This hike took us from the Quail Hill Community Center in Irvine up into the hills, past the fancy-looking Shady Canyon neighborhood, south along the Serrano Ridge Trail, then down the Little Sycamore Canyon Trail to the Nix Nature Center, next to Laguna Canyon Road. We stopped there for a snack, had a look around the new nature center building, then went back the way we came.
It was about 9 miles on good trails and fire roads, with a few hundred feet of up and down, only a couple steep hills. Most of the route was open, without tree cover, so we had open views to the San Gabriels and the Santa Anas most of the way. This will be a terrific hike to repeat in the Spring, when the hills will be greener and many more plants in bloom.
Honeybee on California buckwheat (Eriogonum), one of the few plants blooming on the day of the hikeA tarantula in a hole in the middle of the trailCoyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) in bloom by the trail. The flowers are different on male and female coyote brush plants – this is a male plant, with staminate flowers.Wildlife camera by the Quail TrailA painting at the Nix Nature Center by Saim Caglayan, “Midsummer Sunset 2000, Big Bend”. The nature center has a small gallery of works by local artists.At the Nix Nature Center, a 3-D geological map of the areaFruiting prickly pear (Opuntia) by the trail
On the Little Sycamore Trail, looking up at the rock formation that runs below Serrano Ridge
