Turtle Rock Hike...

So as you know - I'm dating a hiker.

It's great for me because for some reason I have never thought to go "hike" around the OC.  I'm familiar with Peter's Canyon, but that's really about it.  So he's been introducing me to lots of places around here that are super pretty and it's way better than the gym and now I have this geocaching thing so it's just all around awesome.

So - I was introduced to the Turtle Rock Trail in Irvine.  Sadly it's pretty brown.  Thanks SoCal drought.  But it's still pretty.  Flowers scattered here and there.  Lots of lizards.  A few bunnies.  Lots of bees.  And you get up pretty high so the views are spectacular!  What I wasn't ready for was how high and how long.  There's a few pretty good size hills you hike up.  He told me hikers will come here to train.  You should also expect to be out there a while because it's quite a long walk if you do the whole thing.  "Suicide Rock" was the steepest, but was pretty short.  My calves are still sore 3 days later, but I totally enjoyed it!

We parked right by the trailhead near a school and immediately tried to find some caches.  It looks like the same geo person hid a bunch a long this trail.  I'd like to come back and try to find them all.  We tried to find the 1st three, with no luck.  This is when I wonder how long I'll actually continue to geocache.  Ha!



We got to the top of the 1st hill and what a view!

We continued on and guess what - WE FOUND ONE!

How cute is "Jamikat & Pat"

Left a little Pegasus as my token!

Cachers

Awesome!

As we were hiking along, it's actually surrounded by suburbia, so lots of gorgeous Irvine houses.  We also kept seeing these fun purple blooms that Patrick digs.

We headed down to an area that seemed to be the major bee haven.  They were everywhere!  As we dodged the little honey friends, we found another cache!

This one had the log in a film can.  We had to fight to get this one open!

Left a green dragon this time

Hiking along, chatting and enjoying the view.  We heard a band.  We realized it was actually a live band!  They were practicing in a nearby garage.  I couldn't help but find myself dancing along as we looked (but failed to find) for another cache.

We did find a 3rd cache along the way though!  So - for the geocaching portion of the hike we looked for 6 and found 3.  Not bad!

How cute is this little log book!!!??

This cache gets my purple dragon

Random....

Now it was time to stop looking for caches and trek forward so we could finish the hike before dark and in time to get some food.

We found ourselves walking through neighborhoods and streets for a while (I was starting to wonder if we were lost...) then back onto the trail.  This is where my calves got a work out!

You want me to walk up that?!

Pretty sunset!

I was debating if my calves could handle this one...

Top of Turtle Rock!

Fellow Photogs!

As the sun was setting we ended up back through a neighborhood as we headed to the car.  It was a really pretty area and made me realize living in Irvine probably wouldn't be so bad!

We rolled into Pita Jungle just in time for dinner.  If you haven't checked this place out, do so.  It's delicious!

A lovely way to spend a Friday evening!