Airport Fire (flames) climbing up Santiago Peak on September 9, 2024. Will take photos after smoke clears up of what it looks like afterward. Video taken from Mission Viejo, CA. read more

Santiago Peak - Taken 9/9/2024 at 8:25PM of Santiago Peak. - Hiking Near Me - Silverado, California

ADVICE: make sure to lower down your tire pressure - you can get stuck and ruin your car. This was awesome for Off-roading! We had a caravan of 4 cars: 2 Rivian's and 2 4Runners. Was an easy drive and wasn't too challenging, only at the very end it can be tricky. But if you want to see the view, park your car and walk if you don't feel your car can take the trail. read more

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Large park with many trails of different difficulty levels. $3.00 for weekdays. $5.00 for weekends. They have a small but nice nature center. There are alot of cyclists/bikers at this park, so be careful. The best views require some steep climbing but well worth it. There is an array of flora and fauna here. Wildlife I saw were lizards, beetles, birds, coyote, and mule deer. I recommend going on a trail but coming back on a different one so you can see different parts of the park. Also, if you like history there are informational displays to inform you about the people and changes this area went through. Due to the damage of the natural habitat over the years, there appears to be a large effort to restore it so please stay on the trails. This was a wonderful park so if you are a hiker who loves nature, this park is for you. Enjoy! read more

Santiago Peak - Hiking Near Me - Silverado, California

I don't know why they just don't permanently close this trail. This is my third time trying to get to the peak and maybe it's my timing or my luck but it's closed again. Now sure, I can check if the road is open through their Cleveland national forest website but that rarely gets updated and if it does, it still states "open but subject to closure due to weather conditions". This peak is in a national forest so fires are common. If there's a fire then it's closed. If it rains then it's closed. Drizzling? Misty? Fog? Slight breeze? A puddle cause a hiker that poured out his water bottle? Closed closed closed closed and closed. If it's anything other then a sunny day then consider it closed. If you come here, make sure you have a plan B or you just wasted time and a lot of gas to look at a white rusty gate. Tip: Burgers around the Tustin/Chapman area are good. Make sure you have a couple of bucks to spare for panhandlers and beggars. read more

Santiago Peak - Closed - Hiking Near Me - Silverado, California

Beautiful....lets biking, hiking or just relax on area for picnic all ways is being relaxing here!

Super hard hike but so beautiful! We went in late (7am) and hiked the main divide. The trail had really nice overview of orange county! There's no cell reception up top which is expected so make sure to pack all the stuff you need. TAKE A LOT OF WATER. JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU PACKED ENOUGH PACK SOME MORE! Very refreshing and relaxing. Serious leg workout haha. Go early in the morning so u can avoid the heat coming back down. We saw a couple deers on our way up and down. Very fun date idea! read more

