Arroyo Seco Camping
Merigan Ranch Staging Area offers more than just the three loops that I am introducing you to. Consider your map and you can put together a combination of the trips I have explained or extend these trips along the California Riding and Hiking trail. Using Arroyo Seco as a lunch break destination you can climb to the Airplane Ridge where the C.R.H.T. meets the West Mesa Trail you turn right and follow along the ridge until it begins to drop down to the Monument Trail. Before you do take a break in the Pine trees overlooking the whole world. On a clear day the view can be spectacular. The island to the northwest is San Clemente, to the south the Coronados, Mount Soledad above La Jolla, but Viejas Mtn. will be in the way for seeing Point Loma. This would be a great Place for a small cabin with lots of big windows. Look south and you can see Tecate Peak and then the Mountains above Valle de las Palmas in Mexico. To the east is Mt. Laguna on the horizon spanning East Mesa below and Stonewall guarding on the left or north. You can just imagine what a great rancho it must have been here in the years when the Santa Margarita had the lease from the Olvera family. The cattle kept the brush down and the grass looked like a golf course. Everything is way overgrown today, when it burns it will be hot. In the mid 90's the ridge burnt and sprouted all the new pines along the trail but the grass grew tall a nothing ate it, so it falls and dies to carpet itself and let only weeds grow.
To continue, as the East Mesa trail meets the Monument trail we will turn right and drop back down to the back of Green Valley Falls Campground, but before you do , ride a little farther on the East Mesa Trail and visit the site where the remains of a twelve cylinder airplane engine lie. This plane went down on Dec. 7 1922, Granny Martin remarked that it was hard to find the plane and took a few days to get to it, but that all the locals were there, and it took a rancher that knew the country to find the wreckage. Both of the passengers were killed. Be sure to visit the spot and find out who they were. To complete this loop as you reach the bottom of the Monument Trail stay to the right where you see spur trail going left, the first left takes you back to the Sweetwater parking area, which is another option, but this trip started at the Merigan parking. The other left spurs lead into Green Valley camping and they don't want horses in there unless you have an emergency and not the pit stop type. When you reach the Arroyo Seco Fire road, follow it to the C.R.H.T and return home to the parking area. If you catch a glimpse of some old rust off to the left in the arroyo behind Green Valley, it's the old dump from ages ago.
Arroyo Seco is one of two areas in the State Park where official horse camping is allowed in the remote parts of the park. The corrals were added in 1979, which I am proud to have had a part in along with a number of other riders from the Pine Valley Mt. Riders. There are three corrals about ten by ten, which can hold two combatable horses for a short time. There is a no grazing policy so you will need to bring your own feed, enough for two feedings. Pellet feeds work best, if you don't have a pack horse a small bag that holds enough for each feeding ( the leg from an old pair of Levi's with a draw string sewn into it, strong enough to hang one on each side of the saddle horn works great) will get the job done real easy. Water is available from an automatic type waterer they have installed and usually works. Check with the rangers when you get your permit to camp here. There is a small fee, they will tell you how much. They used to let the overnight rigs park at Green Valley, but they change their minds a lot so check with them. Another option is special permission from The Saddle Shop at the South End or Bernie Martin across from Thousand Trails. See the Appendix for details.
Camping with you a friend and your horses can be a very rewarding experience, but don't let it become to big a deal, just throw a few things on your animals and go. Arroyo Seco is a great place to start because of ease of access and the corrals; an overnight lets you try it without a whole lot of preparation. You can do it with a sack lunch for dinner and granola bars for breakfast and coffee in a thermos or get elaborate and carry a small backpacking stove for fresh coffee. Hot fresh coffee is great outdoors. Make the first trip easy and then you can go crazy, once you realize how easy it can be you will want more and with the horses the distances are shorter and the loads are lighter. As your desire for more grows there are some great books available and a group called the Back Country Horsemen who love the same thing and are very actively pursuing the same thing. For more information, look in the appendix under organizations.
I've spent years traveling the back country, but each time is like a new experience that I get all excited about even as I share this with you, there is so many possibilities. The hardest part is the horses, but it is easy and gets easier. Securing them so they don't run off is the most important part, and no doubt they will at some time or other, you may think they are your best pal, but don't count on it, just use a good system for holding them. This is why the corrals are such a convenience in the State Park, you can unsaddle them and let them stand overnight knowing they will be there in the morning, make sure you close the gate.
As we continue we will go more into camping in some latter chapter, but for now make this easy trip to Arroyo Seco and get hooked on how much fun it is.
The ride back to the Merigan Parking area is back down the California Riding and Hiking Trail to any of the three trails that drop to the Sweetwater Creek and then the Merigan Fire road. The first junction is the South Boundary Road to the Sweetwater, to the MFD, or you can use the Saddleback to the Secret Meadow and junction with the MFD, or the long way is down the Dead horse trail to the MFD and home. All are good routes and will get you home safe.
Be sure to water the horses at the Sweetwater Creek, if there was no water at Arroyo, it won't be the end of the world for them to wait for water in the morning, but take off their bridles and let them get a good drink. As we talked about in Equipment for the trail a good string halter under the bridle makes this an easy task. Horses take on too much air when they have to drink around a bit. Don't let them drink too much when they are hot, they may tie up. Not a pleasant experience.
Please camp light and clean up after yourself and your horse, especially in the corral. Throw their manure into the bushes anyway you can get it there. We have enough people out there who don't want us using the wilderness, don't give them something to complain about, because they will.
A good time to make this trip is in the spring when every this is in bloom, but the summer and the fall are very nice times as well. Winter is good too, but can be a little cold and sometimes wet, the best is to use the backcountry during the week when everyone else is working, you are sure to have the campgrounds to yourself, and everything else too. Arroyo Seco is only about a two-hour ride away from the south end, which during daylight savings hours makes this a fun and easy afternoon ride, and a return in the morning. As the world gets more crowded you can still have it the way you want, but you need to be a little creative and work around the main flows of people that do everything on weekends.
