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 

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.

 

The “Big” Big Loop

June 5, I still choose to hike locally, especially since I’d rather sleep in a tad, til about 7 am, then sit around drinking my two cups of coffee with stevia and heavy whipping cream. Of course that gets prolonged because I need to pack my stuff and do a walkabout on my property to look at things like the blackberries and wildflower seeds planted beneath the Orange tree. By the time I head out, it’s already at least 10 am!

June 5 was hazy and gloomy and even rainy in the early morning. We call that June gloom on the coast in southern California. It’s this way every year. Sometimes it seems we barely see a day of sunshine in June. It rained, in fact, the day I gave birth to my oldest son, more than 20 years ago, June 3, 1999.

June 5, 2020, I decided to go for The Big Loop, V. 2, as I have often called it, which is a longer extension of The Big Loop. I parked in the church lot across the street because the parking lot at Aliso/Woods ranger station was closed (although the park was open). That didn’t seem so odd to me since we live in weird times right now, and parking lots are constantly being closed. Then as I was climbing out of my truck, at least 50 motorcycle policemen (& women too, I’m sure)  road down the road toward the boulevard. And that’s when I suddenly heard the shouts and cheering from afar. And amazingly, from my viewpoint, I could see protestors out near the federal building in Aliso Viejo. There have been protests daily in my area. All have been peaceful, so I was not necessarily alarmed. But the event felt a little surreal.

The Big Loop (the first version), is actually a lollipop loop, going up Cholla Trail, going down Meadows (or vice-versa), just under 12 miles. The Big Loop, V. 2, on the other hand, is just under 13 miles, replacing Meadows above with Mentally Sensitive Trail. Of late, I’ve been calling V. 2, the “Big” Big Loop. I think I like that name better. But that’s neither here nor there. What’s is here and there is this (despite all the depressing news out there – in the U.S. and even in the world, you know what I mean):

Spring is still out there on the southern California coast!

And this:

The forest is spooky and awesome

And this:

The California Riviera

 

 

Movement

May 27, 2020, it was Thursday last week that I set out pretty late in the morning for local trails once again. FINALLY. What a glorious day for a person stricken with wanderlust. The Shelter-in-Place has certainly accentuated something that I already knew. And that is: “getting out” is important. I like movement. I like scenery passing by and ground moving beneath my feet. I’ve often called it my medicine, but it’s also sort of an addiction.

There are some people who are “home bodies” and I know and love many of them. My father is a home body – he is perfectly content staying home most of the time. My husband too is a home body, and so are many other people that I know. That’s not to say that they don’t like to get out and travel – they do. But home bodies like to spend most of their time at home.  I am not a home body. Don’t get me wrong.  I love to be home. I enjoy being home. But overall, I am more content planning for an adventure (a mild adventure, nothing too wild!). What it really comes down to though is movement, on putting miles beneath my feet.

So, on Thursday, I tied a face mask on my pack and paid $3 to park at the Aliso/Woods Cyns parking lot. The crowds have thinned out now that restrictions have been lifted. I barely saw a dozen people the entire trip. It was a warm day and a tough hike for me. I wasn’t quite up for 10+ miles, but I gleefully did it and enjoyed the muscle fatigue the next day.

All this time away from the trails and I did not miss all the spring flowers. There’s still flowers throughout the canyons as we come closer to summer. I recall we got lots of rain at the beginning of Shelter-in-Place. In fact, it was pouring rain on the last day I worked on campus. Anyway, I digress. It was a gorgeous spring day in Aliso Viejo and Laguna Beach, California last Thursday (thanks to all that rain in March, April and even May!)

Cave Rock

Aliso Cyn – Wood Cyn – Cholla Trail – West Ridge – Mathis – Wood Cyn – Cave Rock – Wood Cyn – Aliso Cyn

10.64 miles, 1,209’ elevation gain