 miles taking every left hand turn which will bring you to the parking area of the Freedom Trail. The point of the disussion in this thread is that for a long time there have been broken and shot out window problems at this spot and elsewhere so I think you will realise that no one can say your vehicle will be safe out there given the kinds of incidents that have been going on. I've discussed other information in this thread about ideas of how this situation could possibly be addressed and remedied. So its a case of you either pay the Bowen Ranch owner's " protection money " or you may suffer the consequences of choosing to go around the Bowen Ranch and park on other public lands out there.
I talked not too long ago to a man who used to use the Bowen Ranch for access. He had a dispute with Mike Castro about his fee and then he told Mike Castro that he was just going to go around the Bowen Ranch to the USFS parking area ( big mistake on his part ) and that he did not have to pay Mike. He did this and when he got back to his vehicle from his DCHS visit in the evening he found his window had been broken. This is par for the course about what has gone on out there.