Читать книгу Afoot & Afield: Orange County. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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The well-designed Muth Interpretive Center offers exhibits explaining the significance of the estuary. Naturalists organize a variety of activities, including Tideland Tykes, birding, kayak tours, and service projects. Register for free in advance at letsgooutside.org.

The west side of the preserve is laced with a spiderweb of trails squeezed between the wetlands and Irvine Avenue. The longest, most interesting walk in the preserve involves making a loop of up to 3 miles along these trails. Follow the trail from the east end of the parking area down through a native butterfly garden to the Muth Interpretive Center. Below the interpretive center, you can follow a trail west along the wetlands. It soon climbs onto the bluff to circle the head of a ravine and reach a vista point. There’s a good view of the broad sweep of the bay’s channels and marshy islands, the steep bluffs rising from the far (east) shore, and the rolling San Joaquin Hills beyond.

Incised into the roughly 10-million-year-old marine sedimentary cliffs on the far side is a canyon that contained the largest assemblage of invertebrate fossils ever found in western North America. From sea level to their highest summits, the San Joaquin Hills exhibit eight distinct marine-terrace levels. You may recognize some of these, though massive grading for construction has greatly altered the land’s natural contours. During excavation for the Fashion Island shopping center at Newport Center (a cluster of high-rises), a great deal of petrified wood was uncovered.