hiking

First Hike at Harford Springs Reserve in Riverside

March 1, 2020 by Ole Leave a Comment

We tried a new (to us) hiking spot yesterday near Lake Mathews in Riverside… Harford Springs Reserve. Here are a few pictures:

We parked at a very small dirt parking lot at 21470 Gavilan Rd. in Perris CA, which is the address listed on the County’s website. Please note that there were no maps, so make sure you come prepared with a GPS device or a paper map. None of us had any cell service during our hike to see where we were, so we just winged it.

There are some trail markers, but the brush is too tall to get a good view of the trails up ahead.

If my google skills didn’t fail me, I think this orange stuff is called xanthoria parietina or common orange lichen. According to Wikipedia, a lichen “is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.”

If you know for sure what this is, please let me know in the comments.

Because we didn’t have a map, we went old school and climbed to the highest spot so we could see the trails.

We went off trail for much of our hike and ended up finding this tiny cave.

It was a nice day for a hike.

From the County’s website:

Harford Springs Reserve

Features:
Located at 21470 Gavilan Rd, Perris CA
Park hours 8AM- Sunset
2000 foot elevation
325 acres
Unique trails for all levels of hikers
Equestrian trails
Beautiful foliage and wildflowers

Our First Visit to Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park – Riverside

November 13, 2018 by Ole 1 Comment

We love to hike, but sometimes we’re more interested in exploring wide-open spaces than climbing to the top of a hill. Last Sunday, my wife and I planned to spend the day roaming the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve in Murrieta, but decided to stay local and visit the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park in Riverside instead.

While Sycamore Canyon is tucked in between homes and businesses, it is much larger than we expected. From myscamorecanyon.com:

The Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park is a large 1,500 acre public open space park that is one of eight protected, core reserves. Designated by the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Agency (RCHCA) for the Federally-listed endangered species Dipodomys stephensi, the Stephens’ kangaroo rat (SKR), the park serves as both a habitat and a recreational hub.

We went for a 3.4-mile hike and only explored a small part of the park.

Since this was our first trip, I checked the internet to find out where to go. I found this map on mysycamorecanyon.com:

We started at the main trail head near The Ameal Moore Nature Center on Central Ave. According to the website, this is the only entrance with a dedicated parking lot. The nature center didn’t have any maps to hand out, so the attendant suggested we use Google Maps to navigate. We didn’t use any maps, but used one of the higher peaks as our landmark since the trails aren’t marked. There are also no bathrooms or drinking fountains out on the trails.

The peak near the middle of the picture is the one we used as our landmark while hiking.

This is the view from a rock formation near the Sycamore Highlands Park. We look forward to going back on a clear day.

My wife enjoying the view.

Even though we didn’t go further into the park, we still found ourselves surrounded by nature.

We even made some new friends.

We hope to get on the other side of this ravine on a future trip.

This is the view from the peak we used as our landmark.

This is me standing at the top.

Nice day. We will be back.

Looking for more hiking spots in and around Riverside? Check out our list of Places to Hike in Riverside and Beyond. #hikeriverside

Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park
400 Central Avenue, Riverside, CA 92507
mysycamorecanyon.com

Our hikes to the Temescal / Cajalco Tin Mines: Riverside / Corona

May 5, 2018 by Ole 5 Comments

Back in July 2017, my wife and I went for a short hike in the hills above La Sierra near Lake Mathews. When we got to the top of the first hill, we decided to abandon our planned hike and go in a different direction. A few miles later, we decided to see if we could make it to Corona Crossings. Six or seven miles later, we met our kids at Chick-fil-A for a well-deserved lunch.

Completely by accident, we ended up hiking through the site of the old Temescal / Cajalco tin mines.

I’ve been back out there a bunch of times since our first visit. Here are some pictures:

On our first hike, we found these burned-up cars in a clearing a few miles in from where we started on La Sierra. The cars are gone now, but this is a popular spot for illegal target shooting. I’ve walked through here three times when people were out shooting. Be careful if you venture through here.

I like stopping here for a moment to take in the view. There have been two recent fires in this area. The first picture is from July 2017 and the second is from April 2018.

On to the old tin mining site…

This is a picture from “about 1890” of the tin mining site from a Press Enterprise article:

I hiked back out there today to see if I could get a current picture from the same perspective:

According to a post on the History of Corona Facebook page (follow the link for a summary of the history of the tin mines), the tin mines closed in 1892. There are also a few old pictures attached to the post, including this old map of the site:

Here are some pictures of the remaining structures…

Reservoir?

Ore bin?

