Third time’s the charm

VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

Twice thwarted in our attempts to reach the top of Santiago Peak, Vic

and I packed a picnic of turkey sandwiches last weekend and set off

to tackle the hill once again.

On a clear day, double-peaked Saddleback Mountain is the most

prominent feature of our eastern skyline. The shorter, northernmost

hump is Modjeska Peak. Santiago Peak is the taller hump to the south.

At 5,687 feet, it is the highest peak in Orange County’s Santa Ana

Mountains.

For more than two decades that peak has mocked us, beguiled us and

beckoned us. Hidden by smog on summer days, capped with snow in the

winter, Orange County’s highest spot will taunt us no more. We

finally made it to the top in our two-wheel drive Highlander, using

Silverado Canyon, Maple Springs and Main Divide Roads.

It was only 43 miles from Huntington Beach to the top, but

climbing over a mile in elevation took us into a totally different

world. It was a world we wanted to explore because the Friends of

Shipley Nature Center are attempting to recreate a variety of Orange

County habitats at the nature center for educational purposes. We

wanted to experience the mysteries of the mountain habitat first

hand.

Near where the road changed from pavement to mule path, we stopped

to admire some big-leaf maples. The leaves grow up to 18 inches long.

With pale gray bark and a graceful spreading form, these trees are

among the loveliest hardwoods of Orange County. Big-leaf maples are

to be planted at Shipley Nature Center, so perhaps in the future we

won’t have to endure spine-crunching mountain roads to see this

elegant tree.

Journeys into the wild usually bring something unexpected and this

trip was no exception. Just past the maple trees we ran into a

ladybug convention. Thousands of nine-spotted and spotless ladybugs

swarmed through the air. This time of year, ladybugs migrate into the

mountains to burrow under piles of leaf litter to hibernate. There

they will stay until the warm days of spring awaken them. Some

cultures believe that if a ladybug lands on you, it will bring good

luck. If true, Vic and I are in for a colossal spell of good fortune.

Higher along the road, we encountered Coulter and knobcone pines.

Coulter pines are the predominant pine of Orange County. Discovered

in 1831 by Thomas Coulter, the cones of this tree are the heaviest of

all pines. Although cones measuring 20 inches in length and weighing

up to eight pounds have been recorded, we didn’t see any of that

magnitude. It would be interesting to see if Coulter and knobcone

pines would grow at Shipley Nature Center too.

Another surprising find was a small stand of Tecate cypress. This

rare tree is found mainly in Baja California and San Diego County,

but a small population grows in Coal, Gypsum, and Fremont Canyons at

the north end of the Santa Ana Mountains. Because they were growing

along the road up Modjeska Peak, Vic wondered if they had been

planted there in an attempt to expand the population.

After one particularly harrowing stretch where the road repeatedly

slammed me against the door of the SUV and threatened to send Vic’s

head through the sunroof, we considered turning around. We took a

breather, then persevered. The off-road guidebook “Backcountry

Adventures Southern California” reports that the route we took up

Santiago Peak on the north slope is an improvement over the route

along Main Divide Road coming from the south. Yeah, right, some

improvement. Finally, we made it to the top. The view from Santiago

Peak was spectacular. Standing under a forest of communications

towers, we could clearly see Newport Bay, San Clemente Island, Santa

Catalina Island, and what we thought might be Anacapa Island off to

the northwest. We could make out the AES Huntington Beach power plant

and the Bolsa Chica wetlands. To the east, we saw Lake Mathews and

Diamond Valley Lake, the largest reservoir in southern California. We

even saw the observatory on Mt. Palomar to the south.

We decided to go before the radio frequency waves from the towers

totally fried our brains. We headed down in fading light, stopping

briefly to photograph the sunset from an overlook. Near the bottom,

we lighted up some poorwills, relatives of nighthawks, in our

headlights. They were sitting on the road, warming themselves. These

birds hunt insects at night and are rarely seen by day, so it was a

delightful find.

The journey down the mountain seemed much faster and easier than

going up. Still, it took us an hour and a half to creep from the top

down to the community of Silverado, a mere 11. 5 miles.

The next day we visited the Bolsa Chica to check on the progress

of the restoration project at Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast

Highway. As we looked eastward with binoculars, we could see the

towers in the saddle between Modjeska and Santiago Peaks, as well as

the array of towers on Santiago Peak. The peaks mean so much more to

us now that we’ve finally made it to the top and have seen the

mountain’s mysteries for ourselves.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].