Catching Up: Some Hiking

We are always looking for new hiking trails and places to explore around Orange County. So a few weeks ago we were trying to get to a trail in Chino Hills, but it had just rained and the park we were headed to was closed so that the trails didn't erode with all the extra mud.  We were very disappointed, because we were excited about the hike we had planned. So we drove to the other side of the same park, and there was a county park right next to it called Carbon Canyon Park.  It was still open despite the rains, and even though it doesn't have as many trails and hills to hike, we went there to get a little exploring in.  Brian had previously been there, and knew that there was a patch of Redwoods in the back of the park, so we hiked a mile or so to the Redwoods area.  It was a fun park to explore, and would be a good place to take a family picnic if people came to visit, or if there was a church event.

Just yesterday we were exploring our area again.  There is a nature preserve just a mile or so from our apartment that we have passed several times.  We decided to go see what it was all about after getting some other errands done yesterday.  The area is called Robert E. Ward Nature Preserve, and we always joke that it's our relative Bobby Ward's place :)  The area was really cool, but we were a little disappointed at the lack of accessible trails.  I guess because it's a nature preserve, they don't want people wandering around it too much. Most of the area was fenced off and we could only walk on trails along side it, next to the neighborhoods and houses.  I think it might be a part of what is called Coyote Hills, which is in debate around town because the city wants to sell it for housing developments.  There are lots of signs to "Save Coyote Hills," but we don't know exactly where the area is. Bobby's nature preserve was filled with cacti; rolling hill after rolling hill of cactus growing all over!  And lots of birds wild life.  It was kind of neat to see. 

If you look closely you can see the snowy mountains in the distance.

There were also some flowers that were blooming.  A side story here:  The first year Brian and I were dating he went to Guatemala on a trip with the seminary.  I thought it was a little out of character for him when I saw he had taken lots of pictures of the flowers in Guatemala.  He said they were for his mom, and sure enough, Annette loves pictures of flowers and seeing different species of flowers from all over.  So now I am in the habit of snapping shots of flowers when I see them to share with her. So these are for you Annette!  I especially think it is fun to have pictures of flowers blooming in the middle of winter!  How crazy, huh?