Distance: 6.5 miles round trip on paved road and trail
Summit Elevation: 822' (high point)
Elevation Gain: 820'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.65
Round trip time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Recommended water: 48 oz.
Parking/Fees: $3 OC Parks parking lot or Free on Awma or Knollwood
Difficulty: Easy
This was probably the only official trail in the Aliso-Wood Canyon area I had not hiked. Legend has it the "Mentally Sensitive" trail was originally the "Environmentally Sensitive" trail until a reckless mountain biker broke "Environ" off the sign leaving "mentally". True or not, the trail is signed "Mentally Sensitive" now.
The most direct way to get to the trail is to descend from Moulton Meadows Park. I took the long way from the entrance to the canyon near Alicia Parkway. I parked on Knollwood by Wood Canyon Elementary School and followed the paved road into Aliso Canyon until I found the trail heading up a ridge on the right. The trail is well past the Wood Canyon junction, bypassing many of the more popular trails. Note that the road past Wood Canyon is only open to the public on weekends. It is closed during the week. I jogged part of the way to reduce the boredom. Most of the trail is rutted from mountain bike use. About half way up, there is a fence on the west side of the trail and a beat up section of trail above it that would be tough to ride on a bike. It gets a little steeper toward the top and spider webs before intersecting a dirt road on the ridge. With unseasonal fog and low clouds, there were zero views at the top so I just snapped the trailhead sign. The way back was unremarkable, dodging the waves of runners and bikes.
Start of the trail from the canyon
The fence about half way
Trail sign from the top, clouds obscuring all views
On the way back down
Luv the trail thought it was a little short lived and honestly when I got tp the top I thought I was disappointed when I saw the perfectly manicured soccer field and landscaping but then I saw it!!! On one of the giant succulent bushes rite ontop almost looked like one of the flowers that had bloomed esrlier last month and turned brown and moldy looking ontop of the plant but I knew it was something else rite away !! Couple walking was about 20 feet from it as I Pointed but thought i was homeless or something as they kept walking away lol then my girl started videoing it as I walked around it and almost 4 feet away from it for 5 minutes looking at eachother before the red tail hawk took flight infront of my face flying directly towards me talons out and open and as it lifted itself up up up and then banked to my left less than 3 feet from my head I coul feel the wind its wings made as it pumped and continued flying away from the coast and back towards laguna niguel and wood canyon. Amazing place stupid soccer field at summit but not much I can do about rich folks being rich so? Recommend it for decent excercise or very quick mountain bike downhill run !!
ReplyDeleteUnknown,
DeleteYeah, it's a short spur from the road to the ridge. Sounds like a fun close encounter with a red tailed hawk. They are impressive birds. I've also seen a bobcat near that park. At the west end of the park, there is a use trail that continues to a bump overlooking the ocean if you want to extend that hike some day.