Calero County Park
Hike Review:
I hiked the Los Cerritos Trail, Peña Trail, Serpentine Loop, and back via the Los Cerritos Trail.
The only new trail for me was the Peña Trail, but the trail conditions were similar to other trails that I have previously hiked.
What I Learned:
At the trailhead, there was a sign stating that the “lower loop” was closed. There is no trail marked “lower loop”, so I wasn’t sure which trail they were talking about. What I found out was that the lower Serpentine loop was indeed closed after a picnic bench. I wish the signage was a bit clearer. It makes sense sitting here and typing it out, but at the park, I didn’t make the connection.
Calero was looking as full as I’ve ever seen it. The rains that we got this winter were enough to satiate the reservoir for once.
The birds were awfully chatty today, which was a nice change. I found out that the black bird with red on it’s shoulders is called a Red-Winged Blackbird. How fitting.
I saw turkey tracks on the Los Cerritos Trail, which wasn’t a surprise given that these oak forests is prime habitat for turkeys.
Media Consumed
The Way of Kings
What Happened?
6.1 miles, 2 hr 17 mins, 1073 ft of ascent
One of the things that drive me to hike more often is hiking unknown trails. Thus, on this day, my goal was to hike to the Chisnantuk and Bald Peak stepping foot on parts of Cottle Trail, Chisnantuk Peak Trail, Bald Peaks Trail, and Cañada del Oro Trail that I hadn’t hiked before. I was actually planning on hiking a different park today, but it was a cold day, which is perfect for Calero Park, since it gets so hot in the summer. Unfortunately for me, I could not get to even Cottle Trail, as the Serpentine Loop trail was closed (which I only discovered once I hiked half of the lower loop).
But, I still had a great time and got to check out the Peña Trail, which I hadn’t hiked before. It offers one of the best views of Calero County Park, so I was happy to have at least discovered that.
The only other thing of note was that there was an event being hosted at the park (it looked like a timed treasure hunt), which meant more people on the trail. But Calero County Park, being how it is, meant that even with the added amount of people on the trail, the trails were still relatively empty.