Santiago Oaks Regional Park

The Historic Dam Trail (above)

The Historic Dam (do you see the turtle?)

This is a bit late in posting due to the fact that the trails left me a bit traumatized (and sort of angry and not wanting to relive the day). This was possibly the most difficult 5 miles in my mountain biking life and I can now add another trail name that I will avoid moving forward: Mountain Goat Trail.

Santiago Oaks is a wilderness park that is part of Orange County Regional Parks. Admission is $5.00. The park has a nice picnic area with grills and a newly opened nature center. The trails are hike/bike/horse and I think that I would prefer hiking around this park. The steep trails, erosion (deep ruts and cracks) and deep powdery dirt made riding really difficult. I ended up pushing, carrying and pulling my bike at least 4.5 of the 5 miles up and down pretty steep hills. I would have also been happy to see a trail that had been updated with the closed trails (not that I am bitter or anything...).

Wildlife spottings: Anise Swallowtail, Mariposa Lily and possibly the grim reaper

Ladera Ranch Trail

Today we rode on a ‘new patch of dirt’ in Ladera Ranch. Park at Wagsdale Park located at Cecil Pasture and O’Neill. It seemed that the “public” restrooms were only accessible with a Ladera Ranch key card. The trail itself is about 2.5 miles one-way and is a series of hills (be prepared to pant) that ends up with a great view of San Juan Capistrano and the ocean. The trail is crushed granite, separate from the road and runs through the Ladera Ranch neighborhoods. At the top of the mountain there are some additional trail options. On this trip, we turned south and took the trail back to Antonio Parkway on the back side of Covenant Hills. The first public street along Antonio is O’Neill and, if you take it, you can get back to the park. This made a great loop.

After the ride, I would also recommend stopping at Taco Mesa at Crown Valley and O’Neill for chips and homemade guacamole on the outside patio.

Other than disturbing a large group of turkey vultures, there wasn’t too much in the way of interesting wildlife spottings. The association had recently mowed the hills for fire prevention so I am thinking that the snakes and ground birds moved out to the surrounding mountains.

Ladera Ranch: Bluff Top and Arroyo Trabuco Trail

Ladera Ranch offers access into the south end of O’Neill Regional Park via two pleasant walking/biking trails, the lower end of the Arroyo Trabuco trail and the Bluff Top trail. Each trail is about a mile and a quarter long one-way, is fairly level and generally well-maintained.

The Bluff Top Trail starts at the Cox Sport Park parking lot and winds around the neighborhood park areas and has both paved and graveled segments. There are benches along the trail at various view spots as well as a native California plant garden with interpretive signs. The community has planted fresh water marsh and riparian scrub habitat to capture and filter urban run-off before it flows into the Trabuco Creek and then to the ocean.

The Arroyo Trabuco trail is one of my favorite quick walks after work. The path is accessed from the Bluff Top Trail. There is a black top ‘drive way’ at the approximate intersection of Winfield and O’Neill Drive. It is a fun ride down to the pump house and then one can either ride north towards Oso (across the creek is the official O’Neill Regional Park) or south towards Crown Valley Parkway. From Oso to Crown Valley, the trail is flat and graveled. It appears to be a maintenance road.

Today was a beautiful day to be outside. Once down in the canyon, it was easy to forget I was in the middle of a city. The houses on both sides of the trail are hidden by oaks and sycamores, and the air was thick with sage scent and the trees were loud with scrub jays, hawks, crows and finches. The toyons were bursting with bright red berries and the eucelia were just starting to bloom again. The only drawback was the swarms of gnats. The gnatcatchers must still be on vacation.