My Experiences and Adventures: April 2017

Hiking in the O.C (Orange County) 2017

Welcome back everyone! This is the latest edition of my posts, mainly centered on Travel, History or Leadership. This particularly post comes under the 'Travel' heading although not in the same sense as previous posts.

This post provides a sample of some of the hikes available in the O.C. I tend to do a lot of walking, mainly to try to keep in some semblance of shape plus I just like to get out and see new places and accomplish something, even if it means just making it to the top of a hill!

Just one thing...this is just an intro into what's available. I would suggest purchasing a guide book for more detail...I went with 'Afoot and Afield-Orange County, A comprehensive hiking guide'. I picked up my copy for something like $8 on Amazon, well worth the money.

So, let's start...the shocking news is that the O.C is full of hiking paths/trails of varying degrees of difficulty across around 18 different areas ranging from the coast to the Santa Ana Mountains. The county has also been able to integrate hiking trails within largely urban areas. For example, within a quarter mile of where I'm staying in Irvine is the San Diego Creek trail. The trail makes up part of the 'Mountains to Sea' trail that extends from Upper Newport Bay to Santiao Oaks Regional Park.

The county uses regional parks for hiking centers...generally really nice with washrooms, water and often camping facilities.

Heading Southwest along the Creek eventually, after 4-5 miles, takes you to Upper Newport Bay. Be forewarned, the San Diego Creek Trail isn't much to look at, The trail tends to be, mainly, flood control with a lot of cement and boulders placed to control flash flooding....so, you get some of this.

...and a bit of this.

However, it serves a purpose and gets you to the Bay where there's a wildlife preserve and some very pretty views.

There's a nice lookout point just at the start of the back bay loop...perfect for wildlife spotting.

Once you are at the coast you can take advantage of the different types of hikes/walks available. I would suggest heading south along the coast from Back Bay and go to Crystal Cove State park. The park starts at Corona Del Mar, a nice little town which still retains some of it's 30's-50's feel with boutiques and even a Brit pub (although very pricey and not really that British :-) ). Once at the start of the park you have two choices...you can follow the cliff path through the park OR you can walk down to the beach and follow it approximately 4 miles to Abalone Point. The beach starts out rock but becomes very sand about 2.5 to 3 miles in...the views of the coast are stunning, definitely recommend this hike,

If you continue South'ish along the coast towards Abalone point you'll pass a number of old cottages and homes propped up against the hills. The Los Trancos area has an historic district where you can stop for a bite at either the Beachcomber café or the shake shack.

If you continue to Moro beach you'll find an underpass that allows you to access El Moro canyon which has a number of short, but steep, hiking paths (I've not done any yet, will update the post when I have :-) ). The area is also easily accessible by car with plenty of parking and picnic facilities available for hikers.

For those who want a little bit of a different sort of hike then there's plenty of choice. Most of the paths in the O.C, other than the urban paths like San Diego creek, tend to be a combination of semi-arid brush and forest. That means it will be hot, dry and dusty and there'll be a lack of shade in many areas. The point here is that most hikes require sensible footwear (trainers work in many of the easy to moderate trails but can be slippery on rocks and when crossing streams), plenty of water and sunscreen (especially March-late September).

The first area that we tried was Whiting Ranch. The ranch is located in Lake Forest, which is about 10 miles from Irvine. As with many such areas, there's parking available (either at start of Borrego canyon-across from market place or Glen Ranch) for $3 per day but no ranger station or facilities other than a water fountain. The park is 1500 acres with over 17 miles of trails. We started at Borrego and hiked to the end of Red Rock canyon (1240 feet) with a few short detours. The trail is slightly odd in that Borrego canyon winds through a housing area (on the hills over looking the canyon) before opening up into a 'wilderness'. The trails are well marked and are rated by difficulty.

One thing to keep in mind. Despite the fact that the trails are in O.C there's still an abundance of wildlife. We usually see a lot of woodpeckers, herons, and lizards...and occasionally one of these..

...a harmless gopher snake. However, there are rattlesnakes in most parks, so keep an eye out. There are also cougars but, fortunately we've not seen any of those yet.

A similar park, but a bit bigger and more open, is Aliso and Wood canyons wilderness parks which is just off Alicia Parkway and across from Laguna Niguel. We followed Alisio Creek to the Wood canyon trail head then headed North. We branched off to the left, after about 1.5 miles, to the dripping cave trail. The cave was home to bandits in the 1800's and still shows the marks of their occupation in the cave roof. We followed the trail to where it branches off between the Car Wreck trail and Mathis Canyon trails. We took the Mathis canyon trail, rated moderate to difficult, up to the West Ridge trail. The trail itself is wide, the difficulty is the steepness and the lack of shade...oppressive in 25c weather.

We managed to make it to the West Ridge trail, turned right and hiked another couple of miles to the Lynx trail, rated difficult due to steep decline and narrow path (Bikes are banned), following it to the Wood Canyon trail which lead back to Wood canyon then to Alisio creek.

Dripping Cave....

The entire hike of 12 miles took us approximately 4 hours.

Note: Mountain bikes and dogs are allowed on most trails..bikers tend to go fast without regard for hikers so keep on the right and keep your eyes open.

Note: The main parking lot has toilets but no water fountains, come prepared with adequate water supplies.

Another nice park is Casper Wilderness Park. The park is similar to Alisio with the exception of there being a very good ranger presence (entry fee of $5) with ample parking, toilets (the cleanest I've ever seen at a recreational area), camping and ample water. The park is some 8000 acres, so it isn't small, with a number of longer trails.

We parked near the old windmill which was 1/4 mile from the trailhead. We took the Bell Canyon Trail for approximately 1.5 miles to the Oso Trail then took a right where the trail T-junctioned. To get to the junction, we had to cross a few streams which was a bit difficult for my partner as she was wearing trainers and the rocks were slippery. We then hiked up a rather steep incline to the East Ridge trail. The hike up was rated moderate and that isn't a lie....seemed like it was almost straight up!

We managed to make it to the top to some fabulous views of the valleys on either side. A two mile hike brought us to the Quail Run trail, a short drop, that takes us back to the trailhead. The entire hike was approximately 6 miles, taking us around 2.25 hours. The difficulty was that there wasn't much shade on the trails that we took and it was hot the day we went...good job we took enough water!

I'd like to close by mentioning that O.C, and SoCal in general, are well suited for walkers. Not only can you hit the trails like those mentioned above but you can, literally, walk from one city to another following the coast on the beach. For example, we walked the 11 miles from Seal Beach to Long Beach. Other than the initial first few miles which are through urban areas the majority of the walk is along the beach.