{"id":366,"date":"2014-05-21T14:15:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T21:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ocbirds.com\/?page_id=366"},"modified":"2014-05-21T14:29:03","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T21:29:03","slug":"arroyo-trabuco-wilderness-alica-and-rancho-santa-marguerita-access-point","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/?page_id=366","title":{"rendered":"Arroyo Trabuco Wilderness (Alica and Rancho Santa Marguerita) access point"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though there are various places to access this wonderful yet lengthy Orange County trail, a personal favorite is at the intersection of Rancho Santa Marguerita Parkway and Alicia Parkway.\u00a0 Unfortunately there’s no convenient place to park at this intersection.\u00a0 Your best bet is to park on the corner of San Tomas and San Benito Way as you can see from this map below.\u00a0 Walk down San Benito Way and head east toward the aforementioned intersection.\u00a0 Once at this intersection, use the cross walk button to safely walk across Alicia.\u00a0 Then repeat the process to cross Rancho Santa Marguertia Parkway.\u00a0 At this point you can walk up the brief but steep dirt trail and follow around to Arroyo Trabuco sign (photo below) or walk down the concrete driveway and in through the open gate to the Arroyo Trabuco sign.<\/p>\n

As local residents know, this is Mountain Lion, Bobcat and Rattlesnake country.\u00a0 Bring necessary gear as needed (walking poles, pepper spray, etc.) and be mindful of posted signs.\u00a0 The land is owned and managed by OC Parks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once you pass the Arroyo Trabuco Wilderness sign keep heading down the path.\u00a0 If you bear left you’ll soon cross a creek and find yourself heading east toward the back end of O’Neill Park.\u00a0 It’s a level easy walk (nothing strenuous).\u00a0 Your first and only intersection will be just past the creek.\u00a0 if you opt to take this trail its not too long.\u00a0 There’s a slight uphill and you’ll be able to overlook the main trail below.\u00a0 This upper trail ends at a housing cul de sac.\u00a0 It is scenic and worth doing at least once.\u00a0 if you opt to avoid this left turn and head straight towar O’Neill there’s loads of Oak Trees, Sycamore Trees and some of the common birds you’re likely to see are Nuttall’s and Acorn Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Red-tailed<\/a> and Red-shouldered Hawks<\/a>, Cooper’s Hawks<\/a>, House Wrens, various finches, Phainopeplas<\/a> and various other common round residents.\u00a0 In spring I’ve seen Pacific-slope flycatchers<\/a>, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Western Tanagers.\u00a0 This is a brief list so do keep an eye out of course for other species and feel free to post your sightings on the mainpage<\/a> of this site..<\/p>\n

Of final note is if you opt to bear right just past the entrance sign, you’ll be heading west and walking underneath Rancho Santa Margarita Parkway as your first indicator.\u00a0 The trail in this direction is lengthy and extends for several miles through open and also thick tree areas.\u00a0 over the years this portion of the trail has changed and is forever changing whenever heavy rains pass through our area.\u00a0 In this direction depending on time of year I’ve seen Ash-throated Flycatchers<\/a>, White-tailed Kites, Oak Titmice, and of course some of the others mentioned above.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Arroyo<\/a>
\nMap on How To Get Here<\/div>\n
\n

\"Arroya<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Arroyo<\/a>
\ntaken on the Arroyo Trabuco Trail heading toward O’Neil Park<\/div>\n
\n\n
\"Arroyo<\/a>
Arroyo Trabuco Trail heading toward O’Neill Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

taken on the Arroyo Trabuco Trail heading toward O’Neill Park<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though there are various places to access this wonderful yet lengthy Orange County trail, a personal favorite is at the intersection of Rancho Santa Marguerita Parkway and Alicia Parkway.\u00a0 Unfortunately there’s no convenient place to park at this intersection.\u00a0 Your … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":42,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-366","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P5Rhss-5U","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":373,"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/366\/revisions\/373"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbirds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}