I've been hiking the north San Diego county area lately (many forgettable peaks), but this one might be of interest to some people.
Wild Horse Peak is on the Lower Peaks list, in the Agua Tibia Wilderness about 10 miles east of Temecula off highway 79. The trailhead starts at the back of Dripping Springs Campground. Researching this hike, I discovered how infrequently it is visited. There were only three entries on Peakbagger.com over the last 11 years, zero on Summitpost.org. I counted the entries in the summit register back to 1999 and the average was about 3 parties a year. A lonely peak.
The other twist with this peak is that there is no use trail to the summit, just about a half mile of serious bushwhacking. If you like it rough (you know who you are), you might like this hike. Fun!
Wild horse (art) on highway 79
Wild Horse Trail junction
Nice trail
Fall colors
Misuse of belay gloves for bushwhacking!
The path up the ridge
Approaching Wild Horse Peak, still have some bushes to whack
Vail Lake from the summit, hazy from low clouds
Horses jumping highway 79 on the way back
Don't know if I can get Wild Horse out of my clothes
Full report:
http://ironhiker.blogspot.com/2013/11/w ... -peak.html
Wild Horse Peak 11/15/2013
- Uncle Rico
- Posts: 1439
- Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:48 pm
Nice teke. Looks like you could have used Taco's machete.