"I Parked at Dripping Springs Campground to ascend the Dripping Springs Trail. I had read reports previously where it is generally split between "a clear trail all the way to the summit" and "the trail is overgrown near the top". At about 3.5 miles up, I crossed paths with the only other hiker on the day. He had mentioned that the trail is overgrown near the top and that it is a waste of time. I considered myself warned, but kept going anyway. Near the Palomar-Magee Trail junction, I came across a tricky section of trail where it was easy to make a wrong turn. I chose correctly and continued on a clear trail all the way to the summit use trail and on to the top. I even climbed the summit boulder to make it official. My guess is that the earlier mentioned hiker and the many others who said the trail was overgrown probably made a wrong turn at some point. Therefore, I feel fortunate to be telling a success story today! " — MikeTeeples • Dec 12, 2021

"Agua Tibia Mountain(4,779') is located in northern San Diego county in the Palomar / Agua Tibia Range, within the borders of the Cleveland National Forest. From the I-15 Fwy at Hwy 79 South exit, it's ~10.4-mile drive to trail head parking at Dripping Springs Campground. Vail Lake recreation area is near Dripping Springs Campground, and is visible from the trail to Dripping Springs and Agua Tibia Mountain. In the summer of 1989, the Vail Lake fire consumed almost 16,000 acres of chaparral in the Agua Tibia range, including 6,800 acres in the Agua Tibia Wilderness. Vegetation along Dripping Springs Trail, including California Sycamore, tall manzanita, Live Oak and Cottonwood that shaded the trail were lost to the fire. Regrowth along the trail has been vigorous; from the trail-head at 1,625' up to 4,000' I encountered scrub oak, red shank, flowering chamise and ceanothus which encroach the trail. The red shank makes off trail hiking near impossible, fortunately DS trail is well maintained and switchbacks are relatively short. The low vegetation makes the views over the wilderness easier to take in and photograph. Area water source Arroyo Seco Creek and it's tributary canyons were..." — BradStemm • Apr 15, 2016

"This was an HPS hike led by Dave Comerzan. The trail from Dripping Springs campground is lovely--nice and clear--all the way to the turn-off for the Agua Tibia summit. The short trail to the summit, though, is a brushy mess. Wear gloves, long pants and long sleeves and tough it out. Although our hiking day's weather started out well, the cloud cover was quite low, and there was lots of dew along the way, so we were all wet from the knees down at the turn-off. The short jaunt to the summit left us soaking wet all over. Since it was cold, wet and cloudy, with no chance that the sun would pop out and warm us up, we (wisely) aborted a planned continuation to Eagle Crag, which would have been miserable and potentially dangerous. Since the hike turned out to be 16 miles rather than the planned 26 miles, I hopped in my car, drove an hour to Palomar State Park, and hiked up to Boucher Hill. After a long drive from L.A. in heavy traffic, I wanted to get at least one HPS peak today!" — HikerMark • Apr 25, 2015