Trail Running SD: Santa Margarita (Hidden) Trail - Fallbrook

Difficulty: 2/5 Moderate
Elevation Gain/Loss:700'/700'
Peak Elevation: 900

'

Address: Santa Margarita Preserve (should come up in Google Maps)
               37385 De Luz Rd, Fallbrook ,CA 92028

Directions: Take the 15 North exit Mission Rd. take a left then right onto E. Mission Rd. keep going for about 5 miles then take a right on N. Pico Ave. This road goes down a grade and turns into a narrow winding 2-lane road. There's a split, stay left onto De Luz Rd. where you will immediately take a right into a dirt parking lot where you will enter the Santa Margarita Preserve. Park hours are from 8:00-4:30 I believe.

This trail is a combination of deep and moderate sand along the creekside, to regular socal trail firmness. In other words, you'd be okay with minimalist trail shoes as there are not too much boulders or rocks that you have to climb on or run down. Enter at the western entrance where the bulletin board is and continue running for about 0.5 miles until you are forced to cross the creek.

The creek in January 2016 was running full because of recent rains but I'm sure it can vary during drier seasons. Cross the creek and make your way running back south until you see what looks like a closed off trail. This is the beginning of the trail that goes up about 700' to the power line pole. It's not too well maintained but you can tell that people have made an effort to make somewhat of a discernible trail. My advice is to wear calf sleeves or running pants so you don't get as scraped up as I did. Also, this trail, as it stands now, is only recommended if you are comfortable with forging through brush and being able to find your way back down. It is easy for beginner's to get lost, even though it's not that far up, it's not a family friendly trail I would say as it is kind of "hidden". You basically have to work to find where the trail(s) is(are).

Once you get up about 0.5 miles there's a little lookout to the east but the trail continues up a little bit, then makes a descent. This is important: At the bottom of the descent you're going to make a sharp left turn up a grade. This is going to be an obvious left, meaning you can't miss it. Keep going up that grade and it will take you up to the top of these hills. As you can see in my app report, it took me a while to do this hike mainly because I kept trying to distinguish between trails that were hiked before and therefore doable (as evidenced by footprints) and trails that kind of dead-ended because of lack of maintenance. Anyways, you should be able to make your way up to the top of these hills pretty easy. My plan is go come back out this way and do some trail maintenance so as to make this trail runnable.

Conclusion: All in all, I'd say this is a good trail to go exploring and it has good potential to be an easy run if the trail gets proper maintenance. The sand adds a little extra challenge and it's overall really peaceful with very few people (always a plus in my book). If you're looking for a short 4 mile run or a place where you can do 3 different hikes in one day for a total of 10 miles, this is a good place in Fallbrook that is really feels like a hidden gem.