Before our recent trip to Joshua Tree National Park, I did my usual amount of geeking out over all the various write-ups of the Park and looking for good/great hikes and sights we needed to catch on our first visit to the 15th largest national park (out of 55) in the country.  Given that it covers over 1,200 square miles I was very surprised at how few hikes there were that went for more than 2-4 miles.  The Park’s “Day Hike” page and “Joshua Tree National Park Hiking Guide” showed only one day hike longer than four miles, and even HikesPeak.com’s excellent Joshua Tree resource page only showed two–one of which was not accessible from the main roads inside the park.

That one consensus longer hike was the Lost Palms Oasis hike, listed at between 7 and 8 miles, depending on who you ask.   And since we generally look for hikes in the 6-10 mile range, it allegedly went to one of the best oases in the park, and could be combined with the shorter Mastodon Peak Loop as a reverse “lollipop hike” to get us up into the 8+ mile range, we chose that for our first hike of the trip. You can see the crappy park map of the two hikes here.  Since the total elevation was only listed as about 400 feet for Lost Palms, we figured it would be pretty easy, but in the end, it was a bit more work than anticipated–at least partially because of the soft, sandy portions of the trail that make it like walking on a beach at times.

I previously wrote up the Mastodon Loop (“Most Convenient Hike in Joshua Tree”) as a separate hike, so for the purposes of this write-up, I’m mostly going to reference the Lost Palms Oasis hike as a stand-alone out-and-back hike, though I’ll mention where the junctions for the combo hike are.

Full parking lot at Cottonwood Springs.

Lost Palms Oasis Trailhead at Cottonwood Spring Parking Lot.

The trailhead is located just a mile southeast of the Cottonwood Visitor Center (9 total miles from the I-10 Freeway) at the Cottonwood Springs Oasis Parking Lot, making it quite accessible to the Coachella Valley or anyone else heading down the nation’s southern-most trans-continental highway.  Make sure to stop at the Visitor’s Center to get your day pass and check out the shop, before turning down Cottonwood Springs Road to the trailhead.  As per usual, we arrived too late to park in the actual parking lot, but there was plenty of parking near the end of the road, and we didn’t have to walk very far to the trailhead.

Cottonwood Spring interpretive sign at the trailhead.

View of the Cottonwood Spring (and trail) from the parking lot.

Beginning of the trail down to the spring–very well maintained.

At the trailhead was an informational kiosk describing the history of the Cottonwood Spring, as well as some general information about the park.  Immediately below the parking lot (and accessible on a very well maintained trail that even a stroller or wheelchair could make) is Cottonwood Spring, a palm and cottonwood oasis that apparently was a major source of water for Native Americans and miners that lived in the area in the past, but there was not any visible water on this February day.

A look back at the spring as we head up the trail.

Another look back towards the trailhead and spring.

The trail quickly narrows and begins to look like a normal hiking trail, as it heads fairly steadily (though not at all steeply) uphill for then next two or so miles through the desert terrain.  One of the downsides of this trail is that even though it has a great variety of desert plants, including silver, teddy bear, and pencil chollas, yuccas, prickly pears (nopales), barrel cactus, ocotillos, mesquite, creosote, juniper and other classic desert flora, there are no Joshua Trees on this hike (or anywhere on this end of the park, actually).  So if you want to see a Joshua Tree in Joshua Tree National Park, you need to head for the higher Mojave Desert portion of the park up near Split Rock, Skull Rock, Ryan Ranch, or any of a number of other hikes and drives in the northwest part of the park.

Notice the soft sand on the trail–there is a lot of this, making it a bit more tiring to walk on than a solid surface.

One more look back towards the trailhead.

It does, however, feature lots of the park’s iconic natural rock sculptures and interesting geology, as well as the wide variety of plants and cactii mentioned above, so as an introduction to desert landscapes, this hike works very well.

The sign for the Mastodon Peak cutoff on the left. Stay straight.

Just over a half mile from the trailhead, you’ll come to a junction with the Mastodon Loop Trail.  If you chose to do the combo hike, this is where you would meet up with the Lost Palms Oasis trail, and head east-southeast (left) to continue to the oasis.  We will stay straight.

A more zoomed in version of Mastodon Peak.

The trail is virtually impossible to lose, as any of the places you might possibly get confused (especially where it crosses washes) are marked with rocks or sticks to keep you on track.

The trail makes its way across the Colorado/Sonoran Desert.

Helpful rocks to guide the way across the wash. Notice the soft sand again.

More helpful signage. More soft sand.

I think I thought this rock looked like a dog’s face. Or I might have been hallucinating.

A tall 0cotillo next to a yucca.

Pencil cholla.

A juniper–the closest thing to a shade tree we found in between the two springs.

A red barrel cactus.

After climbing the aforementioned two miles, you’ll descend down into a pretty cool, narrow, slot canyon, that would probably be a bit harrowing in a sudden desert storm, before climbing again up a pretty steep hillside.  From there, it is another descent until just before you hit the area over the oasis.

Heading into a canyon.

In the canyon–more soft sand.

Narrow slot canyon–potentially dangerous in a storm.

Having come out of the one canyon, we go down into another valley, then on up that next ridge. BTW–I thought that rock in the upper left looked a bit like Iron Man’s helmet. Again–could just have been the sun taking its toll on my sanity…

Heading up the next ridge.

And looking down into the next canyon. Palms are just past that last ridge.

Coming through the final canyon.

From here, you can see the palms down below in the canyon, as well as a cluster of them straight across the canyon on the hillside, in an area that looked worthy of exploring if we’d had a bit more energy or daylight, but we had neither.  According to the Google Map satellite view below, there was a trail down to the palms, but we didn’t see it.  We looked for a way down from the top of the canyon, but did not find a way that didn’t involve scrambling and a whole lot more work than either of us was willing to put in at this point–especially since we could see no evidence of water at the bottom among the trees.

First view of the palms on the hillside. More are in the canyon below.

I guess we made it!

The densest cluster of palms in the canyon.

More palms in the canyon as we tried to scramble down for a closer look. See any water in there? Me neither.

Palms continue to run down the canyon. Still no visible water.

Two most popular activities in Joshua Tree: 1) Climbing rocks, and 2) Sitting on rocks. These folks are the sitting type, probably wondering why they walked this far for a water-less oasis.

At this point, we turned around, feeling a little cheated, as we’d expected an oasis more like the amazing one we found at Palm Canyon in Anza Borrego State Park, but based on the pictures we’ve since seen from others that hiked down to the bottom, it doesn’t appear that it is ever nearly as nice as that one.

We headed back in the late afternoon sun, adding some nice colors to the rocks around us.

Headed back–they’ve done a nice job on these trails.

Desert in the late afternoon light.

Almost back!

In the end, we did feel like this hike was significantly over-rated.  It wasn’t a bad hike, we just didn’t feel like the oasis was worth the effort, unless you just craved a long desert hike in Joshua Tree.  Frankly, the oasis at the parking lot was as impressive–or more so.  We enjoyed the Mastodon Peak portion of the hike much more than we did the Lost Palms Oasis, and if you only have time for one short hike, I’d choose it.  But if you are looking for a single hike of more than 4 miles in Joshua Tree, combining these two hikes makes a good introduction to the southern Colorado/Sonora Desert end of the park.

Lost Palms Oasis elevation profile. Click through for more detail.

View

Lost Palms Oasis Hike in a larger map

At over 1200 square miles,  Joshua Tree National Park is the 15th largest national park in the US–smaller than Death Valley, Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone, but larger than it’s more famous siblings Yosemite, Smoky Mountains, or, well, 38 others.  But even though most of the acreage is located in Riverside County, two of its three access points are in relatively remote portions of San Bernardino County.  The most accessible entrance for the general public is the South Entrance, just off I-10, 25 miles east of Indio and the Coachella Valley.

Map showing the three entrances to the park–two in the north, and one in the south. From the Joshua Tree National Park Website.

Unfortunately, most of the classic hikes (and virtually all the Joshua Trees) are located closer to the aforementioned north and west entrances, and take a little more work to get to.  Now, you can certainly get to those hikes via the southern entrance, but you have to drive through the length of the park to get there, along Pinto Basin Road, which is quite scenic and has numerous interpretive displays along the way.  There’s also a smallish Nature Center/Ranger Station gift shop near the south entrance, just eight miles off the 10 Freeway.

But if you don’t have a lot of time, and are staying in or passing through the Coachella Valley along I-10, and want to get in a quick hike in the park, you really only have three options–Lost Palms Oasis, Mastodon Peak, or a combination of the two.  We did the combo hike, and will write up the Lost Palms leg of the hike later, but we both thought that if you only had time to do one hike near the most accessible part of the park, Mastodon Peak is for you.

It features an oasis at the trailhead, many of the park’s trademark boulders and climbable rocks, a historic mine, great views of the Coachella Valley and Salton Sea, and nearly every form of desert plant you would want to see–except the namesake Joshua Trees, which are all in the north end (the higher, Mojave desert section of the park).  But if it won’t kill you to miss an actual Joshua Tree, this hike has everything else the park is famous for in a 2.5 mile loop with only about 500 feet of climbing.  Oh, and there is a crappy online map available for it here.

Parking lot at Cottonwood Spring.

