June is a great month to explore James Dilley Greenbelt Preserve. You’ll catch the last of the spring wildflowers, perhaps a pale purple mariposa lily, and the last few monkeyflowers blooming orange and red amid the scented sagebrush. Once I saw a rare scarlet-headed cobwebby thistle, the only thistle native to our area.
On a recent hike, going up the Canyon Trail past laurel sumac and oaks, I used Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s free app to identify bird sounds, logging 14 species. Acorn woodpeckers, my favorite, are best known for their distinctive habit of storing acorns in holes they drill into the sides of trees. They also live in extended family groups and cooperatively raise their young.
Canyon Trail winds up past prickly pears and coastal sage scrub to a viewpoint from which you can see miles of open land as well as Santiago Peak. Then venture down Mariposa, treading carefully on the loose rocks. At the bottom, I like to backtrack along the Lake Trail until I arrive at the Sunflower Trailhead, then climb once again to the viewpoint.
Together, Mariposa and Sunflower total around a mile and a half with some steep sections, so they’re moderately challenging but certainly doable for the average hiker.
I take the Edison Trail down toward Barbara’s Lake, Orange County’s only natural lake. It’s named after Barbara Stuart Rabinowitsh, a ballerina and choreographer who studied under George Balanchine. A close friend of Dilley’s, Barbara helped found the Laguna Greenbelt and bequeathed part of her fortune to its preservation.
In 1978, the lake was briefly home to Bubbles the hippo, who escaped from then-Lion Country Safari to luxuriate in the warm, shallow waters. She stayed for a couple of weeks, no doubt much to the surprise of native bobcats, hawks and mule deer.
I like to pause near a tree that fell into the water during our last storm. Though dead, happily its remains provide food and shelter for a variety of tiny critters. Turtles and mallard ducks often bask on its branches.
Finally, I walk back along the Lake Trail toward the parking area. Along the way, on your right, you might see a hawk’s nest way up on a tall tree and the remains of ancient farming equipment down below.
To my mind, Dilley is the Goldilocks of wilderness parks: not too big and not too small. Easy to navigate, but also capable of offering a challenge along some of the trails (try Blackjack). Yep, it’s just right, thanks to the founders of Laguna Greenbelt and Irvine Company, which once owned this land, now preserved in perpetuity for all to enjoy.
For more info on this hike, visit ocparks.com.
