The Wet and Wild Ortega Hideaway

Ah, wilderness. Exit the freeway, drive eight miles inland and you’ll discover that Orange County isn’t all housing tracts, business centers and shopping plazas.

Along the Ortega Highway is a piece of landscape that hasn’t changed much since Gaspar Portola led the first Spanish exploration into the area in 1769. It’s the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, 7,600 acres of natural beauty in the western foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains.

The park is still the domain of wildlife. At the entrance booth, adults must sign a wilderness permit and waiver that warns of the park’s inherent dangers, including mountain lions and rattlesnakes.

Restrictions on Kids

Mountain lion attacks on two children a few years ago prompted new park rules: minors (younger than 18) are restricted to the visitor center and designated picnic areas; none are permitted in campgrounds or on the nature trails.

Thirty miles of wilderness trails allow adults to explore the preserve on foot, horseback and mountain bicycles.

Afterward they can soothe sore feet and bodies in thermal waters at the northern end of the park. The bathing spot was first enjoyed by the Indians, then families from the Spanish ranchos .

Nowadays at San Juan Capistrano Hot Springs, 25 private tubs are scattered among the oak and sycamore trees.

Pack a picnic before heading south from Los Angeles on the Santa Ana Freeway to the exit for Ortega Highway (California 74). It passes new subdivisions before narrowing into a busy rural road bordered by the San Juan Creek bed and hills temporarily blackened by a September brush fire.

Look for the left turn into Caspers Wilderness Park and then stop at the entry booth to pay the $1.50 per vehicle day-use fee. (Motorcycles and pets are prohibited.) Park hours are 7 a.m. to sunset.

On weekends, try to arrive for the 8:30 a.m. nature walks led by ranger Larry Norton, who discusses the differences in the tracks left by bobcats, coyotes, raccoons and opossum. Although hikers may also come across paw prints of mountain lions, those animals haven’t been seen in the park in the past two months.

On the 1 1/2- to 2-hour outings the ranger also will identify birds, reptiles, insects and plants. And you’ll learn about the history of the park, which was once part of the 10,000-acre Starr Ranch.

Cattle and cowboys were gone from the ranch by the late 1960s, when the county paid $4.4 million for more than half the property and dedicated it as a regional park in 1974. Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park was named for a former county supervisor who sought to preserve the land.

From the viewing deck atop the visitor center there is little evidence of urbanized Orange County. Only the two-lane highway seems an intrusion to the landscape, but it follows an old Indian trail and was named for Sgt. Jose Francisco Ortega of the first Portola expedition.

Indian History

Inside the visitor center are displays on American Indians, including the local Juanenos, and Spanish and Mexican residents during the rancho era. Other exhibits feature the park’s geology, trees, wildflowers and birds.

Also on view are a preserved mountain lion, mule deer, great horned owl and other area wildlife. Visitors can ask to see the park’s nature films, including a popular one about predators.

The visitor center is open weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Trail maps are available there and at the entry booth; at least two people must be in each hiking or riding party. Information: (714) 831-2174.

Tent and RV camping is available at 42 sites with picnic tables, charcoal-burning stoves and water; no hookups. An additional 31 sites at an equestrian campground have pipe corrals and hitching posts. Camping is $8.50 per site, $2 more for a horse. Ranger Stan Bengston gives campfire programs at 7:30 p.m. Saturdays.

Families can picnic during the day at San Juan Meadow where there is playground equipment. Weekend nature walks are canceled after rain; phone the park to inquire.

To enjoy the park’s thermal waters, return to Ortega Highway, drive north four miles and follow signs to San Juan Capistrano Hot Springs.

The bathing spot reopened six years ago after being in ruin for decades. The concessionaire has placed a variety of redwood, tile and acrylic hot tubs in the woods and piped filtered mineral water to them from the steamy hillside springs. Tub temperatures average 105 degrees.

Secluded Tubs

The 25 tubs have names as well as numbers; two of the most secluded are called Paradise and Tranquility. They vary in size, up to a pair named Heaven and Atlantis that hold as many as 14 bathers. Lattices and shrubbery offer some privacy.

The most recent addition is a 100-foot-long swimming pool with well water heated to 80 degrees. (Closed Monday and Tuesday in winter and after sunset.)

San Juan Capistrano Hot Springs is open 24 hours every day. Reservations are suggested on Friday and Saturday evenings: (714) 728-0400.

Bathers pay $8.50 an hour for the hot tubs, $10 an hour for the two largest tubs. Use of the swimming pool is $3; subtract $1 if you’re also hot-tubbing.

Tent camping is available at 12 sites for $11 for one or two people, including use of the swimming pool. The fee is $14 at five RV sites with electrical and water hookup.

Round trip from Los Angeles to Caspers Park is 150 miles.