I continue to rave about the wonderful jewel of California the Santa Ana Mountains are, and Trabuco canyon continues to remain a center of beauty and exploration for many of the range's visitors. On this visit, I made a long slog from the end of the road all the way up to the crest of the mountains at Los Piños Peak, the fourth highest in the area. It was a drizzly December day, and with a late start, we set out for 10.7 miles with about 2800 feet of elevation gain.
The weather was drizzly and windy, the clouds brushing the tops of the peaks and enveloping us at the top. Small amounts of hail and rain were a stark contrast to the heat we had endured last time on Los Piños peak. Instead of a sweeping view across California, I was treated with a mystic, almost forbidding dome of cloud shrouding the view from me. It was surreal.
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| Groves of Bigcone Douglas Fir. |
Because I've already written of the lower part of Upper Trabuco Canyon in my
Yeager Mesa report, I'll jump right to the upper part past the Yeager Mesa cutoff. These first pictures show the uppermost part of this fork of Trabuco Canyon.
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| Waterfall near the head of the canyon is probably 50 feet high. |
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| Down canyon over the top of Yeager Mesa. |
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| Looking around |
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| The famed Trabuco Christmas Tree. Here all year long! |
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| Nearing the pass summit. |
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| The manzanita is closing in on the trail |
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| Looking at Lake Elsinore some 4,000 feet below. |
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| Nearing the peak |
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| Looking at the ocean and summit cairn |
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| Beautiful chaparral-covered ridges |
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| Back in Upper Trabuco, the mist and rain has closed in |
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| Trees! |
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| Upper reaches |
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| If you're a botanist, please tell me what this is |
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| Golden sycamore |
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| Bigcone Doug Fir and what I suspect to be Alder. |
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| Solace |
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| Sundown |
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| Surprise turkeys! |
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