| Description: | Trabuco Canyon is in south central part of Santa Ana Mountains, which divide Orange and Riverside County. It's accessed by a rough dirt road and there are three singletracks that go up to the divide, Holy Jim, West Horsethief and Trabuco. I rode the dirt road up the canyon, then up Holy Jim. The road is pretty rough with several creek crossings on concrete slabs. Lower part of Holy Jim goes on the canyon bottom with several creek crossings that are very rocky. Once the trail starts switchbacking up the canyon slope, it's all rideable and not super steep. The last push to the Divide jeep road is another push. From here, I decided to climb another 1800 ft. or so to top of Santiago Peak, it's only about 3 miles but took me over an hour. It was chilly on the top, but not too bad. The views are limited because of the numerous antennas. Then I rode back and on the divide road, up and down to the Trabuco trailhead. Here I met the only person of the day, a lone runner who run from Blue Jay campground, mere 2 miles away. I hopped on the Trabuco singletrack, which was locally loose but otherwise fun to ride. Then down the bumpy road back to the car. |