The trailhead is located just a mile southeast of the Cottonwood Visitor Center (9 total miles from the 10) at the Cottonwood Springs Oasis Parking Lot.  The normal way of taking the trail is to start at the Cotton Springs Oasis and head southeast from there, but because we wanted to tie into the Lost Palms Oasis trail without backtracking, we did the Mastodon Peak hike in reverse.

Just a bit back down the road to find the Mastodon Loop Trailhead.

Trailhead sign on the north side of road.

Looking back on the parking area from the trail.

Just west of the parking area, you’ll find a sign for the Mastodon Loop Trail exit on the north side of the road.  In retrospect, it appears we made a wrong turn almost immediately.  If I believe the map loaded on my GPS, instead of heading perpendicular to the road at the very beginning, we followed the trail along the road a short distance before heading up a wash towards the peak.  But we also saw a trail sign that seemingly indicated we should have gone a little further before heading up a different wash.  But all three routes meet not too far down the trail, so in the end, if you headed the right direction, it didn’t really matter how you got there, and based on the footprints in the sand, we were far from the only ones to make this error.

A few of the omni-present yucca trees (NOT Joshua Trees) on the hike.

Looking straight ahead was a narrow path, but it wasn’t clear if that was ours or not (it might have been).

Looking to the right was the alternative–a wide wash with many footprints. We chose this route, which worked just fine.

Boulder lined wash–note the soft sandy trail.

A boulder strewn piece of the trail–it wasn’t as obstructed as it looks, and we just walked around the boulders.

The path up the wash (and many of the other stretches of the trail) was quite soft and sandy, and required more energy than we expected for such a short trail, but it wasn’t difficult at all.  The wash was lined with giant boulders and a variety of desert plants, as we headed steadily (but not at all steeply) uphill.

Looking back down the trail, we had come up from the left, but apparently we should have been on the path to the right, which is clearly funneled in to the wash here with carefully placed rocks. We followed that “correct” route from this point forward.

We shortly (less than a half mile) came to what was clearly a junction with the trail we apparently should have been on all along, and the path was always clear from there, and frequently marked with smaller rocks or even signs to help you keep on track.

Heading up another narrow stretch of the wash–still very sandy.

Cool picture of a back-lit silver cholla in the foreground and a prickly pear in the background.

Another set of rocks on the trail guiding us out of the sandy wash and up to the right. More cool rocks dead ahead.

Well laid stone stairs as we leave the wash.

There are sections with well designed stone steps, which I’m sure help with erosion control as well as with the footing on the loose rock/sand trail.

Now looking more like a trail than a convenient wash.

I thought lots of the rocks in the park looked like other things–doesn’t that look like an elephant head with its trunk sticking out front?

And back in a sandy wash again, with helpful rocks guiding the way. The soft sand really is harder to walk in than a hard path–it’s coarser than the beach, but similar in difficulty to walk on.

More of the varied trail terrain–watch out for the yuccas!

Nice job of building up the trail here.

Walking on a granite slope here. That’s Mastodon Peak’s pointy top in the middle.

At about the one mile mark, you’ll come out of the various washes and be able to see Mastodon Peak up ahead.  It’s not a particularly imposing peak from this angle, but it is pretty obvious what you’re headed towards.  You’ll also pass what is almost certainly an abandoned mine structure off the trail to the right a ways, but since we knew there was a bigger mine directly on the trail up ahead, we didn’t venture off to explore it.

Presumed abandoned mine just off the trail.

Mastodon Peak, with a climber in the top middle.

Final approach to the mine and the base of the peak.

First view of the Salton Sea in the distance.

As we got closer to the peak, we could see people up on top of the peak, and as we traveled along the final ridge of the trail towards the peak, the significant remnants of the Mastodon Mine at the base of the peak also came into view.  Though much of the structure is missing, and the mine shaft itself was covered with a large metal grate, this was one of the better mine sites I’ve seen while hiking, and unlike many that are completely sealed off, you could still see clearly down into the shaft.

Approaching the mine site.

Part of the old mine structure.

About the mine…

The mine shaft is covered by a steel grate.

But you can see into it pretty clearly. Note–this looks like a horizontal shot, but it is nearly a totally vertical shaft.

A view of the mine remnants from above.

From the mine, we weren’t clear how people had gotten up to the top of the peak above it, so we explored the rocks a little bit on our own, finding a very nice, peaceful view of the Coachella Valley and Salton Sea, but not an easy way to the top.

Colleen, enjoying the view of the park and the Salton Sea from just above the mine.

But when we started back on the trail, we almost immediately came to a signed trail junction that pointed the way up the “not maintained” trail to the top.  It really isn’t much further to the top from here, and only required a bit of boulder scrambling to get to the top, where a small group sat enjoying 360 degree views of the park, surrounding mountains (both Big Bear and Mount San Jacinto are visible), and the Coachella Valley.

Sign denoting the “trailhead” to the top of the rock.

“Trail Not Maintained” is an understatement, but it is a relatively easy boulder scramble to the top. Most of the rocks in this park are well textured, making it easy to climb and clamber over them with even moderately decent footwear.

A narrow little slot near the top.

Zoomed in photo of the Salton Sea from the top.

After resting a bit and chatting with our fellow hikers, we started heading back down the hill.

This stretch is significantly steeper heading downhill than it was on the way up, but not dramatically so–just watch your step, as the trail is still a bit loose on top.  It does head through some great boulders, and a third of a mile later you will hit the junction with the main Lost Palms Oasis Trail.

Trail back down goes through a nice, boulder strewn alley.

Close-up of a cool split rock (not THE split rock, though…)

A look back up the trail towards the peak–it looks much more impressive from the front side, rather than climbing up the back as we did.

A close-up of the people gathering on top of the peak.

Trail junction for the return trip to the parking lot.

We turned left, and headed on to the Lost Palms Oasis (which may or may not have been worth it–write-up to come {spoiler alert–we didn’t think it was}), but for the purpose of this post, you will want to turn right and head on downhill towards the parking lot at Cottonwood Springs, about 2/3 a mile away.

You can see the trail winding through the desert ahead here.

There are a few cool sections of trail here in the final stretch.

The kind of area you’d expect an ambush in a western movie…

Final stretch of trail. You can see the oasis/spring and parking lot in the background.

Right before the parking lot, there’s a spring and oasis with large palm trees and some cottonwood trees.  At one time this spring supplied water for all the ranchers and miners in the area and was even piped directly over long distances, and maybe there is still open or running water in some years or some seasons, but we didn’t see any on this day.

Out of order, but this is the interpretive sign in the parking lot explaining the history of the spring.

Approaching the spring/oasis.

In the middle of the oasis area–”Hazardous Materials”?

There’s a path with a rail from here up to the parking lot, where there’s a few interpretive signs and a nice view of the oasis below.

The very well-maintained short path from the parking lot to the spring. You could push a wheelchair or stroller down to the spring and back fairly easily, I’d think.

View of the spring and trail from the parking lot.

This is the trailhead where most people start the Mastodon Loop Trail and/or the Lost Palms Oasis.  When Colleen and I later talked about which way was best if we were only doing the Mastodon Loop, we were split.  I liked the way we took, with the gradual climb up to the peak, and the moderately steeper hike down.  Colleen preferred the more dramatic approach to the top of the normal route, despite the steeper climb up front.

Sooooo… if you want to just do the loop, rather than the reverse lollipop combo hike we did, you can do it either way, and if you choose to do it the way most of the world does, just flip back through my post here in reverse!

A look back at the parking lot at the end of the day–if you do the reverse route, look at this picture first! ;-D

We thought the loop made for a nice introductory hike to the park.  Its proximity to the 10 and Coachella Valley make it the easiest way to experience Joshua Tree National Park, and it has a lot of what is best about the park—but if you want to see an actual Joshua Tree, you’re going to need to try one of the other trails or drives in the park, like Split Rock, Skull Rock, Ryan Ranch, Geology Tour Road, or Pinto Basin Road.

Elevation profile of the Mastodon Loop. You can see how much steeper the front side is than the back side we started with more clearly if you click through.

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Mastodon Peak.kml in a larger map

The northwest end of Joshua Tree National Park is what most visitors envision when they think of Joshua Tree. This higher elevation Mojave Desert section of the park is covered with the trees from which the national park gets its name as well as those famous big huge boulders that just beg to be climbed.

For our last day in Joshua Tree over Presidents’ Day weekend, Jeff and I decided to string together several short hikes in this section of the park and finally have some fun on those big giant boulders. The first stop after checking out of our Twentynine Palms hotel was Split Rock…one of the most famously photographed rocks in Joshua Tree, and one of the most popular spots in the entire park. At all three visitor centers, we heard park rangers referring even croc-wearing tourists to Split Rock.

Split Rock is located 10.9 miles from the Oasis Visitor Center, off Loop Road, west of the main junction inside the park. Roadside signs clearly mark the turn-off to the Split Rock parking lot and picnic area. The immediate proximity of Split Rock to the parking lot makes it clear why this easily accessible boulder is so frequently visited. Vault toilets are located at the parking lot.

The parking lot and picnic area.

The marked trailhead is located right next to Split Rock. You can also do the loop in reverse, catching the end of the trail just across the parking lot — but we chose to start at the famous rock.

Walk around Split Rock to explore inside a little cave on the backside of the boulder, then follow the rock-lined path as you climb down to the valley floor.

