Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: Orange County - Jerry Schad - Страница 25

trip 3.3 Emerald Vista Point

Distance 4.6 miles (loop)

Hiking Time 2½ hours

Elevation Gain 800’

Difficulty Moderate

Trail Use Backpacking, cyclists, equestrians, good for kids

Best Times October–May

Agency CCSP

Permit CCSP parking fee required

DIRECTIONS Crystal Cove State Park’s visitor center and backcountry trailhead is located just east of the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1), 2 miles north of Laguna Beach and 3 miles south of Corona del Mar. The entrance driveway is well marked, and a traffic light has been installed here for safety. Follow the road as it veers right and passes the entrance station. Continue past Moro Campground and down the hill, then turn left (east) and drive to the trailhead parking near a picnic area at the end of the road.

On the most transparent winter days, the view from Emerald Vista Point spans more than 200 miles of Southern California coast and extends out to sea for a distance of 100 miles or more. Beyond Dana Point to the southeast, the low profile of San Diego’s Point Loma can be traced along the curving shoreline, while offshore the diminutive Coronado Islands (just south of the international border) barely rise above the ocean haze. Southwest and west stand two big islands, San Clemente and Santa Catalina, the former a gently rising blister on the ocean surface, the latter a bold headland sprawling across 25 degrees of ocean horizon. Over the top of the upthrust Palos Verdes peninsula and through the often murky Los Angeles Basin to the northwest, you can sometimes spy the Santa Monica Mountains and the faint blue coastline reaching west toward Santa Barbara.

If you plan to make this a backpacking trip, make a reservation at reserveamerica.com for Crystal Cove State Park Primitive Tent Camping (Lower or Upper Moro trail camps), or get a permit in person at the visitor center. The camping fees are hefty considering the scrubby, waterless campground with a strenuous approach to a ridge miles from the beach.

Prickly pear cactus at Emerald Vista

From the top of the trailhead parking area, take the wide path up El Moro Canyon, then very quickly turn right on the narrow BFI Trail (“Big F. Inline”), and go up a grassy slope to the south. After sharply gaining about 200 feet of elevation, you connect with a service road winding up the west spur of El Moro Ridge. Continue climbing up the service road for 0.7 mile, then make a sharp right on a spur leading south to a small antenna facility on the shoulder of the ridge. Your views of Emerald Bay, the city of Laguna Beach, and out over the ocean are most panoramic here.

For a longer, more leisurely descent, follow the service road 0.7 mile farther north along El Moro Ridge (signed MORO RIDGE ROAD), then veer left down the East Cut-Across road to El Moro Canyon in 1.2 miles. Turn left there, and go down-canyon 1 mile to reach the wide trail leading out of the canyon and back toward the visitor center.

If you are backpacking, you’ll travel farther north up El Moro Ridge. Add another mile for the round-trip to the Lower El Moro trail camp, or 2.8 miles round-trip if you’re heading to the Upper El Moro trail camp.