We arrived at Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness
Park recently on one Friday morning around 9:30 AM in the late winter season;
the sun was already up above the mountain, the sky was clear enough, though it
was partially cloudy and pretty cold down the trails. Since it was raining
yesterday, most parks have hiking trails in the county are closed today, not
this probably because the park has camp sites but there are only few campers
scattered here and there, park is pretty big with about 8000 acre wilderness
preserve, one of the few last remaining coastal canyons in Southern California,
ground is still wet and some spots are too muddy. Trails are winding and
climbing up hills, lot of trees most are Oak and Sycamore, many are dying,
rotten as a result of severe drought for too many years. Park information said wildlife
can be seen on any of the park many miles hiking trails, beware of mountain
lion and snakes sign posted everywhere, I doubt about the sight of the wild
animal in the day light within the present environment where human population are
overwhelming, nonetheless I has to be aware and alert just because if there is
any of it survived and remaining trapped in the area, it would become more
aggressive since its prey is scarce now than ever before, especially just only
two of us, my wife and I are alone here, we have seen no other hiker except for
only one group of equestrians on the trails we have been through; so I kept my
eyes wide open when passing the large empty space with drying small bushes or
under the large trees for any sight of mountain lion while enjoying the
pleasantry of hiking in the wild natural reserve. I felt the relief of stress across
my eyes since there is no housing or building on top of the hills surrounding the
park far as I can see.
South-West
view from north end hill top on the Sycamore Canyon trail at Laguna Coast
Wilderness Canyon, Laguna Beach, CA, photo was taken on 15 January 2017.
I have been living in the heart spot of
southern California for 39 years; however, I had not have much chance to
explore the nature beauty of environment that Orange County has offered, except
for a few parks in the local cities, until a few years ago after I retired, when
I have more available time to do things I want, walking and hiking are the most
easy form of exercising that benefit my health. For many others who is
healthier might enjoy these activities easily, but for me because of my health
concern, I could not going too far beyond my healthcare provider covered
boundary; I could not run continuous even for 5 minutes, nor jog or hike in a
moderate distance like many others about my age. I’m often get exhausted, tired
and felt dizzy; my blood pressure going up and down inadvertently that I had been
in the emergency (ER) three times within the two years period; however, they
could not find any major problem, everything was normal from the EKG, chest
X-ray to the blood and urine tests. All said they have found nothing wrong and
advised me don’t work too hard, stay moderate exercise daily and relax; Until the
last one about two years ago, when I had stayed outdoor under the summer heat
in a special circumstance for a while, I felt exhausted, tired, dizzy and sweat
quite a lot with short breath for more than an hour long resting, I called 911
and went to the emergency, at first every test was normal like before, but I
might have been too lucky that the heart specialist was on duty, he decided to scan
my heart and found out that my left artery is about 90% blocked, he told me I
might have had a minor heart attack, so the stent was implanted in the artery.
From that day I feel better and recover my energy day after day; now I can hike
for few hours without exhausting or feeling dizzy like before. I have actually
found lucky within the bad luck. Thanks to the Doctor for the decision to do
what you had done on me.
Dying
and decaying tree is seen at every park in Southern California; photo was taken
on 06 January 2017 at R.W. Caspers Wilderness Park, CA.
Lower
water level in Big Bear Lake; photo was taken on 27 September 2015.
My wife and I are not a routine traveler,
hiker nor camper; all we want is just love to see the beauty of the
mother-nature. But in California, especially in the south for the last two
decades, there are not much beautiful environments around, all we have seen are
burned grasses, shrubs and dying trees everywhere; most lakes and reservoirs
are empty, exposed crack floor like a puzzle board under the sunlight. Besides
that we have been too busy moving our lives forward, we had not have much time
to enjoy the outdoor activities, even when our children were young; now they
are all grown up, which makes me dearly missed every single minute of the old
days supposed to be a wonderful and adorable period in everyone parenthood’s
lives. If lucky enough we have two-day weekend without much house work, then we
could go to the beach or some parks close to home. Vacation is usually saved
for some special circumstances. The other time off is the Christmas, the
company which we have been working for usually shuts down one week. However, the
year end season is always pretty cold for me to feel comfortable to travel far
north or east. This year my wife company shuts down for two weeks due to the
inventory surplus, thanks to the hard work of all the employees; in addition to
that there has been some rain on and off in the Los Angeles basin for the last
few weeks, due to the very rare Pacific winter storm flows, not heavy like
other parts of the country, nor enough to relieve the thirsty southern California
drought for long, but enough for the green grass and bushes to be seen covering
the hill sides and mountains, which during the last 20 years there was only the
color of dark brown and black.
