Evening Time is Best

Friday, June 26, I headed out for another evening hike. I am really liking the long evening hike thing. Instead of ending my hike with warm (or hot)  weather, with the evening hike, I start the hike with warm weather to end with deliciously cool weather. And the wilderness is so much more active in the evening. Little critters, squirrels and rabbits scurry about the trail. And deer come out to feed on the meadow grass. Perhaps the best thing is the sky’s colors changing before my eyes. They start off light blue (if I’m lucky), turn to pink, then orange, then dark purple or midnight blue if I’m out late enough. 

On Friday I took Aliso Canyon into Wood Canyon as usual. My first change-up to the usual routine was to take a detour to Dripping Cave. It was a nice reprieve from the afternoon heat (it was probably about 3:30 pm by then). I have always enjoyed the cave and being that practically no one hikes at 3:30 in the afternoon during the summertime, I was able to bask in the cave’s coolness absolutely alone. I spent  good amount of time sitting around here. A perfect place for some solitude.

Dripping Cave (AKA: Robber’s Cave)

After Dripping Cave, I lackadaisically made my way up Wood Canyon, keeping on my usual route for The Big Loop. Wood Creek was still flowing pretty well. There were 2 more places that I crossed over after leaving Dripping Cave.  I didn’t come upon very many people, only a couple of bikers. And I came upon these 3 deer in one of the meadows along the way.

I continued on with my usual route, up Cholla Trail to West Ridge. From West Ridge I had a nice view of The Saddleback Mountains and a cool breeze. It was probably coming up on 5 pm by now, a glorious time to be on the trails. So lovely were the trails that I decided to change it up again and not leave the park at Top of The World. Instead, I headed down Rock-It Trail. From there I took Coyote Run for a magical hike through an enchanted forested fairyland. Finally, Coyote Run dumped me out at Mathis, where I crossed Wood Creek once more to close up the loop of this Cholla/Rock-It lollipop loop.I came in around 7pm, well before the dark purple skies.

Saddleback Mountains from West Ridge

Rock-It

Coyote Run Trail

11.2 miles, 1,044’ elevation gain 

Santiago Truck Trail in the Summertime

Wednesday, June 24, I got out for a hike with my middle son who is heading off to college in late August. Great times for me right now getting to hike with my boy. We took this hike along Santiago Truck Trail out the the flags and back darn near the hottest time of the day. Our feet hit dirt after 11 am and we didn’t get back to the truck until about 2:30 pm. Fortunately, the temperatures didn’t climb too high (low 80s Fahrenheit).

It’s still lovely here in the Santa Ana Mountains, still even looks like spring a bit.

 

Cool Down Hours

Last Monday (June 22), I headed out to Las Flores for a hike along the Great Suburban Trail – Arroyo Trabuco. This wonderful suburban trail, if you’ve ever been to this blog before, you know that it stretches from San Juan Capistrano to Trabuco Canyon (O’Neill Park). Of course I didn’t make the entire trek –I parked in the lot of a small local park and headed out down Antonio Parkway at 2:30 pm to take a bike path for a bit and then a turn onto Tijeras Creek Trail. After crossing Tijeras Creek, which was pretty dang full for dry Southern California in the early summer (see here), I headed up toward Arroyo Trabuco Trail. Oh, the joy of my feet hitting dirt!

It was definitely hot out there, but it can get much hotter. Those trails can see 105 Fahrenheit. I’ve been on them when they’ve been that hot (& I don’t ever intend to again!) On Monday’s hike, the temperature began in the low 80s, and fell from there (I’m guessing to about 75 or less at the end of my hike). Living on the coast (and we’re in June gloom, which means socked in days) 80s in the sunshine is hot for me. But I know how to handle hot. Years of training. The key is this: don’t ever get overheated – take time to cool down! I bet you thought that I would say that the key is to stay hydrated. Hydration is good, yes, but hydration doesn’t prevent sun stroke (or even at the minimum heat exhaustion).

Heading Down Tijeras Creek Trail

Crossing Tijeras Creek

The creeks were flowing indeed, which is super lovely in the summertime, especially when hiking during the cool down hours. There weren’t many others on the trail this time of day. In fact, I recall seeing only cyclists, except in O’Neill park were there were people strolling about the meadows. Arroyo Trabuco Creek was flowing as well, and there were some spring flowers still in bloom. Spring is longer this year thanks many days of rain well into April and even May.

In all, I lackadaisically hiked about 12.5 miles with minimal elevation gain (750’). The absolutely delightful thing about taking a hike into the evening hours is the noises. The wilderness comes alive. The birds amp up their singing, frogs croak at the creek side. There’s all sorts of rustling going on along the trail. It’s exhilarating!  With just about a half mile left to the bike trail near Antonio Pkwy, I got spooked from all the noises, and hurried off, feeling relieved when my feet finally hit the asphalt. (I also felt comfort by the sudden presence of other people about taking their dogs out for a walk in the last hour before sunset.)

A wonderful hike!

And now I know what I need to do, especially since the evening is so lovely. Screw trying to wake early when it’s just not in me right now. Sleep in til 7:30 or  8 am, then mosey around the house with coffee in hand, do some gardening, some chores, some work . . . And then wander aimlessly on trails in the afternoon to take in the exhilarating cool down hours.

Marching Back Up Tijeras Creek Trail

Lonesome Road

June 17, I didn’t wake early as planned. Surprisingly, that didn’t stop me from heading out to Black Star Canyon. I looked at weather reports first, and seeing that the high in Silverado Canyon was 73 Fahrenheit, I was good to go. My feet hit dirt at 10:30 am.

