Recently, we hiked in Santiago oaks regional park.........situated near Irvine regional park....though the former is much wild....with unpaved paths and unruly vegetation....
The trail head starts with citrus grove.....a tiny part of once flourishing orange orchard...which gave this county its name...
Lots of matilija poppy were in bloom by the fence....along with some California poppy...
The sycamore-shaded area with an arbor serves as wedding venue...
Soon the real wilderness starts......
Hollyleaf redberry bush and wild grapes vine..
The path leads to an old dam.....built on Santiago creek..this creek is one of the many creeks that emanates from the Santa Ana mountain....
The jagged hillocks and hills...covered with mosaic of stunted chaparral plants...
From the plaques, I learnt that this place has been scarred by fire as well as flood in recent past...
Lots of woodpeckers could be sighted......busy carving for nests or acorn pantries...
Also, butterflies....
Invasive umbels have encroached the meadows....
These exotic species along with dried annuals as shown in picture below add fuel to the flammability of the chaparral....
Steep trails winds round the hills....avid hikers and horse-riders navigate it....we ditched it for the burning sun was too hostile for us...
We spotted a juvenile California condor on a pine tree....what a treat to behold an endangered species from so close...for as long as you want...it held its perch....good, that it was not perturbed by our presence...
Or wait, I might be wrong........it can be a Turkey vulture!
Or wait, I might be wrong........it can be a Turkey vulture!
We saw half a dozen of other birds, including Turkey vulture, red-shouldered hawk...
The oak-lined trail....
Wooden staircase leads into another trail......
Here we encountered a gopher snake....sun basking by the path...
We saw some cottontail rabbits and ground squirrels as well....
The visitor center was informative with a variety of taxidermy animals and birds...and brochures...
The only thing bothered me was this park located just below the aircraft flying path was exposed to frequent and annoying noises...wilderness is supposed to be free of such anthropogenic disturbance isn't it? I felt bad for the critters calling it home...
We will come back again in another season.........
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