Smelter? By the way, there is now a big red bullseye (actually, a painting of a ladybug) on the large concrete structure in the middle of the picture. In addition to the clearing I mentioned above, people also use the tin mining site for illegal target practice. I’ve seen or heard people shooting out here a few times, so be careful.

There used to be a large structure at the top of this retaining wall.

You can see this retaining wall toward the bottom right of this picture posted on the History of Corona Facebook page:

If you walk up the steps, watch out for the barbed wire on the ground.

Looking down the steps.

Remnants of another structure.

The old Temescal / Cajalco tin mines in Corona, CA.

There are three fenced-off mine openings in the immediate area. Here are a few of them:

This old structure…

… appears to be one of the buildings near the right of this picture from Corona Public Library’s website:

I’m always on the lookout for wildlife when I go on my hikes, and was surprised to see this guy out at the tin mines back in November of last year.

Update: April 2020 – My wife and I also saw this guy or girl near one of the mines. We think it is a red diamond rattlesnake.

This hill is to the west of the tin mining site. Although I don’t know the actual name of the hill, I call it “Tin Hill”. The flag is a new addition that we noticed on a recent visit.

I hiked to the top of this hill back in November 2017. The side I climbed is covered in loose rock and I almost fell a few times. There is actually a path on the other side of the hill. Oops.

The view of the old tin mining site from the top of “Tin Hill”:

By the way, bring plenty of water. I let myself get in trouble once on a very hot day out here. Thankfully, a freak thunderstorm saved me.

View this post on Instagram

While looking at pictures from past visits to the old Temescal tin mines to share on my website, I was reminded of one of my scariest hikes. On 8/1/17, I solo hiked out to the tin mines on a crazy hot day… up to 107 degrees per my Garmin. I used up all of my water, had no shade, and eventually completely ran out of energy. As I sat on a hill dehydrated and completely out of gas, I was genuinely nervous. Thankfully, a thunderstorm came along and saved the day. The cool weather and rain gave me a much needed second wind. This hike changed my preparation. Now, I always carry more than enough water, energy gel or granola bars, an umbrella for shade and a cell phone charger in case I get stuck and need my phone for an emergency. #hikeriverside #riversideca #lakemathews #hikeinlandempire #hiking

A post shared by Kris (@krisinriverside) on Apr 29, 2018 at 8:21pm PDT

Looking for more hiking spots in and around Riverside? Check out our list of Places to Hike in Riverside and Beyond. #hikeriverside

Santa Rosa Plateau: Great Place to Hike and Enjoy Nature

April 14, 2018 by Ole Leave a Comment

About five years ago on our way back from lunch in Murrieta, we exited the 15 freeway at Clinton Keith Road to see where the road would take us. We headed toward the Cleveland Forest until we came across what appeared to be hiking trails. Our little driving adventure had brought us to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve.

What is the Reserve? Here is an excerpt from the rivcoparks.org website:

Consisting of 9000 acres, the Reserve protects unique ecosystems such as Engelmann oak woodlands, riparian wetlands, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, bunchgrass prairie, and vernal pools as well as more than 200 species of native birds and 49 endangered, threatened or rare animal and plant species, including mule deer, mountain lions, badgers, bobcats, western pond turtles, white-tailed kites and fairy shrimp. Of the two species of fairy shrimp that live in the seasonal vernal pools on the Reserve, one is found only here and nowhere else on Earth!

We have gone back many times since our first visit in 2012, but after highlighting the trails I remember us hiking over the years, it is clear that we still have a few to go.

Here are some pictures from our many visits:

The Visitor Center is one of three places to enter the reserve, and is probably a good place to start on your first visit, especially if you have kids or need access to an actual restroom.

The Visitor Center has informative displays inside the building and out through the back doors, including this graphic that made me kind of sad:

When the last California grizzly was killed just north of here in 1908, it brought an end to an animal nicknamed “Bear of the Chaparral”.

We usually park at the Hidden Valley trail head and start our hikes on the Trans Preserve trail. We have also parked at the Vernal Pool trail head, which is a good place to start if you just want to visit the vernal pools.

The trails at Santa Rosa are marked and pretty easy to follow. Grab a map from one of the trail heads, and you should have no problem finding your way around.

One of our favorite spots is this tree tunnel on the Trans Preserve trail.

This is another of my favorite spots. I love the sound when the grass is a little taller and the wind is a little stronger.

The big vernal pool is one of the main sights to see. If you haven’t heard of a vernal pool before, here is some info from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife:

Vernal pools are a type of temporary wetland […] where a hard underground layer prevents rainwater from draining downward into the subsoils. […] In the springtime the water gradually evaporates away, until the pools become completely dry in the summer and fall.