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I wanna free fall out into nothin' Gonna leave this world for awhile And I'm free, I'm free fallin' -- Tom Petty, "Free Falling" I live in two worlds right now, Silicon Valley and Orange County. One of the many differences between the two is how easily accessible outstanding hiking is in the Bay Area. Orange County just cannot compare. With one exception: The hike up to Santiago Peak. From Wikipedia: Santiago Peak is the southern mountain of Orange County's Saddleback formation. It is the highest and most prominent peak of both the Santa Ana Mountains and Orange County, and also marks a border point with Riverside County There are a couple of different ways you can do this hike. One is starting at Modjeska Canyon and hiking up the Harding Trail. The other is via the Holy Jim/Main Divide Road which is the way Glenn G. and I did it. There are several different places to park. We chose closest parking lot next to tiny woodsy community that is adjacent to the Holy Jim Trail. For some reason, the Holy Jim Trail head seems a lot closer when you start out then when you return to the car :) To get to this parking lot is a 4.5 slow drive over rugged Trabuco Creek Rd (enter at Trabuco Canyon Rd just south of bridge over the creek) that my dusty Subaru had a good time with. Like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland!! You need $5 Adventure Pass at this point. You can park closer to Trabuco Canyon but that does add the road mileage to your hike so plan accordingly. There are essentially 3 legs to the hike we did. The first 5.5 miles is on the Holy Jim Trail. You can stop and look at the Falls but given the compressed light schedule during the winter, we bypassed this part as we did not hit the trail till 8:50 or so. During the winter, an 8:00AM start is probably best option if you want to add the Falls and have lunch on the Peak. The first few miles are relatively easy grade up as you walk in a nice Oak shaded area and pass the Falls. At around the 2 mile mark you leave most of the Canyon growth behind and leave the shade. On our day it was quite lovely and then the views start appearing. Wow!! Almost like a mini-Big Sur. It is rocky at points but the view is so worth it!! At the 5 mile mike you have a choice for the second leg. Go up to peak on Main Divide Road (which is accessible via 4x4 vehicles) or go up the Upper Holy Jim Trail. All my hiking reviews said go up the Holy Jim for better views. So Glenn and I searched and searched for the trail. The sign for the trail is useless as it points to the side of the mountain. But Glenn being intrepid found the trail through some brush and up we went! This is easily the hardest incline of this hike and with a too full backpack (did I really need to bring the spare tire jack?) I admit I struggled at some points on this leg. But the views were as advertised!!! While there is little shade, you get absolutely stunning vistas out towards the ocean and to Lake Elsinore/Corona. Going the Upper Holy Jim trail way creates the third leg as it meets up with the Main Divide Road. At this point you've gone about 7 miles and you still have 1.5 miles of a slog up to the Peak. At this time of the year sometimes there is a lot of snow but on this January hike we just saw remnant patches. The views at this stretch are primarily of the Inland Empire and the mountain peaks to the East. After all this uphill, the Peak might be a letdown as it is full of cell towers and antennas. There are no 360 vistas but walk the complex as you will get stunning views of Orange County and the 909 area code. The downhill portion is not as easy as you might think as it is very rocky and slippery in areas. We thought we could jet downhill but it didn't quite work out that way. You are tired regardless and with the terrain, cannot pick up the speed you'd like. Both Glenn and I took headers at points in the downhill, me near the peak and Glenn as we were closer to the parking lot (hence the Tom Petty lyric to start). My fall was a bit more precarious as my backpack (Did I really need to pack an anvil?) shifted over my head and Glenn had to stabilize it before I could get up lest I take the short route to the Canyon floor. The guides will tell you this is a 16 mile hike but it really is 17 miles when you add in the walk through the cabin neighborhood to get to the trailhead. Like a Stephen King or Sidney Stone horror novel though, the walk from the trailhead back to the car was agonizingly longer then the walk to the trailhead in the morning. It is like the neighborhood expanded during the day ;) In the end though, it was a fantastic hike that all Orange County residents should do at least once! Pack smarter than I did though. I packed too much water, too much food, unneeded binoculars that were used for 5 seconds. The pack was an albatross during the second leg steepness and a damn heavy albatross during the downhill home. My shoulders hate me right now read more

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This is an absolutely beautiful hike. It is so green! I commend the caretaker of the trail because there is a cart filled with packages of free water and a trash bag prior to entering at the trail head. There's a stream you pass by a few times down at the bottom of the mountain. You immediately start to ascent once past the waterfall fork. Most of the trail is at the edge of the mountain with incredible views. This is a tough hike but I would say it's a little less than Mt. Wilson. We were so happy because we got to see a little snow towards the peak. The peak, at 5687', is right in the clouds so it does get a little cold. Altogether, we hiked roughly 17.1 miles: We didn't have enough time to do the entire loop so we back tracked. This is an excellent hike to train for Mt. Baldy. Also, down at the bottom waterfall fork, the trail splits where you can hike about a mile to see the falls in the area. I would love to come back to see it sometime on a lighter adventure :) read more

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Good hike to the top of Santiago peak. Bring water and a gps. Lots of hikers and bikers. If you get tired. Ask for a ride from one of the off road vehicles on the trail read more

Santiago Peak and the Holy Jim Trail that takes you to it gives you a great taste of Orange County backcountry! Getting here can be a rough ride if you don't have the right vehicle. There is a parking area (adventure pass required) at the bottom of a little residential community within the Cleveland National Forest before the trailhead to the Holy Jim Falls. I have always skipped that area and driven up the one lane semi-private road as there are several unoccupied properties by the trailhead where you can park. So far I haven't had any problems parking there, knock on wood! As for the hike, it isn't for the feint of heart as it is a strenuous journey to the top of OC, almost 16 miles roundtrip. While I've made it to the top more often than not a few times we had to turn back, whether it be for too little water over the summer or the freezing rain drenching us to the point of misery. You definitely want to pick the right time of the year to go and it's better with a group than solo. After my experiences I'd skip a summer hike as there is very little tree cover, despite the mountain looking all green from afar! The hike is more about the exercise and getting in tune with nature than the views, as even at the top they aren't the greatest. Oh, and on rare occasions it's about the chance to experience snow in Orange County! If you make it to the top you'll be beat after the hike so it's best to enjoy your accomplishment with a cold one from Cook's Corner on the way back! read more

