Green Valley Horse Camp Is a Cuyamaca Rancho Gem

I absolutely and thoroughly enjoy riding my wild mustang Cricket up in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. The trails are wonderful, although rocky in places, and the numerous miles of unexplored territory will keep Cricket and me in a state of wonder for some time to come.

Cuyamaca offers few choices for horseback riders in the way of camping and even parking. Driving all that distance with a trailer in tow, one must be certain there is actually a place that you can park your rig and maneuver past any obstacles. 

Los Vaqueros group camp is wonderful; however, it is strictly a group camp. What that means is that you have to reserve and pay for the entire camp for the duration of any visit. It is open seasonally (mid-May to mid-September) and I personally cannot afford to pay $550 a night to camp with my horse. I do go with groups at different times during the open season so the cost is shared. I’ll tell you more about Los Vaqueros in the future. 

We horse people did receive good news last September, however, with the opening of the park’s Green Valley Falls Horse Camp. This camp is an individual/family camp, so you can reserve one site at $35 per night, much better than $550! Each campsite comes with two corrals, and up to eight people can stay at each site. Restrooms, pay showers, water for horses and a manure dump are all included in your camp experience, so you and your horse be quite comfortable during your stay. 

Most of the sites are on the small size and you have to back into each one, so practice backing your rig before you go. There are two ADA-appropriate sites as well as the 12 other camping sites for a total of 14 sites. All state park camps are reserved via ReserveAmerica.com and there is an additional $8 booking fee for each reservation.

Besides the non-refundable fee if you cancel your reservation, you may lose part of your total fee, so be certain you intend to keep your reservations, or don’t mind losing a bit of cash if you do have to cancel (check their website for details). Besides wonderful riding Green Valley Falls is just a short hike away—across the camp from the equine camping sites—and an incredible sight to see! The water is really cold, but feels great as you sit on the rocks beside the water, basking in the sun and soaking your feet.

My feet started to turn blue so I had to take them out to warm them in the sun. It was so peaceful with just the sound of rushing water and very few people around the falls. We spent afternoons between rides at the falls while the horses rested in comfy corrals.

Riding out of Green Valley Camp there are two ways you can go once you leave the pavement. Out the Arroyo Seco Fire Road or out on the West Side Trail, you will have quite different experiences and views of the terrain. 

The Arroyo Seco Fire Road is a wide dirt road that leads you up west into the park. There are no trees for shade along this particular fire road, but there are few rocks for your horse to walk on, which is really nice. The rains have rutted it out, which is not typically an issue for equines, but if your horse is worried about trenches this could be a great spot to get some practice in. The terrain to the west and the south of the park is chaparral and hard-pack sand and none of the trails were very steep. 

Going out of camp on the West Side Trail takes you north through the trees and water. At the fork in the trail you can head up to the West Mesa Trail or down to the East Side Trail. On this visit we chose to ride to the East Side Trail, under state Route 79, then headed south on the East Side Trail. We came back to 79, which we then had to cross to get to the South Boundary Trail, which is actually a fire road.

We followed the rocky South Boundary Trail to the Sweetwater Trail, which is a single-track soft trail and we intended to get to the Blue Ribbon Trail from there but were cut off by a giant tree that had fallen, blocking the trail. We turned around, retracing our footsteps and picked up the Blue Ribbon Trail on the other side and headed down to Merigan. 

Merigan is an area that is available on the south end of the park to park your rig and ride to get to the Cuyamaca trails. There is an $8 fee now for parking at Merigan (it used to be free) and there is usually a portable toilet for your use there. No other amenities exist at Merigan, but it is a pull-through design so it’s easy to navigate.

It is located off of Japatul Valley Road, off Interstate 8 and state Route 79, about 1/2 mile from the Japatul Valley Road exit.