Vernal pools support plants and animals that are specifically adapted to living with very wet winter and spring conditions followed by very dry summer and fall conditions.

We’ve visited the big vernal pool when it was empty, like on this visit in 2012…

… and when it was full, like on this visit in March 2017…

I have read about the fairy shrimp, but have never seen them. During our visit in March 2017, we saw thousands of tiny pink and translucent creatures in the water. I’m not sure if these are the two different types of fairy shrimp, but the water was full of them both.

We went back again a month later when the vernal pool wasn’t as full, and saw some water snakes, including this guy or girl…

This video shows one of the water snakes, the view from Monument Hill and part of the Trans Preserve trail:

Although they are out there, we have only seen coyotes a few times.

We also caught an impromptu air show earlier this year put on by the Red Eagles Formation Team. Apparently, this is one of the team’s approved training locations. Very impressive.

There are two adobes on the Reserve that were built in the mid-1800s. You can walk through the compound and into one of the adobes. We visited them on our first trip.

The highest spot on the Reserve seems to be Monument Hill, which we visited for the first time earlier this year.

The lone bench at the top of the hill is a nice quiet spot to enjoy the view.

Our most recent trip: November 2017

This was the first time we parked at the Visitor Center, which gave us the opportunity to take some trails we had never hiked before. We ended up hiking about nine miles.

We saw this hill off Waterline Road and decided to get a closer look.

The rocks were a little sketchy, so I took a quick picture of my wife enjoying the view and climbed back down.

From Waterline Road, we continued along Monument Hill Road until we reached the Punta Mesa Trail, which was our main goal for the day. We even got to see a dinosaur…

Although there hasn’t been any rain recently, there was still water under this bridge on the Adobe Loop trail…

Another great day at the Plateau.

When we’re in the mood for wide open spaces without having to climb too much, this is the place we go.

For more information about the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve, click here: www.rivcoparks.org

Looking for more hiking spots in and around Riverside? Check out our list of Places to Hike in Riverside and Beyond.

Diamond Valley Lake View Trail. I Hiked It. All 21.8 Miles. Ouch.

May 23, 2017 by Ole Leave a Comment

I drove out to Diamond Valley Lake a few days ago to hike the 21.8-mile Lake View Trail. Lake View Trail is a loop that runs along the shore of Diamond Valley Lake.

** Update – I went back again a week later and have updated this post. **

First Try – Out of Time:

On my first visit, I arrived at about 11:15 AM with the goal of finishing by 6:15 PM. The person who took my money at the marina ($9 for parking and $2 for a trail pass) told me that the marina closed at 6:45 PM. No problem.

At around 5:45 PM with about 3 miles remaining, I called the marina office to find out what would happen if I didn’t make it back by 6:45 PM. Normally, three miles in one hour would be no problem, but I was sore and almost out of water so I knew it was going to be rough.

I was told that I would be issued a ticket and fined $75 if I arrived after 6:45 PM, so I hung up the phone and kept going… until Justin and Stan picked me up about fifteen minutes later and drove me the last few miles back to the marina. My 21.8-mile hike had turned into a 19-mile hike.

Thanks to Justin and Stan for picking me up and being so cool about it.

Second Try – Mission Accomplished:

I went back a week later with three times the amount of water I took the first time… 6 liters in total. Mission accomplished.

Proper hydration made a HUGE difference.

Apparently, there aren’t a lot of people who try to complete the full loop. There should be a t-shirt.

Here are some pictures from my two visits:

The trail starts and ends at the marina parking lot. I assume you can go either direction, but I started at the west end of the parking lot (near the boat ramp) both times.

This is a “no body-contact reservoir” so there is no swimming, but you can launch your boat or rent one from the marina if you want to spend the day on the water.

I never really think about mountain lions when I see these signs, but I started thinking about them toward the end of my first visit. Adding up both days, I probably saw fewer than 10 other people out on the trail, and only a few cyclists on the far side of the lake. There were a few remote spots that had me looking over my shoulder.

I very rarely see snakes when I’m out hiking, but I saw this guy or girl on my second trip. My Google skills tell me that this might be a rosy boa.

There are mile markers along the trail so you can keep track of your progress.

When I reached the helipad on my first visit, I was ready for a helicopter to come pick me up. Wishful thinking.

There are small rest areas along the trail about three to five miles apart that mainly consist of picnic tables and some shade. There are also portable restrooms at many of the rest areas, but there is NO DRINKING WATER.