Trailhead located next to Split Rock.

Standing at the mouth of the little cave located on the back side of Split Rock.

Picking up the trail on the backside of Split Rock. Note the parallel lines of rocks on the left marking the official trail after the descent.

Just one of hundreds of super cool rock formations along this short hiking trail.

Veins run through many of the giant rocks.

This short hike winds through a valley that provides spectacular views of rugged boulders and rock formations, as well as an excellent introduction to desert flora. The trail is very well marked through the majority of the hike.

Signs clearly keep hikers on the right trail the entire loop.

One of a couple rock staircases along the trail.

Nope, not Face Rock yet. Even though it looks like a face.

The longest stretch of bare flat dessert on the trail.

A baby Joshua Tree!

The trail markers disappear here for a few minutes, but just head straight.

See the rock climber scaling the tall flat boulder in the middle? She or he is that little tiny bump on the left side of the boulder .

A closer view of the rock climber. This area is extremely popular with climbers, and many of the rock formations are signed and ranked for climbing.

Strategically placed small rocks keep you on the trail.

At 1.3 miles you encounter a marked trail junction indicating a short detour to Face Rock. This spur is not as well marked as the main trail, and there is no sign whatsoever at Split Rock, but it’s not too hard to find — the face is a big profile shot up on your left. The sound of cars zipping by tells you that the main road is near.

You’ll hit the junction to Face Rock at 1.3 miles into the hike, if you start your hike loop at Split Rock.

The trail spur to Face Rock is very short.

Our first sighting of Face Rock…a profile face shot at the end of the left rock formation, staring off to the right.

A better closer  view of Face Rock, with me standing on the trail for perspective.

Retrace your steps back to the signed trail junction to pick up the main Split Rock Loop Trail again. You will quickly encounter a very rare treat…one of the few shady spots in all of Joshua Tree. Hike on through it to once again catch your breath, soaking in the majestic rock formations and beautiful desert scenery that accompanies you back to the parking lot.

A very brief spot of shade near trails end. One of the very few shady spots we saw anywhere in the park.

Another way too cool rock formation. If you look at the base of the formation, you can see a few rock climbers gearing up.

A full grown Joshua Tree. Such rugged beauty.

Approaching the end of the trail and the parking lot.

At just 2 to 2.64 miles, this hike wouldn’t normally excite regular hikers. But the unique scenery and gorgeous views make it a very worthwhile stop when hiking in Joshua Tree. And at just 2 to 2.64 miles, with those famous spectacular Joshua Tree boulders, this trail is perfect for novice hikers and for families with young kids.

View Split Rock – Face Rock Joshua Tree.kml in a larger map

Trail elevation profile. Click on the image for a larger view.

Situated in Queen Valley, in the northwest section of Joshua Tree National Park, lies the site of a former cattle ranch spread — Ryan Ranch — and the most successful gold mine in the Joshua Tree area, the Lost Horse Mine. While we didn’t have time to visit the mine (this was the final hike of our Presidents’ Day weekend visit to the park), we did make a brief stop on our way out to the ranch ruins.

Interpretive sign at trailhead.

An interpretive sign right at the trailhead tells pretty much all anybody knows about the Ryan Ranch. The ranch was homesteaded in 1896 by brothers Jepp and Tom Ryan to secure a former natural spring located there, which was needed to pump water to and operate the nearby Lost Horse Mine that they owned with third brother Matt and a local prospector named Johnny Lang. The ranch ran cattle until Joshua Tree became a national monument (1936), when grazing was stopped.

What remains of the ranch are the ruins of two adobe structures, build circa 1890 according to the National Register of Historic Places, as well as a couple more modern structures, the remnants of an old gate and fencing, some old rusted machinery, miscellaneous artifacts, and supposedly a pioneer grave site (which we never found). What was once a six-room home (I assume this is the larger of the two adobe ruins) that was initially built using adobe and then enlarged and reinforced with timber, concrete, and metal, burned down in 1978. The Ryan Ranch Home was nominated in 1975 for designation as a National Historic Landmark, but as of yet, it has not been granted NHL status. I wonder if NHL status might have been awarded if the majority of the home were still standing.

A distant view of the structure ruins, at the foot of Ryan Mountain.

Not sure if this was an old watering hole or the foundation of an old structure.

The Ryan Ranch Trailhead is located off what the national park calls Park Boulevard (see park map), but what Google Maps calls Loop Road. It is about half a mile east of Ryan Campground. The Joshua Tree entrance is the nearest park entrance. Pit toilets and a handful of designated roadside parking spaces are available.

Although we forgot to snap a photo of the trail heading toward the ruins (this is hiking back), the view is identical. Long, straight, and flat — just looking at different hills and mountains. Lots of Joshua Trees along the trail.

The hiking trail is an old ranch road, a long straight flat easy dirt road that extends back a half mile to a junction that heads immediately to the ruins (on your left) or veers right for a short walk to the campground. You’ll see an interpretive sign at the junction talking about the park’s early Native American inhabitants. From the junction, just head left up a slight incline — the trail quickly disappears — towards whatever structure or artifact catches your attention.

View from the trail junction. Note, there’s no longer an actual “trail”. You simply choose your own path to the ruins.

A better look at the cool jagged rock formation just east of the ruins.

The first, and larger, adobe structure.

Some of the more modern abandoned structures.

Life here had to be rough and rugged, but with gorgeous views.

The smaller adobe, surrounded by rusty old artifacts.

We opted not to return to the trail junction to follow the old ranch road back to the trailhead. Instead we spotted what looks like a kind-of sort-of rock-lined unofficial path leading away from the larger adobe to a mid-way spot along the ranch road. This rock-lined path quickly ended, requiring us to once again choose our own way meandering through a blanket of desert shrubs until we joined up with the trail.

The rock-lined alternative trail that we took back to meet up with the official trail.

Hiking back to the trailhead and our truck.

While not the most exciting hike in the park — the area doesn’t have as many of those popular big boulders for scampering around on — this little one mile trail is flat and easy enough for people who physically can’t do much hiking. And it’s short enough, with some cool old artifacts at the end, to keep the attention of even the youngest hikers. The views are beautiful, and the destination provides some of the only abandoned structures in the park through which visitors can walk.

Trail elevation profile. Click on the image for a larger view.

View Ryan Ranch Joshua Tree.kml in a larger map

My boss recently was elected to serve on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, where I will continue to be his chief of staff.  I immediately abused my “super chief” powers by assigning all the fun stuff in the office to myself –including all the parks and trails issues within the county, primarily through the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District.  My plan has already begun to pay off, as one of the first meetings I had to attend was the Parks District Advisory Committee, being hosted at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve‘s Visitor Center.

The 9,000 acre reserve is an amazing natural and historical resource, featuring six different eco-system types, and is called home by over 200 species of native birds and 49 endangered, threatened or rare animal and plant species, including a variety of fairy shrimp that exists only on the plateau.  As a big fan of shrimp dishes, it is unfortunate for us, but fortunate for them that they are not suitable for grilling, so they serve primarily as food to the birds, and not humans.

This is what a fairy shrimp looks like (though not necessarily the exact fairy shrimp at the Reserve). Clearly too small for the BBQ. (Photo Credit Ken-Ichi on Flickr)

The oldest standing structures in Riverside County are also located on the plateau, a pair of adobe bunkhouses that date back to the cowboy days of the mid-1800′s.  You can learn a lot about the Reserve at their website, but you can also stop at the Visitor’s Center, for displays and brochures and helpful docents who can answer your questions.

A look across Sylvan Meadow from near the trailhead. Snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains in the background.

Most relevant to our blog, though, are the 40 miles of trails at the plateau.  Most of the trails (as well as the adobes and the majority of the vernal pools) are located on the southeast side of Clinton Keith Road, and are restricted to human hikers only–no dogs, no horses, and no bikes.  On the northwest side of the road is the Sylvan Meadows portion of the Reserve, and these trails are multi-use, with equestrian, bicycle, and dog-walking recreation all allowed.  You can see a map of the trails and major features of the Reserve here.

The kids and the puppy and I checking out birds in the tree.

Regular readers know we like to take our dog with us when hiking as often as possible, and we also had Colleen’s parents, our kids and our four year old nephew with us on the day we visited the plateau, so we chose the shorter Sylvan Meadows loop, rather than the more popular adobe or vernal pool hikes on the other side of the road.

If you are heading to Sylvan Meadows from the east, you just continue on Clinton Keith Road past the visitor center on the left, and then pull into the next parking area on the right just after it becomes Tenaja Road.  There is a $3 per adult, $2 per child (2-12 yrs) and $1 per dog or horse fee (cash only) for hiking, that was being collected by a docent in the parking lot on the day we were there.

Oaks dot the preserve, but most of the trail is pretty exposed.

Kids obviously don’t need us to lead the way.

There is a very nice shaded picnic area right there to the right of the parking lot, and there is a trailhead at the tables.  We headed down the more inside, less improved trail that was a bit further from Clinton Keith/Tenaja Road than the outside trail, at least at the start.  The trail heads through grasslands, with a view of a small vernal pools along the way.  Hiking in mid-April, we were a little late for the best  wildflower blooms visible on the plateau (they even have a weekly update on wildflower blooms during the height of the season on their website), but the grasses were green and there were still wildflowers to be seen, and the pools still had water in them.

