At the San Juan Loop Trail, It’s Always Trek-or-Treat Time

The two-mile San Juan Loop Trail begins and ends mere feet from the Ortega Highway, and there’s no better introduction to hiking in the Santa Ana Mountains’ Ortega Corridor.

1:30 to 2: The sign out front promises “candy, fudge, chocolate, cold drinks, ice cream,” so it’s no surprise that the Ortega Oaks General Store is also called the Olde Candy Shop.

“It’s been known as the candy store for 30 years,” said owner James Foster, “just because of the candy. And the same people have been coming here for years and years. They make a nice hike for an hour or two, they come by and want a cold drink. Some stop in before the trail, some after. Or they’ll pick up some beef jerky.”

Hikers, in fact, have their pick of 18 kinds of beef jerky in jars, a dozen more packaged, and six types of turkey jerky.

“They just make so many different flavors anymore,” Foster said.

Yardlong jerky “whips”--Bull Dash Whip and Teriyaki Bull Whip--at $2.99 should provide protein enough to keep you moving right along.

So will Go Go Go Turbo Truffle “gourmet chocolate stimulant,” 49 cents and 200 milligrams of caffeine each: “More energizing than two cups of coffee,” boasts the wrapper. Oh, yeah, that’s how I’d like to feel face to face with a mountain lion! Speaking of which, “tiger milk” is sold by the pound. (The swirled white and dark chocolate and nut concoction bears no relation to the nutrition bar: “I don’t know where we got the name,” Foster admitted.)

Since you’ll be on the trail, trail mix perhaps makes the best sense. And bottled water, of course. Foster also offers film, firewood and flashlights, propane, tablecloth clamps and a variety of products with snappy slogans, including Potty Toddy Tabs “one tab does it all” holding-tank treatments, and a Swat That Fly--”It’ll kill ya!”

2 to 3:30: The San Juan Loop Trail starts just opposite the store--having its very own parking lot attests to its popularity--and rises quickly from the highway.

Round a bend and you can hear running water, and a small canyon comes into view. An easy side trip down to the intimate waterfalls and pools of San Juan Creek is possible at this point. Water spiders flitted across the surface of the pools, while tadpoles, like so many spermatozoa on steroids, darted below. Bell-like yellow flowers grew out of cracks in rocks mid-creek.

The trail gets higher as the canyon gets deeper, making for striking views, then works back down toward the canyon floor, tantalizingly approaching water and pulling back several times before reaching a large, relatively flat and blissfully shady rock creek-side, which is perfect for a snack or picnic--and for witnessing the vagaries of nature: Like an Icarus in reverse, a butterfly flew too close to the water and couldn’t escape the cold current.

All manner of scat, and the occasional weed out of Dr. Seuss, punctuate the trail. On the brushy hillside was an outcrop of rock like a lonely sentinel, a lone tree like a lollipop. Hawks soar overhead. But the solitude doesn’t last. Once past a huge, gnarled oak, and the intersection of the Chiquito Trail, the loop often runs disquietingly--literally--parallel to the highway. It veers sharply left at Upper San Juan Campground and ultimately reaches the parking lot.

3:30 to 4:30: With the San Juan Loop Trail behind you, loop back to San Juan--Capistrano, that is. Crossing over the freeway, the first place you’ll come to is Cynthia’s Tearoom & Bakery, and if you’re not too grungy, stop in for high tea.

Inside are beams and fans overhead, hand stenciling on the walls, pine cones in the windows and a saintly statuette in an alcove behind the kitchen. Over one doorway is handwritten “Take time to be happy.” Vivaldi is heard in the background.

Scones are served piping hot in traditional English style with clotted cream, jam and butter; $3.50 includes your choice of teas. Quiches, served with fruit, are $4.90. Zucchini quiche was a recent special, but to best celebrate your foray along California 74, the obvious choice is quiche with Ortega chilies.

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1. Ortega Oaks General Store 34040 Ortega Highway Lake Elsinore (909) 678-2949 Open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

2. San Juan Loop Trail Trail head at Ortega Highway, across from Ortega Oaks General Store Cleveland National Forest (El Cariso Station), (909) 678-3700

3. Cynthia’s Tearoom & Bakery 26842 Ortega Highway San Juan Capistrano (714) 661-6058 Open Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

PARKING There is ample parking on lots at each location.