The view from the west dam looking back toward the marina in the east:

After about 9-10 miles, I finally reached the other side of the lake.

This big wall of rock is near the 17-mile mark, and is a fitting metaphor because I felt like I had hit a wall by this point during my first visit.

This was the view near the end of my second visit from the east dam looking west. I didn’t get to enjoy this view the first time I went. I’m glad I went back.

If you want to try the full 21.8-mile hike, here are a few tips:

If you’re not accustomed to walking long distances, don’t try it. The trail is mostly flat, but there are some inclines and 21.8 miles is a LONG distance.
Don’t try it when it is hot. It was in the mid 80s when I tried it the first time, and that was a mistake.
Bring a lot of water (and food, especially if it will take you all day). I took 64 ounces of water (2 liters) on my first visit and it was not enough. I took 6 liters on my second visit. There are rest stops with some shade and picnic tables about every three to five miles, but THERE IS NO DRINKING WATER ON THE TRAIL.
Bring your cell phone. Make sure to sign in at the marina so they know you’re on the trail.
Don’t go alone. I saw very few people on the trail, and I was the only person to try the full hike. I would have been on my own if anything bad had happened to me.
Bring sun protection.
Start early. Make sure you have time to finish or face a $75 fine.

If you have walked (or run) the entire 21.8 miles (or tried), share your experience in the comment section.

Looking for more hiking spots in and around Riverside? Check out our list of Places to Hike in Riverside and Beyond.

Diamond Valley Lake Marina
2615 Angler Ave
Hemet, CA 92545
www.dvlake.com
dvmarina.com

Tenaja Falls near Murrieta, CA. Sketchy road, pretty hike, slippery rocks.

April 8, 2017 by Ole 2 Comments

We visited Tenaja Falls near Murrieta for the first time today. Tenaja Falls is located in the San Mateo Canyon Wilderness area of the Cleveland National Forest.

Here is a recap of our hike in pictures:

The Tenaja Falls trailhead…

Here is the trail map on the board at the Tenaja Falls trailhead (click for an online map). Notice the Teneja trailhead at the bottom of the map. We drove past that one, and headed to the Tenaja Falls trailhead at the top left of the map.

Here are the directions to the Tenaja Falls trailhead as provided by the US Forest Service:

DRIVING DIRECTIONS FROM I-15 TO TENAJA, FISHERMAN’S CAMP AND TENAJA FALLS TRAILHEADS:
I-15 to Clinton Keith road, go west. Clinton Keith becomes Tenaja Road after 2 miles. Stay on Tenaja Road for another 8 miles to Cleveland Forest Road. Turn right on Cleveland Forest Road one mile to Wilderness boundary and Tenaja trailhead parking. Road becomes South Main Divide (7S04). Fisherman’s Camp trailhead is another 3 miles north along road. Tenaja Falls trailhead is another 2 miles north. Ortega Highway (Hwy 74) is 15 miles north of Tenaja Falls.

The road to reach the trailheads is a single-lane road with turnouts, ruts, cliffs and blind curves. Cars going in the opposite direction can appear very quickly as shown in this video from our drive back from Teneja Falls…

A few rules and warnings…

The start of the trail…

Inside this box is a clipboard with a sign-in sheet…

We had no problems following the trail…

Over rocks…

Across a creek (I slipped on a loose rock on the way back, but I saved my phone and camera)…

A few more pictures along the trail…

Our first view of the waterfall…

This is located at the top of the waterfall. I assume that you could read the elevation at some point…

I saw this lizard hanging out at the top of the falls…

This is the top portion of the waterfall. Although the rocks are very slippery and the fall could be disastrous, a bunch of people climbed down to wade in this pool…

We didn’t wade in the pool, but we did climb down to stick our feet in the running water…

One last view on our way back out…

Since we went on a Saturday, there were quite a few people on the trail. Everyone we met was friendly. We had a few people offer to take pictures of us, and one person even gave us a hand climbing back up to the top of the falls. Our trail shoes work great on the dirt, but were horrible on the slick rocks. If you go, please be careful.

Looking for more hiking spots in and around the Inland Empire? Check out our list of Places to Hike in Riverside and Beyond.

Looking down from the Giant Moreno Valley “M” on Box Springs Mountain

April 4, 2017 by Ole 2 Comments

This past Sunday, my wife and I hiked up to the giant Moreno Valley “M” on Box Springs Mountain that overlooks Moreno Valley. This was her first trip all the way up to the “M”.