Some of the wildflowers are still around in mid-April. I believe this is a checkerbloom.

A vernal pool! See the fairy shrimp?

There are benches around the plateau for birdwatchers and those just needing or wanting to rest.

This stretch of trail goes right along Clinton Keith/Tenaja Rd.

Less than a half mile from the trailhead, you’ll reunite with the main Mortero Trail, which then tracks closely along Clinton Keith/Tenaja Road for the next 1/3 to 1/2 mile.  Once you start heading away from the road again, now on Sylvan Meadows Trail/Road, you’ll come to a junction with the Cajalco Trail.  You could take this trail to the visitor’s center .7 miles away, and then come back .8 miles on Tovashal Trail, adding a bit over a mile to the 2.8 mile loop you were originally going to do.  If we did it without the kids, we probably would have done this, as Tovashal Trail in particular appears to go along a nice tree-lined wash/creek.  You could also start this hike at the visitor’s center by taking one of these trails to the Sylvan Meadow loop, and then returning down the other.

A look across the various grasses on the plateau.

Another pool off the trail. Note: You are not allowed to leave the trails.

The 4-year old trying to catch some shrimp for lunch!

The hike is mostly exposed, with only occasional trees and shade along the way, but if you do it in the Winter (after the first rains) or Spring, the plateau is lush and green, with a variety of grasses and flowers.

Another nice view of the trees along the meadow.

A pretty stretch of the trail.

Kids finally let me back in front again.

More lush grasses! (look out for ticks)

As you continue around the loop, you’ll have a couple other opportunities to add mileage and time to your hike by taking one of the side paths up one of the hills that might provide better views of the whole plateau, but we decided to save that for another time when we didn’t have the kids with us.  If you don’t take any of the side trips, you’ll end up back at the parking lot in just under 3 miles.

By definition, the plateau itself is quite flat, with an elevation change of only 120 feet or so over the less-than-three mile hike, which is why we’ve called this kid-friendly, even though it doesn’t have the kind of spectacular features (waterfalls, beaches, peaks, views) that we usually need to put it in this category.  It’s easy and it’s pretty, so even our 4 year old nephew had a good time.  I did find a tick on me when we got home, so be sure to check yourself, your kids and your dogs afterwards!

Final stretch of trail heading towards the parking lot.

We intend to go back when the wildflowers are in full bloom, and to find a time to go without the dog, so we can see the more popular side of the preserve with the adobes and more extensive vernal ponds, but if you’re looking for a short hike or bike with your dog or kids, this is a really nice place to visit.

Sylvan Meadows Loop elevation profile. Click through for more detail.

View Sylvan Meadows–Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve in a larger map

If you live in Southern California, it is amazing how many hiking opportunities there are right in our backyard.  Even aside from the obvious options in the Angeles National Forest or the Cleveland National Forest on the edges of most of the urban and suburban development, there are places like the Puente Hills/Chino Hills piece of the Transverse Ranges, running right down the border of Orange and Los Angeles Counties.  We’ve done a number of hikes in the Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Preservation Authority area on the west end of these hills, while most of the east end is within Chino Hills State Park.

We’ve done several hikes in this area, but until recently, hadn’t hiked to the top of the tallest “peak” in these hills–San Juan Hill, at 1,781 feet.  According to the map you can get at the two main entrances to the park or online, the two most obvious routes to San Juan Hill are from the east, by starting in the campground/equestrian area accessed off Soquel Canyon Road from Hwy 71, or from the west, by parking at the Rimcrest Trailhead in Yorba Linda, which is how we chose to go.

Rimcrest entrance to Chino Hills State Park.

Sign at the Rimcrest entrance giving trail distances.

Located off Rimcrest Drive, there is no ranger station or pay kiosk here, just a residential street with a sign at the end of it.  Almost immediately after crossing through the open gate signifying the entrance to the park, you’ll turn right and head pretty quickly up a reasonably well maintained fire road called South Ridge Trail.  In fact, the first three miles is pretty aggressively uphill, almost all the way to the top of San Juan Hill.

A look back down on the Rimcrest entrance, showing how quickly you start climbing.

Lots of bikes to be seen on South Ridge Trail.

One of the flatter sections along the ridge. Note the lack of shade–very important in the Summer, not so much in Winter.

Sign post for Little Canyon cutoff, covered with, what is that? Are those….???

BEEEEESSSS!!!!1! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!
(They didn’t actually bother us at all as we walked by)

Another look at the ridge trail. I believe that is San Juan Hill on the right. That is the San Bernardino Mountains in the distance on the left.

You’ll pass a few minor trail junctions along the way, but it is nearly impossible to lose the way until near the end, as you climb along the obvious ridgeline trail towards the top of the hill.  South Ridge Trail follows along much of the southern border of the park, giving very nice views of Orange County all the way to the coast and Catalina Island on a clear day (we’ve previously blogged about what a great sunset hike a different stretch of this trail can be).

Yorba Linda is just off to the right during nearly this entire stretch.

Bovinian Delight Trail Junction. Ignore it for now (you might use it later).

At about the 2.5 mile mark, there will be a trail junction on the left for Bovinian Delight (sounds like something I’d BBQ...).  Roughly a half mile later, there will be another less well marked junction on the left (another cutoff to Bovinian Delight, which we’ll come back to in a minute) followed almost immediately by a small trail up the hill to your right.  This is the single track trail to the top of San Juan Hill, and is marked with a post.

Final stretch of South Ridge Trail towards San Juan Hill in the background.

Single track trail up to the “peak” of San Juan Hill.

This last piece to the top is only about a tenth of a mile and 100 feet in elevation gain.  On a clear day, the view from the top is impressive, with a 360 degree view of Southern California, including the coast, the San Gabriel Mountains, the San Bernardino Mountains, Mount San Jacinto, and the Santa Ana Mountains.

Approaching the monument at the top of the hill. San Bernardino Mountains and Mount San Jacinto in the background.

Survey marker denoting the Orange/San Bernardino County line at the peak. The park has portions in Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.

A look back west along the trail from the top, showing the terrain. If you look closely, that is Catalina Island on the horizon.

A look towards the southwest across most of Orange County. That’s the Pacific Ocean shining in the distance (you may have heard of it).

Southeast look towards the Santa Ana Mountains.

View to the north of Mount Baldy and the San Gabriel Mountains.

San Juan–1896. What the hell does that mean?

At the top is what is left of a monument that simply says, “San Juan 1896″.  I had assumed that it was a tribute to the famous Battle of San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders.  After all, there is a Spanish-American War Memorial in Irvine Park, and Orange County did lose four men in the war, so it seemed likely.  One problem though–the entire Spanish-American War (including the charge up San Juan Hill) was in 1898, and the monument has 1896 on it!  A local historian suggested perhaps a link to the Rancho San Juan Cajón de Santa Ana, which was a major landholding in Orange County during the 1800s, but it didn’t appear to include the Chino Hills, and I find no relationship to 1896 and that rancho.  The only “San Juan” I can find with a specific link to 1896 is The Battle of San Juan del Monte, which is recognized as the first battle of the Phillipine Revolution for independence from Spain, but I am unaware of any particular significance of that event to Orange County.  Does anyone out there know the answer to this riddle?  Is it a tribute to Filipino independence?  When was the monument itself erected?  What originally stood on top of the monument base?  Is the date just wrong, and that’s why they tore down the hypothetical statue (Teddy Roosevelt on a horse maybe) on top in embarrassment?  If you know the answer, let us know!

After enjoying the views and pondering the monument mystery, you can head back down the hill.  You could simply return the way you came, for a relatively boring 6 mile out-and-back hike.  We chose to turn it into a loop hike, by hiking down to Telegraph Canyon Trail and returning that way, which added an additional mile or so to the total hike and includes some of the more scenic pieces of the park.

Heading down from the top. You can see the Bovinian Delight cutoff going to the right from the main trail ahead.

The unmarked, unimproved Bovinian Delight cutoff trail. A little sketchy, but it was on their map, so…

To do the loop, once you re-connect with South Ridge Trail at the base of the San Juan Hill spur, head down the Bovinian Delight cutoff trail you passed just immediately before heading up the hill.  This is not really an improved trail, but really more of an old dirt road track being re-claimed by the grasses (if it weren’t on the Park map, we wouldn’t have even considered taking it), so if you find it impassible (which it may well be at certain times of the year–see our “Easy Street” photos by season at the end of the post), you can head down the main Bovinian Delight Trail another half mile back down South Ridge Trail.  If you take the cutoff, it will connect to the main trail after only a quarter mile.

Bovinian Delight Cutoff Trail–Really just a tire rut.

Here’s where the cutoff meets the main Bovinian Delight Trail.  You can see how faint the cutoff trail is on the left hand side roughly where I’m standing.

Finally out of view of houses to the north or south.

This is about the point that you will actually lose sight of civilization for the first time on this hike.  Through the entire time along South Ridge, you’ve been on an exposed ridge that overlooks much of suburban Orange County.  On Bovinian Delight, you will finally drop into Telegraph Canyon far enough to block your views of the houses to the north and south of the park.

Trees! First shade since the trailhead.

An actual wilderness feel to this stretch.

Shortly after joining up with the main trail,  the single track descends into some trees and a narrow canyon that provides the first semblance of shade since the trees on Rimcrest at the trailhead.