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Don't underestimate how long it takes to hike to the peak. We didn't make it because of that lol. We started the hike at 1pm, and ended at 6:30pm, so about 3 hours of nonstop hiking until we hit our turnaround point at 5pm. It would have gotten dark if we kept going, but yeah, have a good amount of time. I WENT UP TO JIM CROW IN A 2WHEEL DRIVE CAMRY. Don't do this, trust the people who say you need a high clearance car or you can hear the terrain and bumps hit the bottom of your car. We went super slow to get up... Slower than walking speed, while other cars floored through it like nothing. Don't bend or break and axle. The entire hike we did was ~16 miles round trip. Completely worth it and pretty hard so being fit definitely helps. read more

Santiago Peak - Pretty nice view. This is about 2 or 3 miles from the peak - Hiking Near Me - Silverado, California

A good trail of it's your first time "off-roading." IRS actually a fire road, but there's a rutty part at Main Divide to learn to use your lockers or disconnecting away at if you have a rubicon, or modified vehicle with those features. I like John Bull and Holcomb Creek, which this is nowhere near the difficulty (it's not difficult at all). Just be careful. Anyways, it's a nice place if you want to quickly get away from the city. read more

Great mountain to hike. I've done it a few times, and normally drink my 3L camel pack water plus a couple more small bottles of water. Make sure you load up on carbs before and while your hiking, I'm talking about dried fruit, granola bars etc. I always get an early start when hiking a trail this long. There are mountain lions and coyotes in the Cleveland national forest, so walking back in the dark isn't the best idea. So, start in the morning, bring lots of water, snacks that give you energy, sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses, tick/mosquito spray and for emergency purposes, bring a lighter(use your head, don't be a dumbass) and atleast a knife. read more

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Way too crowded. We went on a late Sunday afternoon hoping for the crowd to die down. It didn't.

For a local peak trail that only tops off at 5,689 feet at Santiago Peak, this was not an easy hike at all! This Holy Jim Trail covers 15.6 miles round trip with 4,000 feet of elevation gain. If it wasn't for the long 4.6 miles of ROUGH dirt road just to get to the trail head, this would be a good local hike for Orange County's highest peak. But for me, there are better trails near by to summit a peak, without the wear and tear on your vehicle. It took me 30 minutes to drive that 4.6 miles. I would rather hike Mt Baldy, San Jacinto, San Gorgonio or the forgotten San Bernardino Peaks. From the Santa Ana Freeway, exit El Toro Road and head east. When you reach Cook's Corner, turn right on Live Oak Canyon Road and drive 4.3 miles. As soon as you pass O'Neil Park look for Rose Street. At Rose Street there is a wash. Immediately after the wash, turn left onto the dirt Trabuco Creek Road. Stay straight on this rough dirt road for 4.6 miles to the parking lot. A parking Adventure Pass is required here. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/holy-jim-falls-trail-trabuco-canyon?select=ahR4SfFGNX3tbw9oT6Nf-Q&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct) Cars can travel this road, but having a high clearance vehicle is better. Some of the holes are deep. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/holy-jim-falls-trail-trabuco-canyon?select=C5-LOnu1gvWUUHvyp6VXcw&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct) From the parking lot, walk up the dirt road to the left behind the trailhead sign. You quickly pass by some cabins and in 0.5 miles you will reach the actual trailhead. This trail is very well maintained and easy to follow. On the upper section, you will need to know where to turn for the smaller trail junctions. There are a few nice water creeks to cross, but there are boulders and tree logs in place. Once you pass the junction to the falls, the trail gets steeper as it switchbacks up the mountain. After about 2 miles the trail is a hedge grove tunnel. In this section, your view is hidden. I like the upper two thirds of the trail, where the views are nice and you start to feel like you are on a mountain. The last 1.5 miles you follow a rocky dirt service road to the summit, which I wasn't too fond of. But the summit was very interesting with all those antennas. On the way down, I stopped off at the falls, which adds only 0.4 miles round trip. I like using landmarks to break up a long hike into smaller sections: * Trailhead - 1,740' elevation * 0.5 miles - Actual trailhead * 1.4 miles - Holy Jim Falls junction sign. (2,285') Go Left to towards Santiago Peak, or Go Right 0.2 miles to the falls. * 3.5 miles - 3 mile marker * 4.5 miles - 4 mile marker (3,835') * 4.85 miles - Climb up to the lower Main Divide Rd Go Right * 4.88 miles - Bear Springs concrete vault. Continue on the road to the right. * 5.25 miles - Take a sharp Left turn up the narrow steep path almost hidden by bushes. There will be 2nd 'Upper Holy Jim' white sign here. (4,050') http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/holy-jim-falls-trail-trabuco-canyon?select=1Haz1badkf8dsCmiTlAsMQ&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct) * 6.14 miles - Reach the upper Main Divide Road U-turn. Go Right & wrap around to the Left & head towards the antennas. * 7.6 miles - Santiago Peak where the antennas are. 5,689' Don't get me wrong, I liked this trail, but with all the considerations it wasn't my favorite mountain hike. However, this trail is perfect for a FAST descent. read more

