SA Guide: Bommer Canyon

Hiking in Orange County parks and preserves often involves interfacing with the acts and artifacts of man. Many parks abut roads or residential developments and trails sometimes run along fence-lines. These conditions can be to the benefit of those who live nearby, but if you're like me you prefer a hike which, even if it doesn't traverse wilderness, at least looks the part.

But even in those parks that don't include moments of waving at passersby in cars or homeowners mowing their lawns, there can be moments of frustration. Some places, Caspers Wilderness Park for instance, lie adjacent to private preserves, leaving gates in what often seem to be strategically situated spots calculated to interrupt an enjoyable ramble.

The city of Irvine, however, manages to balance preservation and protection (goals we all share) with a bit of public access by opening their Open Space Preserve trails once a month: generally on the third Saturday. Judging from our first experience with the program, this gracious approach appears to be quite popular. 

One of the places where Laura and I spend a fair amount of time hiking is Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. Directly to the north of Laguna Coast lies a part of Irvine's Open Space Preserve. Often while hiking in Laguna Coast we've passed trails leading off into these canyons on the west side of Serrano Ridge, and often we've wished to hike there. When we discovered that this was possible once every month we looked forward to the opportunity - and took it this last weekend.

We were decidedly not alone, as there were loads of cyclists and runners and other hikers making use of the open trails, but it was a fine hike nonetheless. And its relatively restricted access probably made us appreciate it even more.

Truth to tell, there are very few moments, in either Laguna Coast park or the Open Space Preserve, when it's possible to imagine you're miles away from civilization, but even so it's nice to get the dust of new trails on your boots once in a while.

Info: Distance - 10 miles, Elevation gain - 617', Rating - Moderate-Difficult 

More photos: Flickr

(All photos by Laura Camp unless otherwise indicated. Use without permission is not cool.)