Approaching Four Corners and Telegraph Canyon Trail.

Someone’s picture of the shelter and kiosk at Four Corners. Major crossroads for bicyclists here. (Credit “dvansoye”)

About 3/4 mile from South Ridge Trail, Bovinian Delight Trail runs into Telegraph Canyon Trail at Four Corners, the major trail crossroad in the park.  There is a kiosk here and some benches, and even a port-a-potty at the intersection.  Heading to the right will lead you towards the Rolling M Ranch, campground, equestrian area and the Chino Hills entrance.  Straight ahead takes you to Raptor Ridge or Hills for Everyone Trail, and to the left will get you to the Carbon Canyon Park Entrance and the new visitor’s center.  It’s also pretty close to the center of the park, based on the map you can get from one of the Ranger Stations or online here.

Telegraph Canyon Trail, bisecting the park from east to west.

Telegraph Canyon, between the two ridges of the park, is really very pleasant.

A nice picnic spot along the way.

Most of the western end of Telegraph Canyon Trail looks like this.

To get back to the Rimcrest entrance, head left down Telegraph Canyon about three miles to the Easy Street Trail.  The trail through here is a very well maintained fire road that is very busy with hikers and lots of mountain bikes, especially on a weekend.  It is a very gradual descent along the trail, through some of the prettiest scenery in the park.  Beautiful oaks shade many stretches of the trail, and while the “seasonal stream” that runs along the side of the trail is usually close to dry, it does provide water (or at least moisture) for a variety of greenery and wildlife.  There are some great areas along the way to stop and enjoy a snack or a picnic lunch.

Easy Street Trail junction–very easy to miss.

Easy Street Trail goes down across the seasonal creek before heading back uphill.

Easy Street heading up the canyon back towards the Rimcrest trailhead.

If you’re not paying attention, it would be quite easy to walk on by Easy Street Trail, so keep an eye on the left side of the trail.  You’ll pass the better marked Little Canyon Trail junction at about the two mile mark, and then the Easy Street junction less than a mile after that.  The trail goes down into the creekbed (sometimes it is wetter than others) before heading back up as a single track trail through a narrow pass.  This trail is less than a half mile long and gains 150 feet in elevation, but it will drop you almost exactly at the Rimcrest Trailhead where you parked.

Easy Street Trail approaching the Rimcrest Trailhead, fairly barren in December.

Here’s the same stretch in mid-Spring–almost claustrophobic.

Same stretch in late Spring, with the wild mustard flowers in bloom.

Despite the fact that dogs aren’t allowed on the trails (one of our pet peeves), we enjoy the convenience of access to the trails at Chino Hills State Park.  It’s not the greatest wilderness experience, and other than along Telegraph Canyon, most of the trails are totally exposed, making it fairly hot and miserable in the middle of a Summer day.  But the grasses are green in the Winter, and the wildflowers in the Spring can be very beautiful, so if you’re looking for a local hike with a view, and it isn’t too hot, why not charge up San Juan Hill?

Elevation profile–San Juan Hill. Click through for larger view.

View San Juan Hill in Chino Hills State Park in a larger map

One of the most iconic symbols of Southern California (and probably the most famous sign in the world) is the Hollywood Sign.  Possibly the only thing more Hollywood than the Hollywood Sign is the actual making of movies in Hollywood, and the caves at Bronson Canyon adjacent to the sign have been featured in more than 100 movies and tv shows, including its use as the bat cave in the Batman tv series, the climactic scene of The Searchers with John Wayne, and all five Star Trek TV series, among others.  This hike catches both memorable sites!

The only natural site we have gone to that may have appeared in more films is the Alabama Hills along historic Hwy 395, making this a tremendously great hike not just for California natives, but also for those annoying and/or beloved friends and families visiting from out of state for the holidays.  Anyone that does this hike will be able to point at the Hollywood sign every time it appears on television or in the movies for the rest of their lives and say, “I was there!”

That doesn’t mean you can drag just anyone up there, however (unless you’re trying to knock them off).  While it is an extremely popular/ busy hike that is entirely done on a well maintained dirt/paved road, it is also a 7 mile hike, with over 1,000 feet in elevation gain.  So while you don’t have to be a professional mountaineer, and you don’t need expensive hiking boots (many do it in tennis shoes), it may be beyond the fitness level of many couch-bound or elderly people, especially on a hot day, as there is very little shade along the way and it is a steady climb up all the way to the sign.

Griffith Park parking lot at the end of Canyon Drive.

We’ve now done this hike twice, (bringing a group the second time), and while it is a very busy trail, we’ve been able to park in the lot at the end of Canyon Drive, off of Franklin Avenue each time.  It is a part of  LA’s amazing Griffith Park, and surprisingly, there are no fees.  There are a couple of portable toilets in the parking lot (which were without toilet paper the last time we were there, but “semper paratus” is my guide…), but nothing from this point forward, so be aware.

Trail towards Bronson Canyon “Bat Cave”.

Approaching the “Bat Cave” and the former quarry site.

As you head north up the road/trail from the parking lot, you will come to a junction after about 1,000 feet.   Turn to the right and head back southward on this trail/road.  After another 1,000 feet or so, you will come to the famous “bat cave” from the old “Batman and Robin” tv show.  But while this may be the most famous use, this tunnel and the area around it has been used in more than one hundred movies and television shows, from the climactic scene in John Wayne’s “The Searchers”, to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, to all five Star Trek TV series, Lone Ranger, Dukes of Hazzard, Little House on the Prairie, and many other shows you have almost certainly seen.

The Bat Cave! Really just a short tunnel at the quarry site…

Big crowd, looking for leftover Batmobile parts.

The walls of the quarry, where John Wayne charges down the hill at the end of “The Searchers.”

You can actually walk all the way through the cave/tunnel, which kids find especially cool, and then check out the quarry site (and the hill John Wayne charged down in The Searchers) at the end before returning back down the trail to the main path up to Mount Lee and the Hollywood Sign, which has itself been featured in countless movies and tv shows.

First view of the Hollywood Sign from Bronson Canyon.

Parking lot at “Camp Hollywood Land.”

Locked vehicle gate on the trail.

Fairly shortly thereafter you will pass the parking lot for “Camp Hollywood Land” (HOLLYWOODLAND is what the famous sign originally said) and then encounter a locked vehicle gate, in one of the few shaded sections of the trail.  Head on around that, and very shortly, you’ll begin climbing in earnest.  You will also leave the shade, for most of the rest of the walk to the top.  Keep an eye off to the left of the trail, for occasional glimpses of the Hollywood sign from various vantage points.  The trail is typically very busy, and the people watching can be very entertaining, as you try to decide who might be a real celebrity (we did spot at least one group being trailed by photographers), and who just wants to look like one.  In the spring, this trail probably has a nice variety of wildflowers along the trail, but most of the year, the vegetation is less than exciting, typical SoCal sage scrub (the occasional cacti may entertain your out of town guests, though).

Shaded, paved piece of lower trail.

More shade!

No more shade.

The Hollywood sign is at the base of the radio tower in the distance.

There’s a glimpse of it, zoomed in on the camera.

Roughly a mile from the trailhead, and two miles from the start if you took the diversion to the bat cave, you will come to a junction with another major trail.  In fact, this trail is the dirt road section of Mulholland Drive!  That may also be an attractant for your visiting tourists (or even allegedly jaded SoCal native you) who’ve seen the movie or just heard the name their entire lives.  If you turn right, you’ll head towards the famous Griffith Park Observatory, but we’re heading left towards the sign today.  The trail gets even busier from here, and you will likely share the trail with horses (and their… “exhaust”).  You can pay for horseback tours of the sign and the park at nearby Sunset Ranch.

Group of horses walking along the Mulholland Drive portion of the trail. You can see how level this section is.

These are the sorts of views of the LA basin you see on the Mulholland Drive section. You can also see the trail you’ve traveled down towards the lower left.

Leftward heads to the stables, rightward heads towards the sign.

A look down to Sunset Ranch Stables, where you can take a horse tour.

The trail levels out for a mile or so here, as it wraps around the hill, providing some very nice views of the LA Basin on a clear day.  A little after a half mile on Mulholland, you’ll pass a dirt road that goes down towards the left towards the stables (where all the horsies will likely turn off), and a little less than a half mile after that, you’ll come to a paved trail junction.  While you can see the Hollywood Sign off to the left from here, you’ll want to actually turn right (counter-intuitive though it may be).

Getting closer!

Intersection with the final paved section of the trail.

Good view of Mulholland Drive Trail that we’ve just come across. The furthest section leads to the Griffith Observatory.

Nice view of Griffith Observatory in the foreground and Downtown LA in the background from the trail.

Near the top of the trail to the ridge, dividing LA Basin from San Gabriel Valley.

The trail begins to climb fairly steeply again from here, as it wraps around the back side of Mount Lee.  After about a third of a mile, you’ll have some great views of the San Fernando Valley and Forest Lawn Cemetery (where hundreds of celebs, including Michael Jackson are buried) to the north, and a few trees for shade from the sun (if you’re hiking on a hot day).

Look into the San Gabriel Valley and the San Gabriel Mountain Range. That’s Forest Lawn Cemetery in the lower left.

Final stretch to the top!

