Horsetrough Spring (Black Star Canyon)

March 26 was a lovely day to take a long hike with my husband in search of Horsetrough Spring. The skies were blue, it was sunny, but not hot. It was a perfect spring day. My husband pointed out Horsetrough Spring on the map months ago when he spotted it on his Life360 app while I was hiking in Black Star Canyon. Pinpointing its location, I knew that we were headed for some heavy duty bushwhacking, which is not only physically challenging, but mentally as well – which is why we made a long day of it.

The canyon was practically empty on this Friday afternoon. We packed in a wonderful lunch and snacks and enjoyed them at the village on the way up (and the way back). Before moving off trail in search of the spring, we explored the Hidden Ranch area – the location of a terrible battle/massacre between American trappers and Tongva Indians who had stolen horses from Spanish landowners in 1831, and also the location where Henry Hungerford shot and killed James Gregg in a dispute over a pasturage bill in 1899. I always stop at the village when I’m in Black Star Canyon. This day was the first time I had hiked down into and explored Hidden Ranch.

The Village:Hidden Ranch Now:Hidden Ranch in 1966 (Courtesy of Santa Ana Public Library):

Not too far from Hidden Ranch, we stepped off the trail to our right at a dry creek bed. We remained with the creek bed for a while but eventually made our way across the meadow to the first of a series of rundown barbed wired fences. Following these series of fences, which all headed toward a line of sycamore trees in the distance, we came up on a trough with water being fed to it by a pipe. Well, that definitely confirmed that we were headed in the right direction. And so we headed off toward the line of sycamores where we encountered more barbed wire. Eventually the meadow disappeared and the vegetation had growth so thick that we separated. I headed up a slope where I could look down into a lush green area that we were certain the spring originated. My husband made his way through that terribly thick vegetation until he was finally beneath the green lush covered area. Though we had separated and I was standing on a slope up above him, he was still close enough that we could still speak to each other. He searched for the spring’s origin for some time. Looking at the lay of the land, I’m pretty convinced he found the location but couldn’t see it because the vegetation was so thick.

We paid only small prices for this wonderful day. My husband had to get a Tetanus shot due to a nasty cut from the barbed wire, and he also had a mild reaction to poison oak (he’s had much worse reactions in the past). As for myself, I got 3 tics! Three. I hate tics. I would much rather come up on a rattler than a tic. You can see rattlers, they make noises. Tics, not so much so. They are silent and sneaky. I found one behind my ear, one crawling on my scalp, and another attached to my scalp a whole day later!

The spring is somewhere in that clump of trees about mid picture (we believe):13.5 miles, 3,621ft of elevation gain.

Winter Was My Season

Thursday March 25, I specifically set out for flat trails. There’s only one place best for that. I headed out to Arroyo Trabuco (the Great Suburban Trail!) of course. I guess that I was a little distracted as I packed because I forgot my beanie and gloves. And it was cold. Boy was it cold. The skies were gray and the trails were empty. Empty and eerie.

Rummaging through my pack, I found my thin buff and wrapped that around my head and neck. Then I zipped up tight and made my way down Tijeras Creek Trail. From there I hiked to Arroyo Trabuco. By then my shoes were wet, as Tijeras Creek was too full to hop the rocks across.

@ the Tijeras Creek / Arroyo Trabuco junction:

Trabuco Creek nice and easy crossing:

My shoes had plenty of time to dry out along Arroyo Trabuco Trail. The creek crossings had more than enough rocks to hop across. I had also warmed up a bit, but remained zipped all the way up, with much of my face, head and neck covered.  At about the 4 mile mark it began to drizzle. I sat beneath a tree that provided ample cover along a dry creek bed and ate my first meal of the day – beef stick, nuts, dried fruit. It was a lovely. But then the rain came down harder and fell right through my tree. I grabbed my stuff and ran back to the more heavily forested area and stood in the trees’ shadows and took in the rain. It was beautiful.  

As quickly as the rain blew in, it stopped and I decided to head back. I saw a couple of people along the way, a guy on a bike, and a woman on foot. At one point, while walking beneath a tall canopy of trees, I heard the familiar sound of a branch or trunk squeaking in the wind. Oh boy, that caught my attention. The first time I heard that sound was about 35 years ago, I was playing frisbee in a forested area near Walnut Creek in Covina with my husband (then boyfriend) and his friends when we all stood still to listen to a strange creaking sound. And then, before our eyes, a 30 foot tree crashed to the ground. Many years later, as I sat in the Holy Jim parking lot in Trabuco Canyon, I heard that same strange creaking sound coming from above. And then right before my eyes, I watched a giant branch fall several stories high, smashing into the ground below, barely missing the cars parked there. And so, having heard this creaking again, I did the only thing that came to mind. I quickly ran ahead out of the wooded area. Then I stood back and watched. Nothing fell this time. I hope that when it does, it does off trail or when no one is around!