Here is a recap of our hike in pictures:

We started at Box Springs Mountain Park near Hidden Springs / Pigeon Pass in Moreno Valley…

The start of the trail we took…

This flower (and the insects – crane flies?) greeted us near the start of the trail…

Looking down at the parking lot, which kept getting smaller and smaller…

The “M” trail ahead…

The trail behind us so far…

Except for lizards of various colors, we didn’t see much wildlife…

Looking back at the trail…

A random flower on the way…

Looking up at the toughest part of the trail we followed. Note the faint outline of a trail going off to the left in the center of the picture. That trail takes you around this peak instead of up it. We missed that turn and kept climbing up…

Looking back down…

Trying to see the parking lot…

Still climbing up…

A look back down…

Another random lizard…

The moment we realized that we were climbing to the top of Box Springs Mountain instead of just to the “M”…

My favorite lizard of the day…

Looking down at the “M” and the “M” trail…

The view from above the “M”. Not the clearest day, but still a nice view…

A tiny lizard hanging out near the “M”…

A few weeds and wildflowers sticking out of the cracks of the “M”…

Standing on the “M”…

The trail down from the bottom of the “M” (the trail we intended to climb up but missed)…

The “M” is huge, and we had to hike down a bit to get the entire “M” in the picture…

There seem to be a few different trails that will take you up the initial peak or around it. On our way down we went around it (the trail I think we took the first time I hiked up to the “M” with our kids). If you hike to the “M”, you should study the routes before you go or go with someone who knows the way. The overgrowth is probably why we initially missed this trail…

Looking back up at the decision point to go up the initial peak or around it. This is the turnoff we missed on our way up…

The “M” from the 60 freeway…

Here are the routes we took according to my Garmin. The top line shows our route up, and the bottom line shows our route down. Per my Garmin, both routes were about 1.4 miles and 1,100-1,200 feet of elevation. We took two big bottles of water each, and wore trail shoes. It took us about 1.5 hours to climb, and about 1 hour to descend. We probably would have gone a little faster (not much) but we were taking pictures and had run a 5K the day before. We hiked on Sunday and I’m still sore on Tuesday morning.

For more info… rivcoparks.org

Looking for more hiking spots in and around the Inland Empire? Check out our list of Places to Hike in Riverside and Beyond.

Our First Hike up to Terri Peak at Lake Perris in Riverside County

March 27, 2017 by Ole Leave a Comment

My wife and I drove out to the Lake Perris State Recreation Area over the weekend to hike up to Terri Peak. We learned about this hike from a tip on Facebook (find more places to hike). At a height of 2,569 feet (per the official brochure), Terri Peak overlooks Lake Perris and offers views in all directions.

According to the map you receive from the guard station, there are two trailheads to reach Terri Peak. One begins at the Indian Museum near the Perris entrance and the other begins at a parking lot near the Moreno Valley entrance. We planned to start the hike at the museum, but the parking lot was closed so we headed to the parking lot near the Horse Camp. That lot was closed too, so we parked on the side of the dirt road that leads to the Horse Camp.

We found a paved trail leading up from the parking lot, so we started there.

The trail leads to an amphitheater, but we didn’t see an obvious trail leading toward the mountain. We walked back to the parking lot and started walking up a dirt trail, but that also led to the amphitheater.

The only clearly marked trail that we found led in the opposite direction. We decided to see if it would wrap around and take us in the right direction.

The trail met with another trail that headed in the right direction, so we kept going.

We ended up wrapping back around to the top of the amphitheater and found the overgrown trail we should have taken.

After a little more walking, we also learned that we could have just walked straight up the road we parked on instead of walking over to the parking lot to find the trailhead.

Once we were on the trail, it was pretty easy to follow, although there were still some spots that were obscured by brush.

This appeared to be the tip-top, so I climbed up to take a look (Caution: I don’t recommend climbing up. A fall could have been disastrous.):

I would love to hike this again on a clear day…

It was a fun hike, and in addition to the views, we saw a few critters and a lot of flowers:

We also saw Kid Rock:

According to my Garmin, it was 2.37 miles from the parking lot to Terri Peak with a gain of 991 feet. We didn’t set a speed record, as we took our time to enjoy the scenery and take pictures.

Since some portions of the trails were overgrown, we missed the beginning of the hike from the amphitheater, but you can clearly see the route we would have taken by zooming in to the old satellite image.

Lake Perris is in Perris, CA, which is in Riverside County. If you would like to learn more about Terri Peak or Lake Perris, here is the official website:

www.parks.ca.gov

Looking for more hiking spots in and around the Inland Empire? Check out our list of Places to Hike in Riverside and Beyond.

Lake Perris State Recreation Area
17801 Lake Perris Drive
Perris, Ca 92571