Yaeger Mesa

During the late 1800’s a man named Jake Yaeger had a cabin along Trabuco Creek and mined a mesa he owned up the canyon.  His mining efforts (which ran between 1899 and 1925) proved unsuccessful, but his name still lives on with the mesa taking his name:  Yaeger Mesa. 

I have only visited Yaeger twice before.  It’s not an easy task, and one that should not be taken alone.  It’s steep, it’s lonely, it’s long, and it’s hot.  But it’s beautiful.  I took that trip for a 3rd time yesterday, Saturday August 23.  First however, I hiked up Trabuco Canyon with my son on Friday, the day prior, to stash water at what would end up about mile 8.5 in my Yaeger Mesa loop.

On the way we stopped of at an old shot-up car, and also posed at the base of a closed-off mine-shaft:

Saturday, I managed to get myself out of bed at 4:45 AM.  I woke to the noise of Hank’s text arriving to my phone.  He was on his way.  Fortunately, I only live about thirty minutes from the trailhead, so I was able to take in a cup of coffee and casually change into hiking clothes.  At 6AM, I met my friends Hank, Judi and Matt, and we headed up the steep county trail called Bell View.  Did I mention that it was steep?  Well, it was.  And this was only the beginning. 

Looking back on The OC:

After about a mile on Bell View, we got off the beaten path and took an unmarked single-track referred to as Bell Ridge.  The climbs were immense, but we had relief with the occasional downhills and flats.  I felt confident that we were headed in the right direction when we spotted the flag.    Soon after, we came upon a giant cross that I hadn’t see before.  We bushwhacked out to it for quiet awesome views of the county. 

And then we continued to climb, and then climb some more.  And when we climbed a hill that seemed so steep that we couldn’t possibly climb one steeper, we’d come up on an even steeper hill.  Often I used my hands and arms to hoist me up particular difficult sections.  The steepness was laughable. 

At about mile six, Bell Ridge turned abruptly to the left, and we headed downhill before one last uphill to the peak.  At the top of that next hill, at about mile 6.5, we took a turn onto another single track and headed down a ridiculously steep loose-dirt trail.  It was shady.  It was lush.  And it took all my strength just to stay up right.  Often I leaned into my hip and slid down, but was careful to periodically change hip sides to avoid injury.  At one point, when simply just standing, my feet flew out beneath me and I crashed to the ground.  With minor cuts to my right arm, I worried more about the status of my camera, which I distinctly heard slam against a rock on impact.  Fortunately, all was well with my trusty camera.  I would find out later that evening however, that all was not well with me from that fall.  (I experienced pretty severe back pain for several hours before finally taking ibuprofen to ease it some)

Around mile 7, we finally reached Yaeger Mesa which is a large field filled with bracken fern year-round.  On Saturday, the ferns were a yellowish-green which from afar (say from The Main Divide or Horsethief) looks bright green.  Other times of the year the ferns are brown, green or even red (see prior winter visit by clicking here).   There is nothing like it in Trabuco Canyon, or anywhere that I’ve been in the Santa Ana Mountains.  Yaeger Mesa is one of my happy places.

Yaeger Mesa Run

While running The Main Divide in The Saddleback Mountains, I always notice what looks like a meadow, far off high up on the other side of the canyon.  I think I’ve pointed it out to everyone I’ve run with up there.  I always say, “I want to go THERE.” 

I used Google Earth to try and figure out the way.  I couldn’t make “heads or tales” out of that side of the mountain.  So, I surveyed my Facebook running friends, and Greg Hardesty told me that he could take me there,  the place called Yaeger Mesa. (Named after a miner Jake Yaeger who had his cabin on the mesa in the late 1800’s)

I was thrilled.  I heard from others it was a tough route.  Tough?  What’s tough?  I can do tough.  I just might be a little slow.  I thought nothing about resting up yesterday and not running.  I put in over ten miles instead

Anyway, we got a small group together for a loop up to Yaeger Mesa (Michael Perlongo, Robert Whited, Daniel Grieves, Greg and myself, plus Mark Rohren who ran the loop in the opposite direction.)

Here is the gist of our run up the mountain.  It was STEEP.  And I could not keep up with the guys.  I was pretty much way out of my league among trail runners.  But that’s okay.  This “run” pushed me harder than I would have ever pushed myself.  And the guys were kind and positive.  They didn’t let more than a quarter mile grow between us.

Running Bell View Trail:

Waiting for Lauren on Bell Ridge:

After running from summit to summit, I gave up hoping the next one was the last.  Some climbs, I used my hands and upper body strength to move upward.  Other climbs, I’d go up several steps, then slide back a couple.  During some climbs I actually had to rest for a minute! 

Mama Mia!

One foot in front of the other, up, up, up . . .

Sure the climb was tough, but the views were grand.  It was beautiful and it was remote.  We had shade cover for some of the way.   Other times I suffered from the heat, especially since I dressed for a cool day.  And we actually did come across Mark who ran this loop in the opposite direction.  As the guys chatted I looked beyond toward another climb and asked, “Do we need to go up that?”  Mark confirmed it, but said that the climb would be the worst of it.

The worst of it?  I thought two climbs back, scrambling on my hands and feet, grabbing at tree stumps was the worst of it.

Hardy laugh.

View of Orange County (& even Catalina Island way out there):

Standing before “the worst of it,” but not our last climb.  Left to right:  Michael (foreground), Robert (background), Greg, Mark, Daniel:

Scrambling:

And then FINALLY, after only about six miles, we came to a natural arch made from the trees – an entrance sort of, into a shady, lush paradise.  Greg offered me the lead to run it on into Yaeger Mesa. 

Ferns grew along a single track of dark moist dirt.  Pines towered above us like giants.  Damp leaf litter added to the fairy-tale-like glamour.  And California Bay Laurel trees freshened the air with a delightful aroma. 

It was different on this side of the canyon.  The smells were different, the dirt was different, even the pine cones were different (much smaller, and without sharp edges).  The down hill was so steep we slid in areas.  And we stopped occasionally to smell the pine cones, or the bay leaves. 

Running down to Yaeger Mesa:

The climbs were WELL WORTH IT.  When we finally reached the mesa, I was utterly shocked to find that what I thought was grass from afar was actually a huge field of ferns – ferns that can take the sun!  This time of year, they were brown.  But I’ve seen from afar that most of the year, they are bright green. 

Yaeger Mesa:

We attempted to make our way to a smaller, lower mesa.  But instead we found ourselves at the bottom of Trabuco Canyon.  I recognized the canyon walls on the other side, but I just couldn’t figure out where we were (even though I’ve run Trabuco Trail countless times.)  I needed to walk across the trail, turn around to view it like I usually do.  Then I immediately recognized where we were.  How many times had I ran past, without even noticing, the trail that goes up to Yaeger Mesa?  Too many to count. 

Running down into Trabuco Canyon:

We refilled on Greg’s hidden water stash near Holy Jim, then made our way out Trabuco Canyon Road.  Finally, we began the climb back up the canyon side to get to our cars in Robinson Ranch.  Though the climb was not nearly as tough as the way up to the mesa, still I found it extremely difficult, and rather warm in some parts.  What a great relief to finally make our way DOWN Bell View Trail to our cars. 

Good hard fun!