The season was surely spring as evidenced by all the flowers. But it was definitely like a winter day. I sure relished it because I knew it would most likely be my last until next winter. Winter was my season this year. I am grateful for it.

8.54 mi with 1,431 ft of elevation gain (not exactly flat, I know, but these trails definitely seem flat in comparison to other trails).

The Way of the Creek

Thursday (March 22) I took another march in my stomping grounds where I let my feet lead the way. I turned off onto Wood Canyon because well, that’s the way of the creek, and I think that if there’s a choice between of going the way of the creek or not, I’m always going to choose the creek.

After a short while in Wood Canyon, I took a detour to one of my favorite places on Cave Rock Trail and spied this little guy:

After the caves, I hiked to the top of the giant rock but before climbing back down on the other side, I took a steep scouting expedition. This well travelled trail ran straight up the hillside. It confused me as to where it might lead. Much of the trail was rock; tire marks and foot prints marked the dirt sections.  Though it was mighty steep,  I continued to climb the trail out of curiosity. My direction intuition was out of sorts and I could not fathom where it  lead – this fueled my curiosity all the more! Eventually I saw the Top of the World neighborhood not too far away – the actual named neighborhood that overlooks Aliso Canyon. Wow. What a surprise. Once I realized where the trail lead (either directly into Top of the World,  or it turned off somewhere near it), I decided to head back down and let my feet continue directing.

Just as I am a sucker for creeks, I am also for caves. Next stop Dripping Cave:

A short time after arriving to Dripping Cave, two men hiked up. Not wanting to intrude on their time at the cave and not really wanting to hang out with two strangers at the cave (but also not ready to leave it), I found a trail that lead up and above it (but not before chatting a bit with the guys about poison oak). The view up top was breathtaking, exhilarating really, but more so because the rock up there sloped forward toward the cave’s mouth. The sensation was that if I were to fall, I would tumble down the slope and fall off of the top of the cave. Yikes! I would not like that one bit. Of course, I wasn’t going to fall. But that slant, though fairly slight, was just too scary. So, I hopped down from there pretty quickly and went and hung out in a tree close by that overlooked the trail . When I heard the voices from the guys coming my way, I jumped down and headed back to Wood Canyon Trail where I continued this delightful afternoon journey.

Above the cave:

Along the way, I saw deer in the field near the old corral:

And then I took another quick detour up a little known, short trail called Alwut Overlook. A bench sits up at the top overlooking Wood Canyon. I rarely visit this spot. But being spring, I knew the view would be superb so I took the hike up and parked myself on that bench. The view did not disappoint.

Last thing I did before heading back toward the way of the creek was to locate a secret meadow that I noticed some time ago while on a ridge trail. I had studied its location for a while, so with relative ease, was able to take a peek at the hidden meadow not too far off the trail. I love moments like this:

Stomping Grounds

A lot of people head out first thing in the morning to hike, bike or run in the coastal hills. But with the weather as cool as it has been and the time change, if I’m going local, I really have no reason to get out at the crack of dawn. Saturday (March 30) I had plenty of time to wait until rush hour in the coastal hills ceased before I hit the trails. By the time I arrived to my regular stomping grounds, that is Wood Canyon, the crowds had gone home. There were a few stragglers out for an afternoon ride or stroll. Best thing was, the weather was still chilly and quite breezy too..

I could not possibly count the amount of times I’ve hiked or run Aliso and Wood Canyon Trails. Well, I suppose I could count my blog posts (but that would not include the lost MySpace posts plus I don’t want to do that). But I can approximate. I’ve been wandering these trails regularly for about 15 years, and to use an estimate of once per week, that would equal 52 times a year, and 52 multiplied by 15 equals 780. Now, I’ll knock of 280 just because and I come up with 500; I’ve wandered the trails in these canyons about 500 times. This is why I call Aliso/Wood Canyons my stomping grounds.

I didn’t plan where I’d hike on March 20. Nowadays, I decide as I go when I’m in my stomping grounds.  On Saturday, I set off into Aliso Canyon and turned off onto Wood Canyon, and waited to see where my feet would take me. They took me to Cave Rock Trail where I stopped by my favorite caves. Then they took me to Coyote Run where I hiked up Nature Loop and took a side trail to a fine lookout over two canyons. I was about to climb down and head off to one of my secret places when I heard the voices of 3 or 4 teenage boys hiking up the trail. Perched up above them between the crevice of two giant boulders, I had a perfect view of the boys though they could not see me. Not wanting to surprise the lads last minute, I decided to answer one of the boy’s when his question to the others about where this trail led went unanswered. After that we chatted a bit. It was a fun interaction. They knew a lot of secret trails in the park, which of course they do right? I bet these trails are probably their stomping grounds too. Anyway, I told them what I knew about this trail and they switched places with me in my perch to explore more while I headed off to my secret place.

