What to do? After checking around online, it turned out that all of the usual alternative horse camping sites were either booked up solid, not open for the summer, or located north of us where we would have to get on the 101 (traffic going north was horrible for obvious reasons with the fire). After some checking around, we hit on Caspers Wilderness Park in San Juan Capistrano.
I normally don't associate Orange County with horse camping since it seems so built up (Camp Pendelton, excepted) but it turns out that Caspers Wilderness Park consists of some 8,000 acres and the entrance is located off of Ortega Highway (I-74), about 7 miles east of I-5.
It turned out that there were some open equestrian camp spaces with pipe corrals and we quickly decided to get on the road. We made good time and arrived at the park at about 1 PM. After some confusion over reservations and negotiating with a somewhat cranky ranger, we found our camp spots and got set up. The only bad part here was that I was going to sleeping in my friend's large trailer but Max and I were travelling with another friend with a smaller trailer so my stuff was somewhat scattered (I love my friends but sometimes they move a bit too slow- next time, I'll take a small tent) but it got sorted out eventually.
The campsites were pleasant but we were scaterred about a bit so it was hard to gather together as a group. Also, as the weekend progressed, it turned out that there were woefully far too few restroom facilities in relation to the amount of people and the larger shower/restroom facilities were far away from camp (don't know what's up with that except it looked like poor planning). Good think I brought extra TP (but I didn't quite have to resort to digging cat holes).
We headed out for small ride Friday afternoon to get a feel for the place. Max was excellent and not only did he travel well, but he was ready to explore the trails and get into things. He was definately relaxed with all the travelling he's been doing for the past three weeks (five, if you count the movie shoot).
The park consists of a large valley that leads north and apparently this was all once a cattle ranch. Talk about California as it once was before all the developers messed it up! The valley consists of a combination of grasslands and groves of oak trees while the ridge consist mostly of grass and scrub brush- it's interesting to note that when you ascend one of the trails going up the ridges, you ascent above the "treeline", so to speak.
The trails consisted of a combination of fire roads and single-track trails with mostly dirt footings and basically you can either ride in the shade or bake in the sun. The weather was relatviely mild although a bit too humid for my taste but not a deal-breaker. The best time to ride the ridges was in the morning before the mist burned off.
While riding Friday, we came accross what I'd call "The Cathedral of Oaks" which was an area shaded by massive oak trees with little undergrowth. I wasn't able to get a picture of it (damn cell phone crapped out) but hopefully one of my compadres did. The way the light was coming through the trees was absolutely beautiful and we were the only ones there. To me, we could have been the original Spanish explorers seeing this for the first time. This is what California is all about!
Coming up on the "Cathedral of Oaks"
After a pleasant evening, we hit the trails early in the morning and explored the valley, travelling in a long loop for about 7 miles or so. After lunch, we headed out again, this time to ride along the west ride. The trail up consisted of a series of gentle switchbacks and we mostly trotted up the trail to almost the top. Then things get a bit steep and the drop-offs are pretty extreme. The trail was well marked, which was good, because there were a couple of places where it would have been very easy to take a wrong turn and fall off...(shudder).
Heading up the west ridge
Me on the west ridge
View from the west ridge
After making the ridge, we paused to rest and check our cell phones (great reception) and then proceeded along with ridege for about 5 miles or so. The only drama occurred when we encountered a mountain biker and Max had issues- we really need to work more on this. The issue was handled and I was able to get Max pointed in the right direction and managed to work him around the biker.
We then proceeded along the ridge until we linked up with a fire road that would take us down into the valley again. Overall, we'd ridden about 12 miles that day and while it wasn't as long or as difficult as some trails I've ridden, it was still pleasant and it was very neat to be able to ride through all the oak groves.
We had a pleasant dinner of tri-tip that evening and basically chilled out, although we did have endure a bit of "karioke night" from some of our neighbors...
On Sunday, we got up early eat a quick breakfast and decided to get in another ride before leaving (check-out is 12 Noon). This time, we followed a trail onto the eastern ridge. The eastern ridge was a bit gentler as a trail without most of the steep drop-offs. We encountered a lot of the local wildlife- a deer and a lot of rabbits (there's also a lot of fat squirrerels by the campground, no doubt nourished by the offerings of campers) and it was pretty interesting to watch. Max took it all in stride and ignored it. It seemed that the only thing he was interested in was grazing on all the grass (a lot of it was still green in the valleys).
Heading down the trail
The view from the east ridge
The one bad thing about the trails is that they're not really every long and there aren't a lot of them so after three days, we'd pretty much had seen everything. This is definately a good place to for a starting trail ride/horse camping excursion and in many ways it reminds me of Malibu Creek State Park without most of the people and their stupid antics.
As for Max, he had few issues and he was completely relaxed the whole time we were there. Except for the mountain bike and one vaquero wannabe who galloped his horse past us (so much for trail manners), Max didnt' really have any issues and even these were nothing. It was definately not like Morro Bay or even Vasquez Rocks. I stayed relaxed and kep Max's attention focused on other things like doing leg-yields and side-passes.
Overall, it was a good save for a weekend that threatened to be a complete washout.
P.S. For a map and description of the park, go HERE.
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