Agua Tibia Wilderness 2/16

[Sally]

On Tuesday, Ellen (who, in a voicemail to me last week, identified herself as the "Skyline Seductress") and I discussed the feasability of doing Skyline on Wednesday. After agreeing that it wasn't such a great idea with weather coming in, I went to plan B and packed my bag for a solo trek into the Agua Tibia Wilderness.

When my alarm went off at 6:00 the next morning I could hear the rain dripping from the eaves and said "screw it" and went back to sleep. When I got up a while later I fixed a cup of coffee and checked the weather for the Agua Tibia Wilderness for the umpteenth time. The hourly forecast ranged from 30% to 60% chance of showers through the day. Hmmmm... Just when I was on my 2nd cup a beam of sunlight came through, and encouraged by the caffein buzz, put my boots on, threw my stuff in the car and was on my way to the trailhead.

The trailhead parking is just outside the pretty little Dripping Springs Campground, about 10 minutes out of Temecula. I walked through the campground, noting there was just one tent in the whole place, and forded the Arroyo Seco Creek on logs and rocks. At the fork I took the Dripping Springs Trail. The clouds were spritzing me intermittantly with showers. and occaisionally the sun broke through. The hills were dotted with large shrubs with oak-like leaves and covered in tiny white flowers. Soon Vail Lake came into view, as did one of the last large citrus orchards in the area. As I went up it got damper and cloudier.

You may be wondering why I was out there in the rain, but this particuler mountain can be at its best in this kind of weather. A foggy mist gets swept by the wind through the canyons at the higher elevations and this is what makes going out on a day like this special. When I got near 4,000 ft I was in the cloud and now it wasn't so much about the distant view but more about being envelopped in mist. At 4,170 ft I made it to the first pine trees on the trail and stopped for lunch. It was cold, windy and there was a light rain falling and there was no visibility. I know that sounds miserable, but actually it was beautiful.

After lunch I headed back down. By now it was raining steadily. I had Goretex pants and jacket, but I left my Gortex boots at home in favor of my lighter Merrells. I was toasty dry all over except for my feet. When I made it back to the campground I was greeted by the campers. It was hard convincing them that I had a great time, rain and all! I idid 12 1/2 miles total and gained about 2,700 ft.

Stay tuned for some pics and hopefully a couple of movies!

[Andy]

Glad you had a good hike up there Sally and I know what you mean about hiking in the rain in a place like that. It beats the norm of relentless sun and heat one usually deals with up there. Its been a while since I've been very far up that trail and was wondering what the condition was? Years ago the whole wilderness suffered from from severe trail maintenance neglect and had earned the the nickname "Dripping Shins"

[phydeux]

Not sure if its the same place you were, but portions of the Agua Tiba Wilderness were subjected to some pretty devistating fires a few years ago. There used to be some incredible stands of old manzanita 'trees' back there that burned down (the manzanita shrubs were wwaayyy overgrown as a result of no fires sweeping through the area). Always wondered if they have grown back - might have to check em out.

[Ellen]

Howdy Sister Sally

NICE!!! I should have joined you

Get out the snowshoes girlfriend -- woo hoo!!!

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Sally]

Hi Andy, yep, hiking in the rain is much more pleasant than doing that trail during the hot season. Besides, the rain makes the scents more intense and the colors are brighter (such as the dark red of the wet ribbonwood against a grey sky.) The trail was in great condition up to the pine trees, but when I was up there last year it was a little overgrown near the top of the ridge. "Dripping Shins"...sounds like they named it after Ellen, tee hee!

Hey phydeux, There is still a lot of evidence of the big fire. There are actually some grand manzanita survivors still hanging in there, and lots of newer manzanita. Check out my pics when I post 'em, there is a nice shot of a huge survivor. Sadly, there is another ancient live specimen along the trail that some idiot defiled with graffatti on its trunk.

Howdy Ellen, sure missed you! The pants you gave me kept me nice and dry - thanks again. Also, they are less noisy than my old rain pants. My snowshoes are revving up! Yippee!

Here's the pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/sallymorle ... directlink

I made some movies too, but need a little help to simplify for sharing. Any comments appreciated.

[Andy]

Good stuff Sally, thanks again for the report and pics. It looks great! The plant you are looking to identify...from what I can see looks like a Ceanothus or Wild Lilac. You'd know it by a strong sweet, almost overpowering scent. I remember hiking sections of the PCT through San Diego county when those guys were all in bloom and wow!

[Sally]

Thanks, Andy. It drives me nuts when I don't know the name of an interesting plant. Now that you mention it, it does look like lilac, and it definitely has that sweet, pungent scent. I just didn't realize lilac came in white, too. I've seen lots of lavender-blue lilac on the Dripping Springs trail later in the season.