Sometime later one of the boys met up with me at my spot, and he described what they had discovered past where I had been perched up in the crevice. And then he was off again. By the time I headed off to take RockIt to West Ridge, all four of the guys were at the spot, thanking me for showing it to them. But they would have found it no doubt without me.

The interaction with these teens brought back a memory that hit me as I hiked up RockIt. It’s funny how things seemingly forgotten suddenly come to mind so many years later. This memory was a flashback to the 80s, to my old stomping grounds, an equestrian wilderness area called Walnut Creek below Frank G. Bonelli Park. I probably didn’t hang out at Walnut Creek 500 times, but this place was definitely my stomping grounds for about 5 years through my late teens and early twenties. On the day that flashed into my memory I was dragging a big leaf plastic bag behind me as I filled it with trash strewn about an area that we called Dragon Lake (due to a boulder allegedly shaped like a dragon). Up hiked these young boys, teenagers, too young to drive. They hung with me for a while and I ended up giving them a ride to a grocery store nearby. I know that sounds odd, but those were the days when people hitch-hiked. I hitched hiked. I picked up hitch-hikers. This was not a regular habit but I thumbed rides enough to have several such experiences. I’m not excusing the behavior (because it definitely seems reckless now), just explaining it. So, the boys came out of the store with bags full of candy and I gave them a ride back to the park. After I dropped them, I drove on and parked in another part of the trails so that I could get back to solitude and picking up trash. After some time, and a trash bag nearly full, I finally made it back to Dragon Lake, which I had left clean a few hours earlier. But it wasn’t so clean anymore. The place was littered with trash. Candy trash. The same candy that the boys I had driven to the store had purchased earlier. Ha! I couldn’t help but laugh but was also annoyed. I remember feeling a little deflated as I hiked around the “lake” picking up their candy trash and shoving it into my bag. Looking back, I got a good chuckle over the replay in my mind of this long forgotten experience. 

After that delightful memory, I continued on my climb until I reached Mathis Trail. I took that back down into Wood Canyon trying to find evidence of a trail the boys I met earlier said they found. So engrossed in visually locating that trail (which I eventually did) I grew a little distracted and nearly stepped right out in front of a biker. When I heard him holler, I immediately jumped out of the way (embarrassed!). And then that’s when I heard my name – the guy that nearly hit me was my old trail buddy Michael! What a great surprise and an awesome way to wind down this fantastic hike. Boy do I have lots of great trail memories with Michael. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, a few years in fact, so I was very happy to “run” into him.

I finished up this lovely spring afternoon / early evening hike at precisely 6 pm. 10 miles, 2,229’ elevation gain.

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Walnut Creek, my old Stomping Grounds
(picture most likely taken between 1985 and 1987)

Santiago Retreat Stations of the Cross

In between Black Star and Silverado Canyons is a canyon named Baker’s Canyon. I’ve hiked there just once some years ago on Good Friday up to a giant cross up on a hill there that you can see all the way from Black Star Canyon. Naturally, I have been wanting to get back to Baker’s Canyon but that is difficult being that much of the land is on private property. That is until Lent. During Lent, the Santiago Retreat sets up “Stations of the Cross” for the public to hike. And so Friday, March 19, I was on it! I believe that this is more of a Catholic tradition, and I am not Catholic. I will say that I like this tradition of hiking the stations of the cross. The total hike measured only about 2 miles, but the climb was steep!  Afterward, they served a Lenten Feast (fish fry) at the bottom of the mountain that was on-going from 3 to 7pm. It was delicious! 

Group photo of me and my husband:

Giving Chiquito Falls Trail Another Try

Tuesday, March 16, I took another trek to Chiquito Falls. They are still dry, even with recent rain  but the trail, as usual, magical. 9.5 miles with 2,500' of elevation gain is pretty tough hike for the distance. I HIGHLY recommend this one -- technical single-track the entire way. Most likely, especially on a weekday, you will have the trails entirely to yourself. It’s a little spooky sometimes. But I get over those episodes quickly.I try to remain always alert in desolate areas. Funny though that these trails are so desolate. The parking is super easy in the big lot across the street from the Candy Store on Hwy 74.  I did see one biker on this trip. After I had hung out at the falls for a good long while, maybe half an hour, a guy on a bike rode in. As I hiked out, I looked back and could see that he took the exact same seat that I always take right above the falls.

On San Juan Loop:On Chiquito Trail:@ Chiquito/a Falls