Dave and Jan spent some time vacationing in Orange County during the last week of June while Stephen and family joined Meagan’s parents and her sister and family at a family camp at Mount Hermon in the Santa Cruz mountains.  Their “staycation” included a three-day camping outing at O’Neill Regional Park in South Orange County in the Lake Forest area.

The park has around 75 individual camp sites plus group camp areas, an equestrian camp area (with corrals and arenas), day use areas, and many miles of trails for hikers and bike riders.  The camp’s facilities are very nice, with oak and sycamore trees and views of nearby Santa Ana mountain peaks.

Dave and Jan enjoyed the hike from the Featherly Day Use part of the campground up a hiking trail to the Mesa Trail on the ridge along the west part of the park – the Twisted Tire trail.

Tires would not have been the only twisted thing along that trail.  There were some very twisted trees in the park as well – both oaks and sycamores.

There were also some colorful flowering thistle plants along the trail.

The most amazing flower display on the trip occurred on the Bear Canyon trail high on the coastal range along the Ortega Highway (74) which takes drivers from San Clemente (on I-5) to Lake Elsinore (on I-15) to the east.

The trail followed a stream to a waterfall which dropped around 20 feet.

Along the trail there were an amazingly attractive number of wild flowers.

The stream offered some very refreshing scenes along the lower trail.

Jan’s good friend Lola required a little assistance along the 2 1/2 mile trail.

And, while much of the nation is experiencing the rising temperatures which are typical of the summer months, south Orange County was still enjoying the normal May/June reprieve of May Gray and June Gloom.

It was a refreshing camping trip.  And there is more to discover, because Dave and Jan drove to a somewhat primitive Forest Service campground three miles removed from the Ortega Highway with 50 camp sites, only one of which was occupied!  So one doesn’t have to travel far from home in Southern California to enjoy a very refreshing “staycation” – compliments of the amazingly ingenious Creator of it all!