Taillight-free zone

I moved from New Hampshire a year and a half ago, and I’m still not used to the sprawl of Los Angeles. The maze of freeways, gridlock and strip malls creates a state of siege that can be broken only by a dose of the outdoors. The first time I came down with this feeling I drove south on the 405 from Huntington Beach and east on Ortega Highway, not exactly sure where I was headed. But with the help of a forest ranger and a candy shop owner, I wound up on a low-key trail in the San Mateo Canyon Wilderness, across from the San Juan Loop Trail, that leads to a refuge from taillights, the Bear Canyon Loop Trail. Ever since, whenever the chaos reaches straitjacket proportions, I return to this stretch of wilds in the Cleveland National Forest east of San Juan Capistrano to reconnect and get my bearings.

Leaving the trail head just west of the Ortega Country Cottage store with some of its famous fudge in tow, I climb a narrow path for a few minutes before it wraps around a ridge in the Santa Anas. At this turn and visible from the road below, a 15-foot-tall boulder stands on end like a statue of an angel, looking down on hikers and the occasional horseback rider. It seems to welcome me from the fray below. This is the last point where I can hear car and urban cacophony before it’s muzzled by the folds of the mountains.

A small range south of the more famous San Gabriels and San Bernardinos, the Santa Anas reach just shy of 6,000 feet, though the ridges are rounded off in the foothills of Bear Canyon. The whole area was once covered by ocean, though you would never know it from its mostly arid topography today. The granite boulders dotting the site were coughed up from Earth’s crust eons ago. Weathering has sculpted them into the misshapen blocks they are today -- khaki, refrigerator-sized chunks scattered haphazardly across the hills.

After the initial ascent, the grade eases, winding alongside great views of the green foothills this time of year and occasionally dropping into vistas of tall oaks and high grasses. Only a few miles into the trail I close in on my personal summit. The sign at the trail head says it’s a 6.7-mile loop, but I have never finished the round trip, because my seat is waiting. There’s a ledge on one boulder that juts out to form a natural chaise longue, and all I need is a good book and some lunch to complete my retreat. The natural bench sits high on a plateau, with great views in all directions, and catches the sun throughout the day.

The fact that I’ve never ventured farther than this boulder is a departure for me -- usually I spend my time hiking as a blur, focused on the endpoint of the trip. I’m locked on a summit, where I can be rewarded for my effort with a spectacular view. It’s different here, though. The purpose isn’t objective but reflective, a chance to reconnect and refuel. No output -- summit or mileage accomplishments -- required, only input.

Sparrows and brown towhees rustle in the low-lying scrub of chamise and chaparral, the only sounds in the stillness other than page-turning. The glare from the sun is softened in my shades, often revealing a ring around the horizon. I like to think of it as the hills emitting oxygen. I gulp it in, recharging with each breath.

Bear Canyon reminds me that in stepping back, I move forward. On my reserved seat away from the multitudes I have the space to think about next steps. Off the mechanical treadmill, I can absorb the world instead of seeing it out of the corner of my eye.

That’s mileage you’ll never get on the 405.

To get to Bear Canyon, head south on Interstate 5 and exit at Ortega Highway (Route 74) east. After 20 miles on the 74, look for the San Juan Loop Trail parking lot, directly across from the Ortega Country Cottage candy store. The Bear Canyon Loop trail head is just to the right of the candy store.