Mushroom Caves

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Let me start by saying I followed other people’s blogs (thank you people of the internet for sharing this discovery)! and I thought the only way to get to the caves was going through “no trespassing signs.” Well that wasn’t true! (In my case). I was told I would see a side trail with a yellow sign saying “no trespassing” but it was clear that they had covered the trail so I kept going and found a hidden San Diego gem.

Note. PLEASE respect nature when you go and do these trails. Do not spray paint, leave your trash or ruin any of the caves etc. I tell all of this in confidence you will explore, take pictures and have a great hike.

Directions to get there…

I had read you could park at Mira Costa college (and the police said they could) but every car has a parking permit so that made me nervous. I looked more on the internet and found the trail head at the end of North Rios Avenue.

If you see these signs you are good 😉

You will see a path on the right. As you walk, the lagoon will be on the left and eventually you will see you are walking towards the highway. There will be little wooden post that tell you other paths (stay on the main one you are on).

Cactus and wildflowers will guide you along a pretty flat trail.

I was on a hunt to find these caves, and thought I needed to go on some “path less traveled” so I attempted that. Throughout the trail you will see these signs (they actually were effective):

I mean, kid drawn signs saying protect the nature and don’t head that way? Nice work.

I would recommend following these signs…the cave gets very small, hard to climb and there are large insects that I really didn’t want to hang with. Lesson learned.

So, it turns out you can stay on the trail and still get to the beauty at the end! If you follow the trail you will come to a lot of brush – walk through it and you have made it to some awesome sights!

Let the fun begin!

Climb up the “stairs” and pull yourself up for an awesome view! Facing the highway you will see another path that leads you to the top on the left as well.

Walk towards the more orange rock.

The view is just superb! You can look out to the lagoon, ocean, and down into the caves. You can cross under the fence to the tree stumps for another photo op 🙂