Aliso
and Wood Canyon Wilderness Park, view on E. Creek trail after a few winter
storm; photo was taken on 29 January 2017.
Single
Charming Cherry blossom at Peter Canyon with some water recovered in the
reservoir in background; photo was taken on 03 February 2017 after some rainy
weeks due to the rare winter storm.
So! Two weeks off is a good timing, we
seize the advantage of the holiday to explore the surrounding environment,
since it has changed quite a lot from the time we settled our family in this
area, from the rural areas with citrus, avocado groove, corn and strawberry
fields wherever we went during the early 1990’s era back, to the urban region
nowadays with the population of almost 3.17 million as of the US census
estimated on July 01, 2015, a grow of 31.5% since 1990. For that reason the
land became expensive and scarce, the developers and the builders have not
missed any chance to build new homes, not waste a single valuable vacant land
everywhere from the hilltops to the landfills and the valley, from the coastal to
the inland. Most of farm lands are now disappeared yield to the housing,
businesses and roads; humans evaded deeper and wider to where supposed to be
the home of the wilderness, surrounding almost every Canyons and Wilderness
Reserves. Yes! More population creates more shortages and problems, since the
government could not be able to upgrade everything to accommodate with the fast
population growth; the lack of preparation for people how to care and preserve the
environment.
I remember back about two decades ago when
our children were young, we had taken our children a couple times to Peters
Canyon Park in Tustin, I was a little worried about the warning sign of
mountain lion and snakes, we have encountered snake ran across the trail, the snake
crawled traces could be seen everywhere across the trails, even we saw a pair
of deer, but now I come to the park few times a week, I have not seen even any
snake trace, rabbit and squirrel are also rare, the only single one wildlife
left in this park is a coyote, it wanders out to the residential area or close
by Cedar Grove park when the night fall, he probably survives on food left in
the trash containers or ground rabbits in the sport field next to it; and most of
the thing I am worry is step over the dog waste, it is everywhere even some dog
owners had used a provided plastic bag to collect his/her pet’s waste, but they
were thrown in the bushes instead of trash containers even there is one about
every half of a mile apart along the trails; another thing makes the ordinary
people concerned is that there are many shortcuts have been created, even in
the area supposed to be off limit with the sign “Closed area”; or “Habitat
Restoration”, I am wondering why it need to do so! might people be in a too
hurry, some kind of urgent or tired off even only few more steps to get around
the elbow corner, or the protection of the environment is the job of the care
giver; or the global warming up will destroy the environment sooner or later
anyway! I feel sorry for the future generations may soon find no more natural beauty
to enjoy!
A
shortcut on from the trail on the hill side down the road below just next to
the sign; photo was taken on 09 Dec. 2016 at Peter Canyon Park, Tustin, CA.
So during this two weeks holiday with the
rain day on and day off, we were so happy that we have been able to hike at
most of Southern Orange County Wilderness Preserves. Among these we found
Laguna Coast Wilderness Park and Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, among the
remaining few still have the sense of natural beauty and wilderness habitats,
where hiker doesn’t see the sight of housing built on top of the vicinity enclosed
hills and mountains of the park.
Laguna
Coast Wilderness Park, view on Stagecoach South trail after winter storm; photo
was taken on 15 January 2017.
East
view from East Ridge trail at Ronald W Caspers Wilderness Canyon, San Juan
Capistrano, CA; photo was taken on 06 Jan. 2017.
I am hoping that people will be aware, care
for it and share what we have today to the future generations so they will be
able to enjoy the remaining of the few nature beauty preserved close to home!
Nctd
Winter
2017
