A Workout Rewarded by Inspiring Lookouts

When experienced hikers refer to a trek as a “conditioning hike,” you know you’re in for a workout. The path to Bedford Peak definitely fits into the getting-fit category.

From the west (and most populated) side of the Santa Ana Mountains, Silverado Trail is the shortest and quickest way to Main Divide, the ridge crest of the range. Of course, short and quick adds up to steep as well, which is why this trail offers an aerobic workout.

The reward for the ascent to 3,800-foot-high Bedford Peak is a great clear-day panorama of the Santa Ana, San Gabriel and San Bernardino ranges, along with the Orange County suburbanopolis and the Pacific Ocean.

The name Silverado comes from the high hopes of prospectors who swarmed into the canyon during the late 1870s. A few years later the silver ore was played out, and the boom went bust. These days the canyon is a surprisingly rural enclave of homes, a general store and a fire station.

On most maps, Silverado Trail is labeled Silverado Motorway. Originally constructed for fire patrol and control purposes, the fire road deteriorated and devolved (evolved in the opinion of us hikers) into a footpath. Hikers might find it difficult to believe this former motor way was ever passable by vehicles.

Directions to the trail head: From the Newport Freeway (California 55) in Orange, exit on Chapman Avenue and drive east. After six miles, Chapman becomes Santiago Canyon Road; 11 miles from the freeway, you’ll intersect with Silverado Canyon Road. Bear left and continue 5.5 miles to the parking area.

An Adventure Pass is required from the Cleveland National Forest, Trabuco Ranger District; telephone (909) 736-1811. It probably will remain a requirement as long as Congress tries to stop funding for the Forest Service’s recreation budget and privatize our forests.

The hike: Walk up wide, shaded Maple Springs Road (a continuation of Santiago Canyon Road) for 0.1 mile. Just after crossing a seasonal creek, turn left (west) on unsigned Silverado Trail. At first it appears that the path will return you to the trail head, but it soon turns north and begins a steep, zigzagging ascent of the north wall of the canyon.

The trail is flanked by sage and exposed outcroppings of stratified sedimentary rock known as the Bedford Canyon Formation. Higher and higher you climb on switchbacks that offer ever-grander vistas of Silverado Canyon, until the entire canyon comes into view.

A bit more than two miles out, you’ll reach a flat spot on the ridge between Silverado and Ladd canyons and a so-so view of the Santa Anas. If you feel tired, this is a good turnaround point.

Otherwise, continue along the ridgeline on a steep but quite inspiring mile of trail to meet Main Divide Road. Turn right and walk 0.3 mile up to Bedford Peak.

Bedford is really more of a big bump in the road than a proper peak, but it does provide a modest platform from which to survey peaks near and far, as well as the advancing metropolis on both sides of the range.

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Silverado Trail

WHERE: Silverado Trail, Cleveland National Forest.

DISTANCE: From Silverado Canyon Road to Bedford Peak is 7 miles round trip with 2,100-foot elevation gain.

TERRAIN: Steep, chaparral-cloaked slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains.

HIGHLIGHTS: Fastest way to the ridge crest, great views.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Somewhat strenuous.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Cleveland National Forest, Trabuco Ranger District; tel.,(909) 736-1811