Nature by Numbers, From Ox-Tongue to Cottontail

The best way to follow the Laguna Niguel Hike-Bike Nature Trail is by the numbers.

9 to 10:30 a.m.: The two-mile path through Salt Creek Corridor Regional Park actually begins near a baseball diamond in Chapparosa Park. The section of the trail fromChapparosa to Niguel Road has been open for years; the newly completed section between Niguel Road and Camino del Avion opened April 22 and has not yet been dedicated. What sets both sections apart from other trails in the area are interpretive guides and 21 new marker posts.

I hiked the Hike-Bike trail. Without a trail guide, to the untrained eye, the start doesn’t look like much, an evenly graded asphalt and dirt lane with lots of greenery and, right now, yellow and purple flowers on either side. You can see the Clubhouse Plaza strip mall in the distance before you, and on the hillside above are the palm- and eucalyptus-flanked South County homes.

On one recent visit, all the trail guides were gone. So I had to imagine what the markers might indicate: that here was the first house to be painted beige in Laguna Niguel, that there was the first telephone pole to be erected, that this is the largest baseball diamond.

The guides, which are restocked weekly, are actually more interesting than that.

Take that baseball diamond, for instance. Notes for the No. 1 marker explain that the ball fields are what remain of a lake that was filled with soil in 1988. The lake, created by a “leaky earthen dam” in 1948, had been lined with tall willow trees and the waters “teemed with crayfish, sunfish and bullfrogs.” They all croaked, of course.

One of the best places to find wildlife is in the plant names. By marker No. 10, we’d been introduced to monkeyflower, ox-tongue, coyote bush, deer weed, cattail and, my favorite, mule fat. (The most notable wildlife I actually encountered was a cottontail.)

Also along the way, you’re encouraged to taste wild licorice, but not castor bean or deadly nightshade--they’re both poisonous.

The notes are prepared by the Orange County Natural History Museum, also in Laguna Niguel, and plans are to change the guides seasonally.

Just before you cross under Niguel Road, opposite the plaza, there’s a street sign that says Anderson. Just what street it’s marking is anybody’s guess, and it’s not listed in any recent Thomas Bros. guides.

As you leave the tunnel that goes under Niguel Road, be sure to veer right and head up the hill next to the preschool. I like the notes for marker No. 11: “This is a good spot to view the ocean in the distance and imagine you were an Indian 100 years ago looking over the landscape. Try to pretend the roads and houses are not there.” I tried, I really tried.

From here to trail’s end at Camino del Avion, the grade is more hilly and more challenging--and far more interesting.

Thereafter it hooks up with a Dana Point bike trail that continues to the beach, though last I heard, that section was technically closed. . . .

So retrace your steps to Clubhouse Plaza.

10:30 to 11:30: When you reach the plaza, your hike is three-quarters over. Perfect time for a break, and a repast. There’s a Peppino’s Italian Restaurant, but if it’s breakfast you’re craving, stop in at Manny’s.

Manny’s says it is the city’s first Mexican restaurant. It opened at its first location in 1984 but moved, and now there’s another one in Aliso Viejo. There are photos on the walls of Manny with a T-shirt that says, “I drink at Acapulco’s, but I eat at Manny’s,” and of his grandchild.

Eggs any style are $1.99, but I ordered menudo (tripe stew) with all the fixin’s; $3.25 included chips, tortillas and sides of potatoes and chilaquiles (softly fried corn tortillas with garnishes). You could also have rice or beans or any combination of two of those side dishes. Other breakfast specialties include huevos con machaca (eggs and beef, $4.95) and huevos con chorizo (eggs and Mexican sausage, $4.75).

Lunch items range from $2.95 for soup and salad or burger and fries to $4.75 for arroz con pollo (chicken with rice) or Mexican lasagna.

11:30 to noon: With any of those dishes under your belt, you’re ready to tackle the final leg of your hike, back to the ball field.

Then be sure to notice the final sentence in the trail guide, written in capital letters: “Please return your trail guide to the box for others to use and enjoy.”

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3-HOUR TOUR

1. Hike-Bike Nature Trail

Salt Creek Corridor Regional Park

Niguel Road

(714) 362-4360

Open daily, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

2. Manny’s

31341 Niguel Road

(714) 489-1552

Open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

PARKING / BUSES

Parking: There is ample free parking near the start of the trail, at Chapparosa Park at the end of Chapparosa Park Road. (There is also ample free parking in a lot at Manny’s.)

Buses: OCTA buses 99 and 99a run north and south on Street of the Golden Lantern (and Moulton Parkway) with a stop at Chapparosa Park Road.