Roughly a mile from the paved section of the trail, you’ll come to the top of Mount Lee, and the top of the Hollywood sign!  There’s a heavy grade chain link fence that makes pictures from the trail less than optimal, and security cameras to keep you from climbing the fence for an unobstructed view, or making one of the famous modifications to the sign that resulted in the camera installations (GO UCLA!).  But if you keep going just a bit further, you can scramble up the little hill at the top of the trail and get a great 360 degree view of Southern California, from Downtown LA, to Hollywood, to West LA, Palos Verdes, Burbank’s studios and the San Gabriel Valley and even Catalina Island, on a clear day.

Nice, scenic, chain link fence at the top, blocking our view of the Hollywood Reservoir and Mulholland Dam.

View of the back of the Hollywood Sign!

Some of the array of security cameras ensuring you don’t get any bright ideas about getting closer to the Hollywood Sign.

It’s a nice spot for a picnic, but it may be crowded.  The view is definitely worth the trip, especially if it isn’t too smoggy, hazy, foggy, etc.  Take some time to enjoy your proximity to the Hollywood sign that will allow you to identify the top of your hike every time you see it on television or the movie screen for the rest of your life!

Part of our group, enjoying lunch at the top of the mountain.

Views from the top are much better than the views from the trail.

Beautiful views of LA on our first trip up.

San Gabriel Valley and the studios in Burbank (near the middle) from the top.

Mount Lee Peak Marker.

Close-up of Griffith Observatory from the peak.

Look back down the trail as we return home.

From here, it is a relatively easy three mile hike back downhill, retracing your steps all the way (except for the diversion to the bat cave–you’ll probably want to skip that part on the way back).  It can be done year-round, but it is very exposed, so it is best done on a cool, crisp day, or in the morning before it heats up outside.  It really is a great hike for a Southern California native looking for a new perspective on an iconic piece of your homeland, but even better as a way to impress your relatively fit friends or family from out of town, who want something a bit different than the standard tourist drive.  You can even reward them with a stop at the historic Pink’s Hot Dogs stand afterwards, where your sweaty, stinky self will hardly be noticed in the outdoor line, amidst all the celebrities that allegedly haunt the joint.

Holly chilling (or trying to) in a rare shaded spot with what is clearly some sort of distant cousin she met on the trail.

View the Hollywood Sign and Batcave on Mount Lee in a larger map

Elevation Profile. Click through for a larger view.

Nobody likes a dump, but the establishment of the Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Preservation Authority, as a result of mitigation for the Puente Hills Landfill, has led to a remarkable stretch of wildlands being preserved on the LA/OC border from the 605 Freeway almost all the way to the 57 Freeway.  We have previously written about our hikes in the Hellman Wilderness Park and Powder Canyon Loop, and have hiked in the Hacienda Hills area (our favorite stretch, actually, and post is coming soon) as well.  These are not true wilderness hikes, but it is amazing what a nice, natural experience you can get hiking on these trails right in the middle of crowded Southern California.

It is especially nice when you don’t have a lot of time to drive, or you have something to do later in the day, so need a shorter option, as all of these hikes are half day at most.  The first time we hiked a portion of Powder Canyon, we parked at the Black Walnut Trailhead on Fullerton Road, and did the Black Walnut/Powder Canyon Loop.  We liked it so much, that the next time we wanted to get out but didn’t have a lot of time, we parked at the Gray Squirrel Trailhead (no fee), just southwest of Black Walnut, also on Fullerton Road, to try a different loop within the park.  This “lollipop” loop would have us re-trace our favorite part of the Powder Canyon Trail, reach a peak with a near 360 degree view of LA and Orange County, and then brush up against Schabarum Regional park at the halfway mark before returning  on Powder Canyon again.

The parking area at Gray Squirrel Trailhead, such as it is…

The pretty part of this hike starts almost immediately.  Gray Squirrel Trail almost immediately descends into an oak canopy, which continues as you merge onto Powder Canyon Trail.  Head north on Powder Canyon (it will probably feel like you’re heading west), hiking mostly in the shade until you begin climbing towards the Purple Sage Trail.

The Gray Squirrel Trailhead.

Heading into the oak canopy.

Nicely shaded trail headed to Powder Canyon.

Gray Squirrel Trail junction with Powder Canyon Trail.

Shaded section of Powder Canyon Trail.

Higher up Powder Canyon, as it gets more exposed.

The last stretch of this piece of Powder Canyon, and then the uphill portion of Purple Sage  Trail (after you turn left at the intersection) are both very exposed, making it a very hot and dry climb if you do this on a warm day or in the afternoon.  This relatively steep, exposed stretch lasts just under a mile, before bringing you to an overlook that brings you beautiful views of the San Gabriel Mountains (most prominently Mount Baldy) to the north and Orange County and Catalina Island (on a reasonably clear day) to the south.  For the best view, either hike on up to the radio towers at the top, or at least to the overlook, right adjacent to where the Buena Vista Trail crosses the Purple Sage Trail.

At the junction of Purple Sage Trail and Powder Canyon.

The open and exposed Purple Sage Trail to the top.

Looking back down Purple Sage Trail from near the top.

Trail sign along the way, showing this is part of the Anza National Historic Trail as well as the Schabarum Trail.

Holly, enjoying a rare shady spot along the way.

Headed towards the “summit”, lined with radio towers.

The main Buena Vista Trail is on the left, but we strongly suggest taking the less traveled right on the right to a nice scenic lookout.

A look southeast to Santiago Peak in Orange County.

Mount Baldy and the San Gabriel Range to the north.

Not a particularly clear day, but that is Catalina in the background.

We took the Buena Vista Trail “short cut” over to Schabarum Trail, but if you want to add another mile or so to your distance, you can continue straight on Purple Sage Trail to Schabarum, and go on the back side of the radio towers.  As we did it, the Buena Vista Trail passes by a few large shady trees (much needed the day we did it!) before starting back downhill through several tall transmission towers before joining up with the Schabarum Trail.

Buena Vista Trail.

Shaded spot along Buena Vista Trail.

A look down from Buena Vista Trail to the Schabarum Trail below.

Heading down Buena Vista Trail towards Schabarum Trail.

Once you join the Schabarum Trail, head straight/right in a generally northward direction (though it starts briefly south, as you can see at the map here).  The downhill is a bit steeper than the uphill was, but nothing too challenging.  The top half of the descent is also quite exposed, which is something to consider if you decide to do the loop the other way (as we recently did with a group of other outdoors bloggers). The lower half is actually quite nice.

A look back up the unshaded part of Schabarum Trail on the way down.

The trail starts to get more shaded.

The nice lower section of the Schabarum Trail.

Holly, anxiously waiting for us to get to the bottom.

Near the bottom of the trail. Another nice lookout from lower elevation. You’ll turn right here, but doesn’t hurt to check out the view first.

Shaded section of lower Schabarum Trail.

After about a mile, you will run into Schabarum Park.  Schabarum Regional Park consists of  640 acres of trails, picnic areas, playgrounds and an equestrian center. For yesterday’s SoCal Hiking TweetUp, we met at one of the picnic areas near the Powder Canyon Trailhead within the park, and it proved to be a very nice place for a hike and bbq, and a good starting point to hike one or both of the Powder Canyon loops, if you don’t mind paying the $6 parking fee on weekends (free mid-week).

The trail to the left heads into the park and the picnic areas. We’re heading straight today, but started on the left when we hiked this recently from Schabarum Park.

Holly, ensuring the approaching hikers aren’t a threat…

Heading along a nice stretch on the edge of the park.

The trail wanders along the edge of the park for about a half mile until you come to the stables, where it heads south back into the quasi-wilderness.  The next 3/4 mile starts to head relatively gently uphill, along a fairly well shaded trail back up to the junction with Purple Sage Trail, where you re-connect with the portion of Powder Canyon Trail you have already hiked.

The stables on the southeast end of the park.

The trailhead for Powder Canyon at the stables.

Going up Powder Canyon Trail from the stables.

Approaching the junction with Purple Sage Trail.

From here, going this direction, it is a mostly gently descending trail for just over a half mile back to the Gray Squirrel Trail junction, and a short hop back up to the parking area from there.

Heading back down Powder Canyon towards the Gray Squirrel Trailhead.

As we hiked it, this is a 4.5 mile hike, but if you park at Schabarum Regional Park and just do the loop, it is only 3.2 miles.  If you want to add on mileage, you can make it a figure 8 type hike, as some of our hiking friends did today, tying together the Schabarum-Purple Sage-Powder loop (described in this write-up) with the Black Walnut-Powder Canyon loop (described here) to make it a roughly 7 mile hike.

There is really only one stretch of this portion of the Puente Hills Preserve we haven’t tried yet, and that would be to tie the Anza-Schabarum trail to the Black Walnut Trail into another 4.5-5 mile loop.  As close at it is, I’m sure we will get there soon!

We had a great time yesterday meeting some long-time and new hiking Twitter friends at the 2nd annual #SoCalHikingTweetup!  And we look forward to hiking with this bunch again:

• Pete (aka “East West Hike“) @ADKinLA
• Traci (aka “Walk Simply“) @WalkSimply
• Jeff  (aka “The SoCal Hiker“) @thesocalhiker, and his wife Joan
• Josh (aka “California Through My Lens“) @JCMcNair, and his wife Amy
• David (aka “Red Tail Trails” ), @SwiftCinema
• Zac (aka “Op Adventure Team“), @ZacApplegate.

