Corral Canyon Wednesday Oct 29th

Hoping to check out Corral Canyon this week, mainly the Espinosa Trail, Gunslinger, and Bronco Flats.

I would like to go up to the Los Pinos Lookout tower, continuing on to the Espinosa Loop and Corte Madera Road, then on to Gunslinger and Bronco Flats, back to Skye Valley and Los Pinos Road, ultimately ending back where we started from at the 4 Corners. I’m open to route suggestions en route from those who know the area and trails better; just looking to get out and have some fun during the week.

Meet at the 4 Corners parking lot at 09:30, hoping to get going before 10:00

If anyone's interested, let me know.

 

Hi Joel & welcome to TW since you're kind of a newb.... If I were you, I'd post this thread in the socal/san diego region for more active responses...

Corral canyon huh.. been there quite a few times, how about you ?? Have you been before or no ?? Reason I ask is if you haven't been there before & the choice of trails you mentioned maybe we can advise/suggest a few things to make sure you don't get into any trouble, for example, GunSlinger is an easy trail but its just a short "portal" trail that doesn't really end, it just kinda dumps you off into some single black diamond rated trails (Bronco Flats/Sidewinder & God forbid Bronco peak connector (dbl black diamond) For any of these trails you need some armor (slides & skids) Or I promise you'll regret it, if you've been a few times or really know your skill level & know your trucks ability disregard my post...

EDIT: Ok just saw you have slides & skids great start...

 

Oh, also the Espinosa/Corte Madera access/loop/etc: goes nowhere because its gated, no access, but its been this way for years now, You CAN do the TDS loop (Tierra Del Sol) which starts & ends exactly where you mentioned (Four Corners)

 

Thanks for the advice. I was pretty sure I did post it in the Southern California section, did I not? It seems like that would be common sense to me. Unless of course there's a subset of the Southern California section that you're referring to. If that's the case, I have to ask...why? Because that seems unnecessarily difficult. Being a "newb" doesn't make some one an idiot, or at least it shouldn't.

I haven't been out to Corral Canyon, I'm still new to the San Diego region. But I know what I and my truck are capable of. This is more of an exploratory run, done in conjunction with another club here in San Diego. Just trying to get as many different people involved as possible, the more the merrier...usually.

As far as the Espinosa loop, I think the Tierra Del Sol loop you are referring to might be what myself and some others I have spoken to call Espinosa. But if you could provide clarification on which is which, that would be great. Thanks again for your help.

 

Actually you did post in the right subforum, what I should've said was to go to the San Diego BS thread, maybe for an intro & what you have planned, it would've put you right in the heart of San Diego membership, as for myself, I'm all over this forum with topics, but you'd be surprised how many local guys go no further than the SD BS thread, we get a fair amount of L.A. members & some members from Az also make the drive to do some runs as well, now on to the important stuff... & no, Espinosa/Corte Madera trails are their own although they all connect/cross each other in 2 spots I know of & both are at the begining & end of the TDS loop which begins at the bottom of the canyon & basically runs back up the center of canyon until you reach what I believe is where you are refering to as the Espinosa/Corte Madera. Meaning when you come up out of canyon off the TDS, if you turn left it'll put you right where you're talking about on the Esoinosa trail but the problem there is it doesn't go all the way thru to make this a loop because of the locked gates on both ends of the Espinosa/Corte Madera..

If you turn right, it takes you up the hill to Los Pinos~ lookout tower

The TDS trail was cut years ago by the famous Tierra Del Sol jeep club...

 

This video Erik did is about some of what you mentioned :

Gunslinger/Bronco Flats/Sidewinder in that order & you just need to be careful about which trail you take because a few of them are commital & once you start down them you're in it for better or worse cause you can't go back the way you came, like Bronco Peak for example is a single black that technically is about as much as most the people I know can handle & it's real easy from there to fuck up & make a turn into the meat grinder like Bronco Peak Connector, 1A, & 3A & unless you've trailered a designated rig to do those trails it'll eat your truck alive, now I know you don't have any of this planned , just giving you a heads up, theres alot of diversity in this park...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=...&feature=player_detailpage&v=-zdjWfDvU8E#t=73

 

Yeah, I understand where you're talking about now. The route I'm planing does not include the TDS loop, it is Corte Madera and Espinosa. The topo map I took my information from does show those locked gates on there (tough to see on Google Earth), but according to the Forest Service website, as of now all those roads are open. Provided the Forest Service in San Diego works like they do in the rest of the country, I'm taking this to mean the gates are also open.

I also understand that Gunslinger is really just used as a shuttle trail. My plan (and it's just tentative since I'm mostly going to have fun and do some exploring) would be to throw in Gunslinger and Bronco Flats in an effort to up the fun factor. Forest roads get boring after awhile. I also understand the layout of the other trails in this area, and their particular ratings. There's enough YouTube videos out there that makes that pretty clear. There's also plenty of resources outlining the routes of each trail. I'm also pretty sure most runs out there are marked and labeled, so provided I still remember how to read and understand English and a map on Wednesday, I think I can manage to stay on the right trail.

As far as being posted in the correct section, I feel like the organization of this particular subsection is shoddy at best. Other forums that I participate in have dedicated sections in the regional subsection just for planning and leading trail runs. I didn't see that here, maybe I missed it? I think as far as organization and dissemination of information, that would work the best. But that's just a "newb" talking.

 

Fair enough, our runs usually go like this... Since we have the San Diego BS thread local members congregate there for shootin' the shit more or less, & catching up on latest topics/ MODS/ & trail runs, someone will suggest it & if theres enough people interested in doing it a thread will be started with the usual time/place/ types of difficulty level, etc: I can't speak for the rest of the country on how USDF policy is implemented but around here in San Diego County decisions made in regards to areas that are open or closed is solely up to the head ranger in charge of our district, & they can open or close these areas on a whim,,, As far as trail markings go dont count on having them theres plenty of markings/directions on the fold out map but very few markings/directions on the trails themselves...