A SPECIAL REPORT: Multiuse trails NEW MILES:...

A SPECIAL REPORT: Multiuse trails NEW MILES: Before the bankruptcy, county officials were happily trumpeting the addition of Arroyo Trabuco to O’Neill Regional Park. . . . But when the 1,000-acre parcel finally opened last month, it was a decidedly low-key affair. . . . Nonetheless, park rangers report that outdoor enthusiasts have discovered its six new scenic miles of multiuse trail, which meanders among some of the biggest sycamore trees in the county.

TOGETHER AT LAST? The county also is making headway on its long-held goal of connecting all the regional parks by off-road trail. . . . A stretch of pathway near Portola Hills called the Aliso-Serrano Link Trail should be completed soon. It’s the last section of a five-mile off-road connection between O’Neill and Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. . . . Members of a local equestrian group are doing much of the final clearing. Especially since the bankruptcy, “volunteer help is really the only way these projects are going to keep going forward,” says Jeff Dickman, volunteer trails coordinator.

ARMY HELP: Bicyclists who use the popular Santa Ana River Bikeway have had to put up with a few detours and disruptions since the Army Corps of Engineers started a major flood-control project. . . . But a bright side: The construction of a continuous unpaved trail for equestrians, hikers and mountain bikers. . . . Dickman says the route should be complete from Pacific Coast Highway to 17th Street in Santa Ana within a year--and eventually go all the way to the county line, with horse underpasses.

TRAIL MIX: Just a few years ago, the Sierra Club and the U.S. Forest Service finished a major joint trail project, heading from Ortega Highway back into the San Mateo Canyon Wilderness Area. . . . But almost all of the new Lucas Canyon Trail was soon wiped out by the brush fires of 1993 and subsequent erosion. . . . Repair work is still going on. Says Kenneth Croker, who has led volunteer work crews in the Santa Ana Mountains for more than 20 years: “We didn’t expect to be back working on this trail so soon.”