View Powder Canyon – Schabarum Trail Loop 1-1-12 in a larger map

Elevation profile for Powder Canyon–Schabarum Trail Loop, hiked from Gray Squirrel Trailhead.

About a month ago, a Twitter buddy turned me on on to iNaturalist, a citizen science website that crowd-sources images and data about wildlife and flora from all over the world. iNaturalist was started in 2008 by a group of U.C. Berkeley grad students (Go Bears!) as their Masters final project (my fellow information geeks), and the site is currently maintained by one of those students and a Stanford climate change researcher (What?! Cal and Stanford peeps collaborating?!). The site describes itself as a “place where you can record what you see in nature, meet other nature lovers, and learn about the natural world.” Hikers, bird watchers, and other outdoors enthusiasts can use iNaturalist to learn about flora and wildlife in a particular area, and (most importantly, IMO) can contribute their own photos and observations to iNaturalist to help document flora and wildlife in a particular region over time.

Our Profile: http://www.inaturalist.org/users/greeneadventures

I’ve become quite hooked on iNaturalist, and am trying to incorporate it into our hikes and outings.

Using the iNaturalist Website

Browsing most parts of iNaturalist can be done without an account, however contributing observations, helping to identify species, commenting, and other interactive features do require you to sign up for a free account.

Navigating the Site

There are five main entry points to browse the website. Observations provides an updated stream of observations (pinned to a map) displayed in reverse chronological order. Species provides a categorized view of observations organized into parent-level biological Kingdom classifications that drill down to the species level (taxa in science geek speak). Projects are collaborative observation groups (much like Flickr Groups or Facebook Groups) that focus on a particular species, region, or institution. Places allow you to focus on all of the species that can be found in a particular locality, such as a country, state, county, city, designated open space, etc. People lets you find other iNaturalist users.

Observations View: A reverse chronological stream of recent submissions, plotted on a map.

Species View: Shows recent submissions, scientific and popular names for the species, and a Wikipedia description of the species.

A Project page, this one for a national park.

Places View: Browse or search the map to see observations submitted for a particular locality.

Places View: A look at the species found in Orange County, California.

Contributing Observations and Confirmations

Observations are the meat and potatoes of iNaturalist — without them, there is no real meal. Yes, you could just choose to use iNaturalist as a field guide species look-up app, taking advantage of those rich Species profiles (with their cool Wikipedia mashup descriptions). But, what sets iNaturalist apart from other similar field guide apps is the steady stream of user-contributed (crowd-sourced) species Observations from all over the world. So, don’t just be an armchair naturalist…do your part as a citizen scientist by contributing your own wildlife and flora photos from out in the field!

Contributing Observations to the website is a piece of cake. You can upload photos directly to the website (this is the slowest method), or connect your iNaturalist profile to your Flickr or Picasa account (the fastest method) and pull in photos that you’ve already uploaded to one of these two photo sharing sites. [A tip...I tag my Flickr photos with "iNaturalist" to more quickly and easily filter when adding to the website.] Once you’ve picked a photo to contribute, use the robust “Lookup” button to search the species taxonomy for the right classification (aka “mule deer”, or just “deer”). If you aren’t sure, you can go with something as generic as “plants”, and then check the “ID Please!” box to ask the extensive user base for identification help. Add the date observed, plot your Observation on the included Google Map, add a pertinent optional Description (aka “Viewed this mule deer eating alongside the ABCD hiking trail.”), and add any optional Tags relevant to you.

Observations, photos, and details can be easily added online.

Observation Detail View of one of our submissions, which generated a handful of comments as two fellow iNaturalists debated the species of berry that we submitted.

Contributing to Projects

I highly encourage you to get involved with Projects and contribute to Projects! Browse the index to find localities, species, or events that suit your interests. We joined all of the regions in which we regularly hike — for example, the “Anza Borrego Desert Wildlife” Project. From the detail view of any Observation you submit, click on the “Add to project” button to also contribute that particular Observation to a Project that you’ve already joined.

We nerded it up and joined a bunch of Projects. Here's one for one of our favorite SoCal hiking and camping spots -- Anza Borrego.

If you don’t find one for your specific niche, create one. We did! Greene Adventures created the “Biodiversity in Orange County” Project as a place to crowd-source and chronicle the wildlife and flora that can be found in Orange County, California. Imagine how robust this collection could be if our local parks agencies, schools and colleges, and outdoors enthusiasts contributed field Observations? A big shout-out to Walk Simply, who joined iNaturalist and our new Project, after a brief Twitter conversation earlier this week!

Do you hike, camp, recreate, live, work, or study in Orange County, California? Join our "Biodiversity in Orange County" Project! Walk Simply did!

Using the iNaturalist Mobile Apps

iNaturalist provides an iPhone app and an Adroid app. Since Jeff and I both have iPhones, that’s what we’re reviewing.

The iPhone app is a super handy tool for capturing and contributing Observations on the trail and out in the field. Even if you don’t have a data connection (frequently the case, when we’re hiking), you can still capture photos, GPS positioning, and other important metadata, and then contribute those to the website by syncing your Observations when you’re back in data signal range.

The iPhone app provides a robust form to capture and submit rich place and time-based Observation metadata.

One key bit of functionality that I find missing from the iPhone app is the ability to see Observations (mine, as well as others) in a particular area.

When I scroll the map to places to which I have contributed Observations, these don’t show up on my mobile map. I’d love to be able to use the app as a mobile GPS-enabled field guide when hiking open spaces and trails (assuming I get a data signal) — much like what Historypin does for historical spots. While I can look up species info for mobile identification purposes, I’d really like to see user-contributed Observations for that locality.

Really wishing my previously submitted Observations, and those submitted by others, showed up on the mobile map.

Using the iNaturalist Widgets

iNaturalist also offers what seem like some pretty nifty widgets that can be embedded into a blog, website, or presentation. You can see an example in our blog footer — the most recent Observations contributed by Greene Adventures.

The web widgets display fine in WordPress widgets, just not in the body of a WordPress post.

But, try as I might, I can’t get these embedded widgets to display within the body of an actual blog post. You can see what I mean below — blog readers should be able to see a steam of our most recent Observations, as well as a stream of the most recent Observations contributed to the “Biodiversity in Orange County” Project. Oh well…I’ll troubleshoot the issue.

View greeneadventures’s observations »

View more observations from Biodiversity in Orange County, California on iNaturalist »

Additional Thoughts

I am still getting to the know the site…there is just so much cool outdoors nerdy information and functionality. But, as I play more and discover more, I will certainly share and post more.

Give it a try! And connect with Greene Adventures!

On a hot January day (yes, it’s been a weird weather year in SoCal), we were looking for a place we could hike without suffering from heat stroke, so like we have done before, we headed for the coast!  Regular readers know that we love to hike with our dog, and highlight our dog-friendly hikes, but since California State Parks almost all ban them on their trails, we tend not to visit them very often.  We had heard that San Onofre State Beach was different, and that while dogs are banned on most of their trails, they are welcome in the campground and there are two bluff trails where they are welcome.

We found a trail guide on the State Park’s website that connected the two dog-legal trails and thought that would make a great trek.  Well, while it was a great hike, the loop we did was not entirely legal with the dog.  Turns out only 3 of the 4 legs of our loop are dog-friendly, and the beach stretch connecting them was not.

OMG!!! Those look like two giant… nuclear containment domes! (Photo from the Los Angeles Times)

San Onofre State Beach is located on the Orange County-San Diego County line, adjacent to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) right off of Interstate 5.  To get there, exit I-5 on Basilone Road and head towards the beach.  Then head south past the nuclear power plant (joking immaturely about the shape, as every other person who passes by does) until the road hits the Ranger Kiosk.

That’s the pay box just past the kiosk. And by the way, nudity is apparently prohibited, in case you were wondering…

On the day we were there, the kiosk was empty, but there was a parking fee pay station that worked on the honor system.  Take an envelope from above the box, fill in your vehicle information on the envelope, put your $15 in the envelope (note–there is no change available if using the box, so you may end up paying $20 like we did if you don’t have exact change), and deposit it in the lock box.

Enjoyment of this State Park is courtesy of the US Marine Corps! But aren’t many of our enjoyments courtesy of them, really???

This road is actually old Pacific Coast Highway, which was taken out of service when the I-5 was built.   According to the park brochure, the park itself used to be California’s largest land grant, Rancho Santa Margarita y Las Flores, but in 1942 was taken by the federal government to create Camp Pendleton, near the beginning of World War II.  Basilone Road is named after Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone, who won a medal of honor and was killed on the first day of fighting at Iwo Jima.  He trained at Camp Pendleton and is one of the featured Marines in the excellent HBO series, “The Pacific.”  In 1971, the US Government leased the part of Camp Pendleton that is now San Onofre State Beach to the State of California.  The park today is bordered to the south and east by this historic (and still very active) Marine Base.

Parking at Trail 1.

Most of the day use parking is adjacent to Trail 1 at the beginning of the park, or Trail 6 at the far end.  In between is the very simple San Onofre Bluffs Campground area, basically extra wide, extra long parking spots with a patch of dirt with a fire ring and picnic table on it.  These are very popular for RVs and trailers, but I always see tents there as well.  You can start your hike on either end, but we started at Trail 1.  The top of each of the trails had a serviceable bathroom with flush toilets, but I didn’t notice if all of them were open or not.