Though the base of the canyon was full of hikers, once I turned off to the left, away from the creek, up toward The Main Divide, I travelled a lonesome road. What a lovely lonesome road it was. Sure, it was warm, but the occasional cool breezes rectified that. Black Star Canyon is still comfortable in June, which is why I chose it for the day’s hike. Soon, it will be too hot, and I haven’t been into that in a long time.

Once in a great while hiking up that lonely dirt road, I would come upon a mountain biker, and once I caught up with a man heading up Black Star Canyon Road for the first time. He was looking for a place to rest, and I told him that he wasn’t that far from the Indian Village site that he was hoping to come upon. We were just about to enter the Mariposa Reserve during our chat. Mariposa Reserve is my happy place. I call it that right now because just the mere thought of the plateau that makes up most of the reserve soothes my soul and brings down my heart rate.

My first stop in the reserve was to take a single track, about a half mile down to the creek. There’s a little bush whacking, and lots of incline, all to arrive at a lovely shady spot at the creek.  It was still flowing, though slowly, which means there was a trickle at the falls. I came out at the single track in fact, very close to the top of Black Star Falls, so close that I could hear the voices of hikers hanging out down there. It’s exhilarating of course to sit there in that shady crevice of giant boulders above the falls without a soul around. It’s a bit spooky in fact. You can understand my surprise then when I saw four young men hiking down stream toward me.

Headed down to creek just above Black Star Falls

Wow. I didn’t expect that. And they didn’t expect me. When I made eye contact with the lead guy, he hollered back to his 3 friends, “Oh man, I think we’re back at the road.” Nope, I told him, the road’s up there. They were all delighted to learn that they had reached their destination, the top of Black Star Falls. Soon after that, I scurried back up to the trail, but not before urging the guys to be careful! My next destination: Beek’s Place.

Beek’s Place was lonely and lovely as usual. Though it was a bit hazy out, I still had views of San Gorgonio and the San Gabriel Mountains, not to mention Orange County and a socked in view of the Pacific Ocean. The Beek family had a wonderful location for their 1930s mountain retreat. I hung out at their place on this particular day for about thirty minutes before heading on.  There is much to take in from this spot – faraway views and ruins to rummage about. When I finally did head out, I climbed just a little bit further for one last stop before the long down hill. My last stop: the doppler tower.

Just a short distance from Beek’s Place, I have never visited the doppler. The reason being that I am always behind on time. And on this day, it was business as usual. I was behind on time. But it’s nearly summertime now, and it doesn’t get dark until after 8:00 pm – and so I went for it and headed up to the doppler tower where I hung out for a good fifteen minutes or more. As I headed back, I could see a helicopter hovering about in the far distance, somewhere over the Mariposa Reserve.

For the next few miles down, the helicopter continued to hover over the reserve. Eventually,I made a stop at the Indian Village site and ran out to the edge to get a closer view of the helicopter. I could see the red and white design of OCFA (Orange County Fire Authority). A person walked along the outside right edge. The pilot had his door open, and I could see him looking out the door below to the forest floor – precisely, it seemed, where I had been earlier, where I had met that group of young men, just a small ways from the top of Black Star Falls.Then all of a sudden, the person on the edge stepped off and was lowered down to the ground where the trees and brush swooshed in the chopper’s prop wash.

As I continued my way down Black Star Canyon Road, I lost sight of the scene. And then I came out again where the helicopter had landed just off to the side of the road. The wind it’s propeller made was fierce, though far enough away from myself, I could see all the brown summer grass swirling and whipping about on the mountainside. The chopper eventually left, only to return again as I approached the final stretch on the canyon floor. (I have found nothing online about this rescue, except for a blurb on the OCFA Twitter page confirming a rescue of a female with a leg injury in Black Start Canyon).

In all, I put in 17 miles and of course was so much better for it, though fatigued was I. Still love Black Star Canyon. It’s never too lonely.

17 miles, 2,700’ elevation gain

Time to Move Along

June 9, 2020 – Rock-it  / Meadows Lollipop Loop

Much needed late afternoon hike – didn’t begin until around 3:30 pm. I took my sweet ole’ time, taking time to cool down in Cave Rock. I finished up the lollipop loop at dusk, which is after the park closes. Aliso/Wood Canyons closes  at sunset. The lot was empty but I wasn’t the only one getting out of the park a little late. There were cyclists returning as well, and the rangers had not yet closed up the gates.

11.53 mi, 1,424' elevation gain. The route @ Aliso/Woods Cyns: Aliso Cyn to Wood Cyn to Cave Rock to Wood Cyn to Mathis to Coyote Run to Rock-It to West Ridge to Cyn Acres to TopOfTheWord to Meadows to Wood Cyn to  Aliso Cyn (Aliso Viejo & Laguna Beach CA).  

 

June 12, 2020 – The Big Loop (Cholla / Meadows Lollipop Loop)

Local once again, mainly because I have gotten used to sitting around for a couple hours drinking coffee and answering emails, reading news, etc. every morning. By the time I’m usually ready to go, it is much too late to drive to the mountains. I didn’t  wait as late this time, but I still started late (around 11 am). What a lovely warm afternoon with spring still in the air and cool breezes on the ridge!

Soon it will be time to change my routine and move along out of Aliso/Wood Canyons. For now, the Big Loop @ Aliso/Wood Cyns is a great go-to loop. 12.05 miles, 1,434' of elevation gain.