Trabuco Outdoors Blog

Long Canyon Road Wildflowers

Last week biologist "Bug Bob" Allen was nice enough to shoot out an email broadcast to the forest service volunteers about a wildflower bloom along Long Canyon Raod about a mile west of Ortega Highway in the Cleveland National Forest. There was a small brush fire a few months ago which created a bloom of the fire-following wildflowers on both sides of Long Canyon Road, a paved road a few miles north of the candy store. According to Bob, the bloom consists primarily of Delphinium cardinale (scarlet larkspur) and Dicentra chrysantha (golden ear-drops).

I don't know if Bob is currrenty teaching any biology classes at Santa Ana College or Irvine Valley College, but check the college course schedule and sign up for his class if you get a chance to. His classes include a number of field trips into the Santa Ana Mountains, and it's incredibly interesting to learn about the natural history of our area from an experienced naturalist. Bob is also an excellent nature photographer.

Central Colorado

Bell Ridge Trail

Bell Ridge Trail is one of my favorites in the Santa Ana Mountains, probably due in part because the trailhead is so close to my home (Robinson Ranch), and also because it is lightly visited and wild. This is not an official forest service trail and exists primarily because of the efforts of the Warrior's Society mountain bike club. The trail is accessed via the trailhead for the Bell View trail which is part of OC Parks, in this case, Caspers Wilderness Park. Unlike most of the trails in Caspers, leashed dogs are allowed on this trail, at least this section north of Robinson Ranch Road. It's a short hike from Bell View to Bell Ridge trail which is within the Cleveland National Forest. Once on national forest land, regulations are more lax and allow off-leash dogs, hunting, etc. For more info:

http://www.trabucooutdoors.com/hikes/bell_ridge_hike.htm

 

7:12am

More RSM photos

Here's a few more photos from around the RSM lake. These are in roughly chronological order with the new photos at the top. Sometimes it's amusing to lay out your photos taken in a particular location over the years and see how (if) your style changes. In my case, the newer photos are much more likely to have people in the composition. Also, I seem to have less of a need for dramatic color in my more recent photos. I'm sure my style will evolve into something diffent in another few years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plumber syndrome

I've lived in RSM/Trabuco for the past 24 years. Like the plumber who never gets around to fixing the leaky faucet in his own home, I don't take a lot of photos around town. I've got to get out of that habit. Here are a few that I have taken around the RSM lake.

 

 

 

Shooting Laguna

Without a doubt, one of the best places for street photography in Orange County is Laguna Beach. There's no shortgage of interesting a diverse people wandering around this town.Here's some color shots. I'll post some B&W in the next few days.

When shooting the street, I look for people who I think would look interesting photographed. If I saw me walking down the street, I wouldn't lift the camera. Now I hope I'm and interesting person, I just wouldn't be a good photographic subject. The folks on this page are.

 

 

 

Phacelia

Vintage