ORTEGA HIGHWAY : In a Neck of the Woods Where the Pace Is Slow and Easy, the Road to Progress Could Have Some Tricky Curves Ahead

Used to be only seven or so people lived near the McConville nudist resort, and Flora “Flo” Nilson pretty much knew them all.

Now the number has soared to more than 100. Residential development has invaded nearby El Cariso Village and Rancho Capistrano.

“I’m just hoping the national forest can keep any large-scale development at bay,” said Nilson, who for 42 years has been the owner and self-described “head nudist” of McConville, a fixture along this 32-mile road since 1933.

“Least I’m hoping,” she said.

The Ortega, with its meandering twists and turns, snakes through the dense and lush Cleveland National Forest, symbolizing much of what’s happened to the California Dream.

Once, square-shaped Tin Lizzies with wood-spoke wheels and running boards chugged along as folks from distant Los Angeles and the small settlements of Orange County motored off in a slow-speed search for beauty and grace.

To a certain extent, the surrounding forest protects the highway from most urban encroachment. Still, the increasingly busy road has become a picturesque dichotomy--it connects populous south Orange County with fast-growing Riverside County, yet remains one of the most scenic byways in California.

There’s more to meet the eye along the Ortega than secluded nudity.

This gorgeous, European-like thoroughfare is home to a famous candy store; hundreds of acres of citrus orchards (one of the county’s last bastions of orange groves and meadows); ornamental nurseries and cattle ranches (a sliver of Rancho Mission Viejo); movie and television location sites; a park peppered with mountain lions and rattlesnakes; an exclusive residential enclave; a polo field; a Methodist retreat; and, of course, McConville, which is 22 1/2 miles east of San Juan Capistrano, just inside the county line.

Medical science also is practiced here, in the laboratories of the Corning Nichols Institute, which has to its credits a landmark test used to determine Alzheimer’s disease. Those who run the institute cite the grandeur and isolation of the Ortega as the reason they settled here in 1991.

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But many of those who live and work along the highway find their lives disrupted by efforts to improve the roadway, which generates its own share of controversy, almost as much as the talk of development.

Caltrans is widening the legendary roadway to eliminate some of what McConville resident Larry Waughtel calls “its dead-man curves.” The problem is, Ortega residents are experiencing 40-minute traffic delays from about 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays.

Dennis Green, with Caltrans, said the project will widen “some of the tightest curve radiuses between mile 3.5 and mile 11 of the highway,” all in the Riverside County area near the Decker Canyon Bridge. The $4.4-million project, which began in June, is due for completion next April.

Green noted that the Ortega is a primary thoroughfare for Orange County commuters heading to Riverside County and for Riverside County commuters who work in Orange County. And, he conceded, none has been happy about the widening. Those who actually live along the highway fear the widening will bring even more traffic.

If anything, people here worry about development because they want the Ortega to remain a place where, as Waughtel, 64, put it, “nothing much” ever happens. Anything more than nothing much is, in their words, something to fret about. While conceding the convenience of proposed roadways, some worry that in the long term, better roads will open up the area even more.

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Soon, Antonio Parkway will reach the Ortega near San Juan Capistrano. And eventually, one of the toll roads of the Transportation Corridor Agencies--California 241--will traverse the Ortega en route to Interstate 5.

Despite all that, the Ortega is prized both for its elegant natural beauty and its matchless diversity. Where else can you find nudity with freely roaming llamas?

“Every time I come here, I relax completely,” said Irvine resident Linda Kichenbrand, spokeswoman for the institute, which performs medical testing services for doctors and hospitals nationwide.

Kichenbrand is one of 900 employees at the “soothing think tank,” whose founder, Dr. Albert Nichols, preferred the wilderness as the means of enticing “people from all over the country to come here, to do research and learn,” Kichenbrand said.

In choosing the Ortega, Nichols ended up in what is arguably the quietest part of Orange County. Much of the Ortega is protected from development by the forest, which, with its massive boulders, towering strands of sycamore and live oaks and chaparral-laced cliffs, yields a staggering ambience.

“Just what I like about it,” said McConville’s Waughtel. “I like the quiet. I like to see the stars. I mean, really see them. Out here, you do.”

Part of that oasis is the Ronald A. Caspers Wilderness Park, which has drawn campers and hikers for years. And despite the occasional presence of mountain lions--a girl was mauled there in 1986--the setting has flourished as a popular weekend getaway.

After a 1995 state appellate court ruling protected counties from lawsuits involving mountain lion attacks, County Supervisor Marian Bergeson--whose district includes the Ortega--pushed to reopen the park to children, who had been banned since 1992. Children were welcomed back earlier this year.

While the Ortega remains off-limits to commercial development, it is an expensive destination for anyone yearning to live here.

The prime example is Rancho Carillo, seven miles uphill from a gated entrance on the Ortega. As secluded as any development in California, Rancho Carillo opened in 1962. This enclave is home to 65 families spread over 74 lots, which cost at least $250,000 apiece. The homes themselves are valued at upward of $400,000. And the llamas don’t come cheap.

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Rancho Carillo had no electricity until three years ago, and even now, is untouched by cable television. Its residents--a varied mix of upscale professionals--extol the virtues of its idyllic atmosphere and the fact that once they’re here, they’re far removed from the glitz, glitter and gangs of Greater L.A.

“We’re surrounded by 39,000 acres of wilderness--the Cleveland National Forest,” said Cheryl Gardarian, 45, who lives here with her husband and two children. “So we don’t worry too much about development. It’s very relaxed here, very small-town America. We know each other’s kids and we know each other’s animals.”

But living in Rancho Carillo or anywhere along the Ortega carries an insurance billet full of risks. Like much of Orange County’s outback, fires and floods are chronic concerns, and each time they rear their heads, the potential cost is devastating.

In the spate of arson fires that ravaged Laguna Beach and much of the Southland in 1993, 13 homes burned to the ground in Rancho Carillo, which represented a 20% property loss--the community’s worst brush ever with disaster.

“But there was no hesitation,” said Cheryl Ayres, 42, whose home was among those destroyed. “We just built right back.”

And, Ayres said, petting her pet llama, “we would do it all over again should tragedy strike a second time. If you’ve found heaven once, why keep looking?”

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Ortega Highway

Points of Interest: There’s plenty of these along the Ortega, which is home to a nudist resort; Rancho Carillo, an upscale residential enclave; the sprawling Rancho Mission Viejo, home to ornamental and landscape nurseries and a teeming cattle ranch; the Ronald A. Caspers Wilderness Park; a Methodist retreat called the Lazy W Ranch; and a candy store now called the Ortega Country Cottage. And, of course, there are the vast reaches of the Cleveland National Forest, which surrounds a good portion of the highway.

History: Access from the north reached Orange County in 1929, when Pacific Coast Highway was paved to Dana Point. Five years later, the southern part of Orange County was connected with Riverside County when Ortega Highway (named for one of Portola’s scouts) was opened between San Juan Capistrano and Lake Elsinore. One of the state’s most scenic drives, it is also considered one of the most dangerous because of its narrow, twisting path and high traffic volume.

Key Issues: The few people who live along the highway have divided views about road construction, which is taking place along an 8-mile stretch on the Riverside County portion of California 74. In addition, Antonio Parkway is being extended to the Ortega, and toll road California 241 will eventually cross the roadway en route to the San Diego Freeway.

* Negatives: Such change will increase traffic on a small two-lane road known for a network of winding curves that require drivers to use headlights even during the day.

* Positives: A desirable area in which to live; residential developments are rare along the course of its 32 miles; and it’s protected from development by Cleveland National Forest, a federal reserve.