Quail Hill Preserve and the Shady Canyon Bikeway in Irvine

Shady Canyon Bikeway in Irvine

The Quail Hill Preserve is a fun little dirt loop located just off the 405 freeway in Irvine.  It’s more suited for a short walk or a leisurely ride on your mountain bike. It’s also a great jumping off point for the Shady Canyon Bikeway in Irvine.  You can park your car in the Quail Hill Preserve parking lot and experience one of the best paved bike trails in all of Orange County.

As you head south from the preserve, the Shady Canyon Bikeway passes through some really beautiful neighborhoods.  The grade is uphill for the first mile and a half and downhill for the next mile, so you can get a nice workout in a relatively short period of time.  At 2.5 miles south of the Quail Hill Preserve, The Shady Canyon Bikeway links up with the Bommer Canyon Trail, or you can continue west on the paved bike trail and link up with the Bonita Canyon trail.  Bommer Canyon is a dirt trail which will take you all the way to Crystal Cove. You’ll need a mountain bike, a helmet and a lot of time to make it to the beach and back up. I don’t recommend attempting a 20 mile round-trip beach journey it unless you are a beast, because the ride back up Crystal Cove is pretty rough.

If you want to start at the Quail Hill Preserve and ride North on the Shady Canyon Bikeway, there is a good route which will connect you to the University Trail. You can link up with the University Trail and head west towards William R Mason Regional Park. This route is a leisurely 8 mile round-trip ride on a paved trail. I highly recommend plotting your route on Google first, because the trails in Irvine can be very confusing and they essentially go on forever in every direction.

Quail Hill Preserve in Irvine

Shady Canyon Bikeway Orange County California

Shady Canyon Bikeway in Irvine California

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Aliso and Woods Canyon Wilderness Park

Top of the World Park

Aliso and Woods Canyon is one of my favorite places to mountain bike in Orange County.  I usually park at the entrance on Alicia Parkway,  take the paved  Aliso Creek Trail south, and then head off road on right-hand spur trail for the Wood Canyon Trail.   The Wood Canyon Trail leads slightly uphill to Dripping Hole Cave.  It’s an easy trail for beginners.  If you feel like exercising, you can continue a few miles past Dripping Hole Cave and head up the steeper section of the Woods Canyon Trail to Canyon View Park. Canyon View Park has water fountains and a public restroom for a well-deserved rest at the top.

If you really want to try a butt-kicking ride, you can continue past Canyon View Park and pick up the Cholla Trail, then the Lynx Trail, and finally connect to the West Ridge Trail which will take you to the Top of theWorld Park. You can re-fill your water bottle in the park and then head back down to your car. I would only recommend attempting to bike from Alicia Parkway to Top of the World Park if you’re in pretty decent shape. The last section can be rough trip, especially when you’ve already been heading uphill for several miles. If you’re a beginner, a great way to do this ride is to use a two car shuttle.  You can park at the Top of the World Park  and bike downhill to the parking lot on Alicia Parkway and then drive back up the to your car.  It’s about an 11 mile drive back to the parking lot on Alicia Parkway.

Regardless of whether you plan on hiking or biking all the way to Canyon View Park or the Top of the World, I highly recommend taking the spur trail and checking out Dripping Hole Cave.  It’s not a huge cave by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s one of the largest natural inland caves in Orange County.

Aliso and Woods Canyon Trail Map

Aliso and Woods Canyon Wilderness Park Address:

28373 Alicia Parkway

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

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Alta Laguna Park. West Ridge Trail

Alta Laguna Park

Alta Laguna Park is a fantastic neighborhood park located high in the hills overlooking Laguna Beach.  Alta Laguna has a playground for the kiddies, tennis courts, restrooms and an absolutely amazing birds-eye view of the beach.  It’s also a great jumping off point for some of the best mountain trails in Orange County.

If you plan on heading up to Alta Laguna for some mountain biking, you can park your car in the parking lot or  on the street. You pick up the West Ridge Trail at the locked gate at the end of Alta Laguna Blvd. The West Ridge Trail is a wide, hard packed, dirt trail that snakes north, paralleling Laguna Canyon Road far down in the canyon below. The trail is in great shape and its wide enough to bomb the steeper sections at full speed.  The trail is mostly downhill from Alta Laguna, so be prepared for some rigorous uphill riding on your return trip. There are several side trails that connect to Wood Canyon Trail at the bottom of the canyon. If you plan on riding all the way to the bottom to Wood Canyon, I would highly advise a two car shuttle to drive back to the top, unless you really want the exercise.

If you don’t want to ride all the way to the bottom, you can follow the West Ridge Trail from Alta Laguna Park for 1.5 miles and turn around at the water tower. The return trip from this point is not nearly as grueling as riding all the way to the bottom. Be sure to bring sunscreen and plenty of water because you will be completely exposed to the sun on the trail. 

Directions to Alta Laguna Park:

From Route 1 in Laguna Beach, turn onto Legion Street. In a quarter mile, merge right onto Park Ave. Continue uphill on Park Avenue. You will come to a few confusing intersections and stop signs. Just keep on Park Ave. After 1.3 miles, make a left onto Alta Laguna Blvd and follow it for a quarter mile to the end. The park and the mountain bike trails are impossible to miss. 

West Ridge Trail. Alta Laguna Park

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Moulton Meadows Park, Laguna Beach

Moulton Meadows Park, Laguna Beach

I took my mountain bike up to Moulton Meadows Park in Laguna Beach today. The park is situated on a ridge top with uninterrupted views of the ocean to the west and Aliso Canyon to the east. There is amazing mountain bike trail which runs from a locked gate in the park down into Aliso Canyon. Make sure to bring your helmet if you plan to ride into Aliso Canyon because the descent is steep and perilous. A good destination in Aliso Canyon to turn around is Dripping Hole Cave. You might be tricked by Google maps into trying to find an alternative return route, but the neighborhoods up here are gated communities. You have to come back up out of the canyon the same way you went in. It’s a tough climb back up that trail lugging a bike. The fog rolled in on me around 5 o’clock and it felt a lot colder than the actual 60 degree temperature. Next time I head out there, I’m going to do it on a sunny day.

Moulton Meadows is a good place to bring the kiddies. There is a soccer field, basketball court, picnic tables, brand new set of bathrooms and a great jungle gym in the main part of the park. It would be a great place for a picnic or a game of Ultimate Frisbee.

To get to Moulton Meadows park, you drive south on Pacific Coast Highway past downtown Laguna Beach. Turn left onto Nyes Place and drive straight up the hill. After a half mile, the road merges into Balboa Ave.The park is a half mile on the right past the intersection of Balboa and Nyes place. There is plenty of free street parking. The mountain bike trail starts at the North end of the park at the small locked gate.

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