From Blackstar Canyon to Whiting Ranch, the Santa Ana Mountains are home to colorful sandstone ravines and cobble bluffs that invoke iconic Western imagery. Now, the range is home to one more designated wilderness area that protects the striking, yet little-known red rock formations in Silverado Canyon.
On Wednesday, May 15, OC Board of Supervisors Chairman Don Wagner and OC Parks officials cut the ribbon to open Red Rock Wilderness, a 1,500-acre area that features eight miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding within OC Parks’ Irvine Ranch Open Space.
“This adds yet another remarkable open space to be explored by OC residents,” Wagner said.
Six new trails range in difficulty and offer scenic canyon overlooks from atop the red rock formations, which, somewhat ironically, can be best viewed from below on Black Star Canyon Road.
History in layers
The red rocks are part of the Sespe formation — a 20-to-40-million-year-old geologic deposit of sedimentary rocks and fossils in Southern and Central California known for its unique layers of reddish-brown, maroon, pinkish-gray and tan layers of sandstone, silt and clay.
While the formation developed along riverbanks and floodplains, the sandstone is unusually durable to erosion. As water has carved the canyon lands over geological time, the natural process of weathering and the gradual uplift of the Santa Ana Mountains sculpted the Sespe formation into the jagged reddish cliffs that give the park its apt name.
The ridgeline, however, is flush with wildflowers this time of year including coast Indian paintbrush, black sage, white sage, caterpillar scorpionweed, yucca blossoms and lupine. Prickly pear cactus, coast live oaks and coastal sage scrub are visible year-round.
The wilderness area is also home to animals such as bobcats, mule deer, grey foxes and vultures.
In an effort to balance preservation with public access, the new wilderness area, which abuts the Limestone Canyon Nature Preserve near Irvine Lake, will only be accessible to the public on select days or via advance registration that can be made online at ocparks.com/irvine-ranch-open-space.
The first free public access day will be 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 18. Programs including ecological talks and guided rides and walks begin the following Wednesday.
Visitors will have the opportunity to participate in surveys to help name the new trails.
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