The High Road to High School

Fallbrook High School is 45 miles and a 90-minute bus ride away for students in this tiny mountain settlement in the northeast corner of San Diego County. There are about 150 families who live in the Palomar Mountain hamlet. Some students must trudge a mile through the snow to reach their bus stop. And that’s only the start of their sometimes treacherous, always lengthy, trip to school.

Bus No. 45 begins picking up students at 6:15 a.m. and makes a stop near the brilliant white dome of the Mount Palomar Observatory. One day in December, bus driver Don Hain eyed his course along the icy Crestline Road--up a gentle rise and around a small pickup truck that had slid against the roadside snowbank. He told his passengers to “Quickly get to the back of the van and sit over the drive wheels!”

But the added weight didn’t prevent the tires from spinning uselessly on the icy road. The van began to slide sideways, then backward down the road. One of Hain’s back-seat drivers yelled, “Put on the brakes!”

“They are on,” Hain said just before the bus came to a halt against the roadside. The excited students jumped out, while Hain began putting on tire chains. Even without delays, the Palomar Mountain-to-Fallbrook High route is one of the longest in the county. Problems in the winter are infrequent but are nevertheless expected. By the time these students reached school, they were 45 minutes behind schedule.

At the end of the school day, the students took the same seats they had in the morning--their favorites. Those who want to participate in after-school activities can either take a late bus or find someone to give them a ride.

“These mountain kids are like one big, happy family,” Hain said. “They do homework together on the bus, gossip, tease, sing songs. . . . They do have to spend a lot of time on this little bus together, so I tolerate a little rowdiness once in a while.” Hain makes two round trips up the mountain each school day for an average of nearly 3,000 miles a month. This is his fifth year on the route, and he says he will request it again. “I really like the morning drives. I’ve seen deer, bobcats and twice I spotted a mountain lion. In the fall the colors are gorgeous; in the winter I see the fresh snow before most people are even out of bed . . . and I know every curve in the road.”