Arroyo Trabuco -- The Great Suburban Trail

Oh my gosh, super behind in blogging my trails. Time to catch up because I finally have a little time off in the summer (only teaching evenings now, starting today!). This means that I have more time to hit the trails. But alas, it has been so hot . . .

My last trail (hike-run) was Arroyo Trabuco, right as our temperatures began rising. Of course, I left my house in the afternoon. And I parked further out this time too (near The Water District). This way, I got to skip Tijeras Creek Trail, which gets a bit too sandy, and has that incline at the end -- and I don’t like inclines at the end. However, with this choice, I was going to add two miles to my regular out-and-back.

The date was June 30. The day was a Saturday, and it was frickin’ hot. And so, I decided to hike (to save myself, else I die because as you may recall, I do not do good in heat anymore). I hiked practically all of the “out” of this out-and-back, which ended with 7 plus miles at O’Neill Regional Park. Hiking certainly took a lot of the stress out of the heat. My travels were comfortable and  pleasurable. And even better, the trails were basically empty.

At my turnaround, it was late afternoon, or rather, early evening. A soft coolish breeze began to blow soon after. With the new temperature, I kicked out the back and put in some running (or jogging rather -- hehe).

Well, gosh, I have been on this trail so many times -- countless times. So, this time, at about 2 or 3 miles in on the “back” portion of this out-and-back, I decided to take “Loop Trail” with the assumption that it was the same trail that met up with “Loop Trail” just next to the creek, a few miles up Arroyo Trabuco. Basically, I always stay only on Arroyo Trabuco when I take this gigantic trail (which I can catch locally in San Juan Capistrano). I’ve been on the offshoots, but always with someone else (mainly Tom, and several years ago).

So, down a pretty steep incline I traversed onto “Loop Trail.” At the bottom I crossed the creek. Quickly afterward, I found myself climbing up a pretty decent incline toward the neighborhoods on the canyon cliffs to the right. But I needed to go to the left. I thought this trail probably did turn to the left eventually. When I studied my surroundings, I could find no evidence of this however. And then a young lad came by on a dirt bike (which are not actually allowed on these trails). Out of politeness, it seemed, he stopped when he approached so as not to kick up dirt or make too much noise. And I asked him where this trail I was standing on lead. He said that it lead up to the right, to a park on the cliff. “Are you sure?” I asked. “Doesn’t it at some point turn off to the left?” The kid assured me that he had just come from the park, and that the trail only went to that location.

(There really is no better word than “lovely” to describe the scenery):

Back to the young man on the dirt bike. I should not have believed him. Not that he was lying. He probably just didn’t know. The thing was, I really, really didn’t want to backtrack and hike up that hill back to Arroyo Trabuco. Yet, I turned back anyway with hopes of finding some single track I didn’t notice after the creek, that I could eventually take back to the Loop/Arroyo Trabuco junction.

Well, there was no single-track. But just before the creek, I noticed a clearing in the thick brush. If I ducked my head, I could make it through to what seemed like a slight trail running alongside the creek. So, do you think that I did that?

Of course I did.

By this time, the weather had cooled a great deal. It was lovely. And it was quiet and lush after making my way through the cave-like brush. And yes, I did catch a small trail alongside the creek. In my estimation, it would only be couple of miles, at most, until I made it to my junction. If the trail was like it was currently, the trip would be a breeze.

But the the path got thinner. And the path got wetter. It lessoned to a point that I wasn’t really sure if I was on a trail anymore. I noticed a few offshoots, which I explored. But they didn’t look promising and I always turned back to the creek. I didn’t want to go back though, dang it! There was too much backtracking to be had and the evening was wearing on. It was about 6:30 pm (and don’t mountain lions search for prey in the evening hours?)

Eventually, I found myself traipsing down the middle of the creek with no promising offshoots whatsoever. My path had disappeared. All along, my luck had held out. I still had a decent amount of energy. I had avoided the poison oak (which doesn’t bother me -- I am immune) and the stinging nettle (which does bother me -- I am not immune). And best of all, I hadn’t been eaten by a mountain lion.

So, it was time to make sure that my luck continued to hold out (because I was now pretty much boxed in, breaking through brush to move forward in the stream). I turned back. There was sort of a defeat in that. But there was also relief, because I knew the way back, and exactly how it would look. I’m not quite sure if it was just before or after I turned back that I brushed into the stinging nettle. I got it in the left shin and on the tip of my right index finger.  It wasn’t a terrible sting. But it was a pretty good sting that lasted both on my leg and my finger at the same intensity for the entire night. (It was only when I woke the next morning that I noticed that the sting had been tamed by about half).

The backtracking added some mileage to my trip. So, I decided to take a short cut up to Oso Parkway, where I made my way along that busy road back to the parking lot near The Water District. I probably cut off two miles with the short cut. But the climb was steeper, but not at all terrible.

On Oso Parkway, overlooking Arroyo Trabuco Trail, with Santiago and Modjeska Peaks in the background:

Oh the fun times!  I am fortunate (I don’t realize that enough).

14.22 miles / 958’ elevation gain