Hiking Trail Guide: Trabuco Canyon Trail, Cleveland NF

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Trabuco Canyon Trail, Cleveland NF

Distance
5 miles

Elevation
1100 feet gain

Difficulty
4/10

City
Trabuco Canyon ,CA (92678) Weather Map

Trailhead
You begin at the Holy Jim parking area and that's the biggest challenge. The road to the falls parking lot has potholes that eat trail bikes and washboarding that will make you sing like a jaw harp. Please go no faster than 20 mph: flying rocks from your tires can seriously harm others.

From Interstate 5, get off at El Toro Road. Head north on El Toro to the point where the road forks at Cook's Corner. Take the right fork (Live Oak Canyon Road) past O'Neill Park. A quarter mile past Trabuco School, you will pass over Trabuco Creek. Turn left onto the dirt road. Some people park here and hike in: this adds 4.45 miles and 840 feet to your hike. Most continue on the road for another 4.45 miles and park in the Holy Jim lot. Though washboarded in parts, the road is usually passable for most passenger cars. The trail continues directly after the parking lot.

Description

If you leave out the beautiful falls at the end of Holy Jim Canyon, I'd favor this trail. Canopies of the tallest oaks, sycamores and pines that I have seen in OC vault from the forest floor. If you seek solitude, a respite from civilization, and cool green woods filled with songbirds, reptiles, and wildflowers, Trabuco Canyon offers you everything you could desire.

You will pass through dense woods and open chaparral. As you make the gentle ascent, you will see relics of human occupation including an abandoned car and a gold mine, flooded and crawling with salamanders. On hot days, you can rest in the cool tunnel. A landslide precedes the cave entrance.

You weave in and out of the bottomland forest until you reach the last stretch before the junction with the West Horsethief Trail. Enjoy Los Pinos Peak and the huge trees in the canyon below before turning back.

Map / Directions: