Hiking O'Neill Regional Park

Well I went hiking for the first time in months today and took my daughter Cassidy with me. We had a lot of fun.

We went to O'Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon, CA. I camped here a few times when I was a kid but I hadn't been there in 10+ years. We started out for the Edna Spaulding Trail but it was overgrown and due for some maintenence so we headed back to the parking area and over to the Arroyo Trabuco Trail (more of a fire road). There we had a pretty good hike. We went in about a mile and saw numerous birds, a couple of sqirrels, a rabbit and a few snails. I was hoping we could spot a deer or 2 but no such luck today. We also found quite a few tracks. There were deer, racoon, rabbit, and coyote tracks along the path.

After we got back to the parking area we had a snack and headed over to a playground for a few minutes then to the nature center to ckeck out some of the wildlife (stuffed is better than nothing right?) that is in the area. Then home for a nap for both of us. All-in-all a good morning.

It is rather unforunate though that someone decided to build a giant bridge with a toll road on it over the park! I didn't make it as far as the camping area today but there was no part of the day-use area that you could not hear the road and when we went hiking we walked right under it. They didn't even put any architectural creativity into it. It is just a giant concrete blight on the landscape.

Next outing I think we will try Riley Wilderness park. I don't think there are any roads running near there.