Welcome from right down the road in Murrieta! I've done a little wheeling up behind the slalom course myself, and was just telling GHenderson about that spot. I used to live in Meadowbrook on the Perris side and was back there in my Honda civic all the time as a teenager, haha! I find it surprising that you were hassled by rangers back there. I know there is some BLM land but I didn't think any of it was wilderness or anything.
Anyway, hope to get out on some local trails with you sometime soon! I'm right off the 215 and Los Alamos, and love going back into the hills between Scott and Clinton Keith.