Hiking the Moor

Crystal Cove-El Moro Canyon

“Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County”

Intro Song: Rolling Stones-You Can’t Always Get What You Want

You can find a trail map here: http://www.crystalcovestatepark.com/Images/CCSP_Map.pdf

And more info here: http://www.crystalcovestatepark.com/hiking.html

This weekend we hiked El Moro Canyon in Crystal Cove.  We have wanted to check out this spot for a while and were happy to finally get the chance. The trail parking is located just North Of Laguna Beach, South of Corona Del Mar on Pacific Coast Hwy. Turn into the Parking lot of El Morro School and drive around the West side of the school, turning North to the Parks’ parking area. Visit the info center for a parking permit. Parking for the day is $15 which is a bit steep, but they have nice facilities, great maps, clean restrooms, and the trails are well maintained and clearly marked so you can’t complain too much. The trails are open to hiking, biking, and equestrian use and are open from 6am to sunset.  Dogs are not allowed in the backcountry, and as always stay on designated trails.

The backcountry and wilderness areas of Crystal Cove State Park offer you 17 miles of hiking trails through 2,400 acres of native wilderness mostly the endangered coastal sage scrub plant community.  The higher trails offer beautiful vistas of the mountainous backcountry, geological formations, and the blue Pacific Ocean.  Exploring the lower trails offers hiking through riparian woodlands with oak and sycamore trees along the seasonal Moro Creek.  Whether you explore the high trails or the low trails or both, you will find ample evidence of native plants and animals, and a sense of escaping from civilization into the beautiful solitude of natural history. Most of the trail offers no shade, so early mornings are best on hot days. This is also prime rattlesnake terrain so please use caution.

Crystal Cove State Park has a registered 180 different species of birds that can be observed either the entire year, seasonally, or a few times per year. Some of the birds seen regularly include the Turkey Vulture, Mourning Dove, Ring Bullied Gull, the Common Raven, and the House Sparrow. Along with registered birds, there are roughly 26 registered reptiles of Crystal Cove State Park, and 10 of which are commonly seen by visitors. These include the Silvery Legless Lizard, Arboreal Salamander, Pacific Tree Frog, Red Diamond Rattlesnake, Gopher Snake, southern Pacific Rattlesnake, California King Snake, Side Blotched Lizard, Western Fence Lizard, and the San Diego Horned Lizard.

We started our hike by heading up the “No Dogs” trail at the top of the parking lot.  You will warm up quickly with the nice incline here.  We took a right when we got to Poles and this is where you will descend down into the canyon.  It is pretty steep here so watch your step. We then continued on E. Cut Across and eventually headed back up on Moro Ridge.  The views from Moro Ridge are GRAND!  We stopped here and had a snack to take them in.  We then headed down B.F.I which is affectionately called Big Fn Incline, and that it is!  Hard to even go down, we were happy we didn’t do this hike in reverse.  At the bottom of the hill we passed the Moro Campground and worked our way back to the parking lot.  This ended up being just under 6 miles and took use about 3 ½ hours at a leisurely pace.

“Sunshine has no budget, the sea no red tape.”