Notes on your surroundings

Ranch Style--If you’re searching for signs of fall, there’s not a better place to forage than Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park.

To make the trek easier, park rangers lead an interpretive hike on Saturdays at 9 a.m. The tour meanders through parts of the 1,500 acre park, which is covered oak woodlands, grassy hills and rock formations.

The tour begins at Red Rock Trail, a 1.5-mile hike from the park entrance on Portola Parkway. Don’t let the sight of the shopping center across from the trail head get you down. Once your feet are moving, the thick trees and wildlife will verify that you’re not in South Coast Plaza anymore.

For the free-spirited, Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park offers graded roads and trails for mountain bikes and equestrians. Motorized vehicles are prohibited. First-timers to the area, or inexperienced hikers, will want to explore three popular trails. Each starts from the Portola Parkway trail head.

* Vista Point Trail: Four miles, round trip. Leads from heavily wooded Borrego Canyon to a high ridge overlooking south Orange County. Great views.

* Red Rock Trail: Four miles round trip. Explores rugged rock formations sometimes described as a small Grand Canyon. The strangely eroded sandstone serves as nice contrast to the workaday world.

* Borrego Trail-Mustard Trail-Whiting Road Loop: Six-mile route. Climbs through Borrego Canyon to a mesa-like top called Four Corners. The descent winds down Serrano Canyon to Portola Parkway.

To get there:

From Interstate 5 in the El Toro area, exit on Lake Forest Drive and proceed east 4.8 miles to Portola Parkway. Turn left and drive half a mile to the entrance and parking lot of Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park.

For more information, or to sign up for the naturalist-led hikes, call Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park at (714) 589-4729.