Temecula
January 27th – 29th, 2023 (2 nights)
Temecula is a wine and olive tree growing region about an hour northeast of San Diego. It gets really hot here in the summer, but is the perfect winter location to hike and go on wine and olive oil tasting tours. It’s a great destination for a long weekend coming from Los Angeles or San Diego. We made our trip plans last minute, so we couldn’t make an online reservation at Dripping Springs Campground (about a 20 minute drive from Old Town Temecula); reservations for the campsites are blocked four days before each date. However, we decided we would risk it and show up before noon on Friday and see if we could get a spot. The process of getting a campsite in person is easy. Just drive into the campground and find an open campsite and park. We really wanted campsite #10 (a normally first come first served campsite anyway) because it is at the farthest end of the campground right near the hiking trails. We arrived at Dripping Springs Campground around 11:30 a.m. after a short drive from Carlsbad and drove straight back to campsite #10. It turned out to be open and we parked! After parking, campers have thirty minutes to get a pay envelope and fill out their vehicle information and campsite number, put money (cash or check) in the envelope ($15/night for trailers), and deposit the envelope in the iron ranger drop box (located next to the host trailer at the campground entrance).
After setting up our Scamp 13’ and having lunch, we drove to Old Town Temecula to explore. Along the way, we stopped off at the Olive Plantation, a family owned and run small olive oil farm. The sign said tours are available on weekends, but, being a Friday, we were lucky when the owner saw us in the driveway and opened the gate! She gave us a private tour and tasting. Of course, they also sell olive oil, and we purchased a $25 bottle of one of their first pressings. Although small, this olive oil farm has won global awards for the quality of their oil. After our tour, we continued toward Old Temecula. Many of the buildings here went up around 1883, when the Southern California Railroad brought travelers and commerce to the Temecula Valley. Some of these old structures still stand, but have been converted to shops, restaurants, and bars. We strolled down the main street of Old Town and also walked up and down the side streets. There are antique shops, places to eat, an olive oil tasting room (Temecula Olive Oil Company), and even a community theater. We spent a couple of hours wandering and then were ready to retreat to the quiet solitude of Dripping Springs Campground to relax.
Dripping Springs Campground, located in the Cleveland National Forest, is a small but very beautiful campground run by the US Forest Service / USDA (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture). Sitting in a canyon nestled between mountains and adjacent to the Agua Tibia Wilderness, the campground has a creek that runs alongside and a number of very popular hiking and horseback riding trails. This is also the home of the two inch arroyo toad (a species of toad endemic to California and Baja California, Mexico) whose picture is featured on a sign next to the creek. The campground has 34 single campsites, 9 equestrian sites (although we saw tent campers using these sites), 2 horse corrals, potable water, and vault toilets. The best sites are the ones on the farthest end, closest to the trailhead and creek (the host said if you can fit into it, including tent only sites, you can take it!). We really enjoyed the peacefulness of site #10, which is adjacent to the creek. We could only get Verizon cell reception at the entrance to the campground. We downloaded movies onto our laptop at home, so we were able to enjoy cinema in our Scamp in the evenings!
We scheduled an olive oil farm tour at the Temecula Olive Oil Company for Saturday; eight minutes south of our campsite in Aguanga. We also invited our friends Colleen and Perry (travelling from Canada and who happened to be staying at an RV park in the area for a couple of weeks). We met at the farm at 10 a.m. and had a really interesting tour which lasted until noon. The farm owners and tour leaders (a married couple) began their careers with extensive experience in the wine industry and worked in various roles for large corporations. They then switched their focus to olive oil and have worked their farm for the past twenty years. During the tour, we were given an inside look at what it takes to grow olive trees and mill olive oil, as well as told personal stories of the owners’ lives and how they came to establish the Temecula Olive Oil Company. We sampled over ten varieties of their oil and vinegars while listening to the farm and family’s history. With our bellies full of high quality olive oils and our minds full of olive jokes (yes, olive ‘em)…, we walked the grounds and saw some of their animals (including their pigs) before enjoying a great picnic lunch next to the magnificent olive grove.
We had two beautiful clear sunny January days during our Temecula visit, with rain approaching on Sunday. So, we did what any meandering Scamp nomad does when foul weather approaches: we cranked up our stabilizers, hitched up, and headed out!
