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

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From the ranger station parking lot, take the dirt road leading east (No Dogs Road) toward a dry, scrub-covered ridge. After you climb a little, and if the morning marine-layer clouds have evaporated, fine views will open up of lower El Moro Canyon, the surrounding hills, and the blue ocean. Hawks and ravens soar on the updrafts generated on the sun-warmed slopes.

After 0.9 mile, the Poles Trail (a powerline road) on the right drops straight down into El Moro Canyon. Stay left and proceed generally north along the ridgeline. At the next intersection (1.5 miles), turn right on the West Cut-Across road. Descend only 0.2 mile, and then turn left on Rattlesnake Trail. It contours around a steep ravine (Deer Canyon), then climbs to the nose of the ridge between El Moro and Deer Canyons and ascends the steep rocky slope. All but the most gnarly cyclists hike-a-bike on this stretch.

As you approach an 844-foot high point on the ridge, the hike takes on a wilder character. The narrow trail passes delicately sculpted outcrops of sandstone. The native coastal sage scrub vegetation crowding the trailside exudes a warm, spicy odor. In spring, the colorful blooms of sticky monkeyflower, goldenbush, and paintbrush play counterpoint to the muted greens of the sages, buckwheat, laurel sumac, and lemonade berry. Two kinds of cacti appear: common coastal prickly pear cactus and the somewhat uncommon coastal cholla cactus, whose easily detached bristling joints may snag the skin, clothing, or shoes of careless passersby.