Shot of one of the campsites at San Onofre Bluffs Campground. Pretty sparse, and deserted today, but I’ve seen these campgrounds packed in the summer.

Heading up to the Trail 1 trailhead!

From the top of Trail 1 is is only a quarter mile or so down a well maintained dirt path to the beach.  There are actually a couple of ways to get to Trail 1.  We picked the first one, which was a bit narrower than the second one, which was the width of a fire road.  Either way will present you with a nice view of the coast and the nuclear plant  before you hit the beach.

Trail 1 is fire road width down to the beach.

Path down to the beach. You can see the domes of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in the background to the north.

View to the south from the top of the bluff trail.

Sign at the bottom of Trail 1. Clearly, they meant no dogs playing off leash on the beach, and didn’t mean no dogs hiking on the beach, right? (Wrong)

At the bottom of the trail, there was a sign indicating dogs are acceptable to the right, but not to the left.  We thought perhaps it was just referring to allowing dogs to play on the beach, and since we were just traversing from one dog-approved trail to another, it would be okay, though a friendly ranger later explained to us the error in our interpretation of the sign…

The area immediately adjacent to the bottom of Trail 1 is a pretty nice beach for laying out, boogie boarding, swimming, etc.

But quite quickly down the beach to the south, the beach becomes much rockier.

Adjacent to Trail 1 (and Trail 6) is really one of the few areas where the beach is suitable for playing in the water, as most of this stretch of beach is quite rocky, and you’d probably tear yourself up pretty good trying to boogie board, body surf, or just play in the waves here.  As a result, and unsurprisingly, the roughly 3 mile stretch of beach in between Trail 1 and 6 was largely deserted, at least on this particular hot January Saturday.

Several human made structures amused us along the beach.

Some of the bluff beauty!

One of the canyons we briefly attempted to explore.

Another unexplorable canyon.

Cool wind and water-shaped formation in one of the canyons.

More rocky beach along the bluffs.

Another amusing man-made sculpture along the way.

Probably not a pre-historic Native American shelter.

Holly, aggravating and irritating natural flora and fauna on the deserted beach.

Cool offshore rocks (we were hiking at low tide).

More cool shoreline rocks.

In Canada, they called these Hoodoos! We just think they’re cool.

Holly, leaving tracks in the sand that will probably take generations to remove the damage from. Or 60 seconds. One or the other…

As you can see, there is no formal, improved trail along the beach, and you simply walk across the rocks and sand beneath the bluffs as you please.  The sandstone bluffs can be very beautiful, but they are also quite unstable, so climbing them is heavily discouraged.  Many of the sandstone formations reminded us of the “hoodoos” we hiked to on our honeymoon in Banff National Park in Canada, but to be honest, these were better!  There are several canyons in the bluffs along the way as well, but most of them don’t have any real trail access.  It was a very scenic and relaxing walk, with the crashing waves on one side of us, and the craggy sandstone bluffs towering 150 feet or so above us on the other side along this entire stretch.

By the way, you should probably not climb the bluffs–They’re unstable.

Bottom of Trail 2.

Bottom of Trail 3.

The elaborate bottom of Trail 4.

The very bottom of Trail 4–a victim of erosion.

Possibly the bottom of Trail 5?

You will cross the bottoms of the other trails in between, and if we hadn’t had the dog and knew that they were prohibited on those trails, we might have explored a few of them, if not all of them in a zig-zag pattern just so we could experience as much of the bluff trails as possible.

When you come to the bottom of Trail 6, there is a lifeguard tower there, and a bit more of a crowd of people laying on the beach.  This is also the approximate end of the “official” State Beach.  We decided to continue until we hit a sign announcing we were entering Camp Pendleton, just to say we explored the full beach.

Lifeguard Tower 6–don’t travel too far beyond here if you’re offended by unattractive unclothed humans.

A cool red-tailed hawk flying over a cool sandstone formation.

We were aware that south of “Trail 6 Beach,” there had been a long-running controversy between the State Parks and a relatively large group of people who wanted to make this stretch a nude beach.  The battle had been fought all the way through the courts, until the state finally won the right to start citing those sunbathing nude.  But some battles are easier to win than others, and despite the signage in the parking lot and on the lifeguard tower, fairly shortly after passing the last tower, we began encountering folks who were quite clearly defying the law.

I personally don’t have a big problem with setting aside a small part of a beach (especially one on the end of the property like this) for those who want to work on their all-over tans, but as we continued, we passed more and more people walking around in the buff and we got kinda creeped out and decided to turn around before we hit whatever “end of the beach” signage might exist.  Kinda weird, but who are we to complain about the law-breakers when we had our prohibited puppy with us?  Pointedly, a ranger/lifeguard in a jeep drove down and told us we weren’t allowed to have a dog on the beach, but apparently never bothered to head the other direction to notify the nudists of their own violations.  So if you were wondering, Unattractive Naked People>Cute Beagles at San Onofre State Beach.

The rock peace sign–signifying the beginning of the unofficial nude beach.

Apparently this is more of a suggestion than an actual rule…

This shouldn’t discourage you from visiting the beach, as there was none of this whatsoever between Trail 1 and Trail 6, and we ventured past a final lifeguard tower and a big rock peace sign on the beach that probably indicated the beginning of the nudist stretch, so it is easy to avoid them if you wish to.

The closest thing to an actual trail along the beach was this stretch immediately adjacent to the bluffs between the nude beach and the bottom of Trail 6.

Heading up the narrow and steep bluff trail towards Trail 6.

Looking down the steep and narrow bluff trail.

Holly, ready to venture across the little wooden bridge on the bluff trail.

Top of the bluff trail.

Just before the bottom of the main Trail 6 access, there was what looked like a fairly established trail up the bluff that looked more interesting than the dirt road next to the lifeguard tower.  It was steep, and not terribly well maintained, but it is clearly an established trail that even featured a little wooden bridge and some steps carved into the sandstone along the way.

A look down the main Trail 6 path to the beach–much easier than the bluff trail version we took.

Nice bench at the top of the bluffs on Trail 6.

Apparently some reckless martini drinkers have spoiled the fun for everyone…

View to the north from the top of the bluffs. You can see SONGS and the beginning of the trail in the distance.

Look south towards Camp Pendleton (and the nude beach) from the bench.

At the top of the bluff, there was a nice park bench with a view of the coast, and a junction with the main stem of Trail 6.  From here, it was roughly a third of a mile to the top of the Trail and the parking lot.  There was also a restroom here at the top of Trail 6.  Just to the right/south of the bathroom is a gate across old PCH announcing the end of the park and the beginning of Camp Pendleton.

The very wide Trail 6 back towards the parking lot.

Trail paralleling the road and campgrounds from Trail 6.

Parts of it are much nicer than the dirt road that it begins with.

One of several types of safety fences keeping us from falling off unstable cliffs.

View into one of the canyons from above.

Another security fence protecting us from ourselves.

View across a canyon toward a nice picnic area at the top of the bluffs.

Another fence protecting us from the canyon. Or is it the other way around?

Heading north, there is a dirt path that parallels the parking lot with signage that seemed to indicate that dogs were permitted on leash.  This stretch usually kept the campsites and road in site on one side, and standard coastal shrub on the other between you and the bluffs.  At times, the trail went along deep canyons, and at other times (possibly because of erosion?) the trail disappeared and you had to walk a short stretch along the parking lot/campground instead.  But each time, the trail re-appeared a short distance later.  This three mile stretch back to where we parked was not terribly scenic, but we’ve certainly hiked in worse areas.  There were restrooms (flush toilets!) at the top of nearly every trailhead as we passed them, so you can’t complain about the facilities.

Sunset over a bluff canyon. Beautiful!

As we hiked this, it was almost exactly 8 miles, but if you cut out the 8/10 of a mile foray down to the nude beach, it would be just over 6 miles round trip.  As I suggested above, if you didn’t have a dog, you could also add more mileage and explore a few of the canyons by venturing down any of trails 2-5.  We did the whole thing in hiking sandals, but the sand was mostly firm enough that you could walk it in regular shoes or hiking boots as well.  Nearly the entire trail was flat, with the only elevation changes coming on the trip down the bluffs at the beginning and the one back up at the end.

Relatively uneventful elevation profile for the hike. Click through for larger version.

On a day when it was too hot to hike inland, the weather on the beach was beautiful, and we really did enjoy the hike.  It reminded us a lot of our hike along the bluffs between Refugio and El Capitan State Beach in Santa Barbara, though these bluffs were more impressive.  After all, this is the only place in Southern California when you can hike along the beach from nukes to nudes!

Anti-dog propaganda on one of the restrooms.

ONE LAST RANT:  This trail highlights the stupidity of the general ban on dogs on State Park trails.  I understand there may be sensitive habitat along the top of the bluffs, and in specific areas of other state parks, but if you allow them at the top of the bluffs along the campground, and on Trails 1 and 6, there is absolutely no reason not to allow them (on leash) on the beach in between.  There was no sensitive habitat along the beach to disturb, and there were virtually no people to bother.  Charge us an additional “dog fee” if you want to pay for enforcement of leash laws and dog waste disposal rules, but banning dogs on this stretch of beach is just asinine.

View San Onofre State Beach Loop Trail