24-25 October 2023
Ranchita Bodega to Culp Valley
(14 miles, +1,900/-1,900 feet).

I finally had a chance to do a trip with my friend Derek, over at 100peaks.com!

He and I have gotten to know one another through our hiking blogs, and I was pretty excited to get a chance to do a deep dive on a beautiful part of the San Diego Tran-County Trail that he was interested in exploring in order to establish a new hiking loop that starts and ends at the Ranchita Bodega.

You might recognize the iconic Yeti statue from numerous pictures posted by PCT thru-hikers who stop in here for resupply.

We started with a road walk, but soon we were on back roads passing through the high desert. It is remarkably still quite full of blooms, probably due to Hurricane Hillary back in August.

We explored some springs in Culp Valley and then around the Paroli homesite.

We went off trail to make our way over to our campsite for the evening.

Unfortunately, the folks camped near us had a pretty big argument late that night. About politics, of course! I thought they were going to come to blows, but I think one of them passed out. Thank goodness!

The next morning we woke up early and headed towards the Wee Benchmark. It was a nice, easy climb with great views at the top.

We followed the California Hiking and Riding Trail from there until it crossed the road again, and then followed the Jasper Trail to close our loop.

Back at Ranchita Bodega I got to meet Mike who treated us to sodas while he and Derek talked about the challenges of running restaurants. It was super interesting listening to their crazy stories about dealing with bureaucracy and neighbors who can’t seem to mind their own business!

And then we were done. Derek treated me to a burger at his restaurant, Burger Bench, in Escondido and soon I was on the bus back home.

What a great trip!