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Entering from Silverado Canyon Rd to Maple Springs Truck Trail , connecting to Main Divide Rd, all the way up to Santiago Peak and all the way down Main Divide Rd to the Ortega Hwy (route 74) is 25-30 miles or so. Or you can take the Indian Truck Trail Rd down and end up at the 15. Make sure to check their website to see if the "Maple Springs Road" gate is open before you go: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/cleveland/alerts-notices/?cid=stelprdb5340229&width=full Awesome trails for dual-sports and high clearance vehicles with some breathtaking views. 4x4 isn't necessarily needed, but you should definitely have some decent all-terrain tires, especially since it can get icy up there. I've never had issues in my 2wd 4runner, but I have some aggressive tires and a low gear. I suggest being confident in your maneuvering skills because it gets very tight in spots, leaving very little room for error. When there's not enough room to pass a vehicle coming in the oppose direction, either you or the other vehicle has to reverse until there's enough room to pass, basically leaving your tires only inches from the edge. Be careful of the dual-sports flying around corners. read more

Santiago Peak - Hiking Near Me - Silverado, California

Surprisingly, we did not hike Santiago Peak, but we took my Jeep to go wheeling. It was my second time going off-road with the Wrangler. We aired down and off to the trail. Pretty easy trail-- good for beginners as well as stock vehicles. Lots of shade, and it got pretty rocky, and made my boyfriend drive the rest of the trail and back lol. Pretty views, we got up to the peak during sunset, so it was perfect!! I would go back again, maybe hike it this time, and during day time. read more

It is a hard trail to hike. We started hiking at 8 and reach the top around 2. We had a lunch break on the top. We reached the 1 mile sign of Holy Jim Trail when the sunset just over. And backed to our truck at 6:40 pm. Wear the right shoes, bring plenty of water, and track your time. read more

It's where my past employment was when I worked for Chapman Electronics. Currently I go there to work on Amateur Radio equipment. Awesome view and I enjoy it much. The only drag is getting up there and back. It's best done from the Corona side. read more

Do not do this hike if you have bad knees, hips, or ankles! This is a very challenging hike. When i went i met people who had been training for a hike like this. It isn't something you can just decide to do (thats what I did) however if you do be very prepared , bring a lot of water. I gave 4 stars because this is a great challenging hike however it was hard to find and get to. You walk almost a mile before you even get to the actual trail and to get to a close enough parking lot you should have a car that sits high up or has 4 wheel drive. read more

if you are looking for breathtaking views, it's not for you. I wasn't impressed. But it's definitely great workout! Almost 16 ml round trip. Be sure to bring plenty of water, I bring 2 LT, but it wasn't enough. Bring protein snacks for energy on the way. You won't get hungry, it's so hot! Wear extra light clothes and if you have cooling towel it would be really helpful! read more

I took this trail a couple days ago with a few friends on labor day. As we got to the entrance where the dirt road begins, a highway patrol officer was there telling us that the road has been closed for public car's access due to a controlled fire situation that would require frequent access of the fire department. We were told we could walk the 4 miles to reach the trail head so we did. Much to our surprise we were the only hikers on that trail. I guess the rest were thrown off about the extra 8miles round trip to get from the car to the trail head then back and we learned why the hard way. Luckily a resident on his way in gave us a ride for 2 of the 4 miles as we were heading in. My friends had to take many short breaks due to the steep incline of this trail. We started walking from the paved road at 8:30am and got back around 7pm. Be prepared to walk constantly with little breaks to make it back in time. My friends gave up on the last 2.5miles to the top so i asked them to wait and ran up to the top and back to them with one stop at the summit for my picture. Needless to say that later came back and bit me in the behind as my hamstrings started to cramp up on the last 2 miles before the fire station at the start of the Holy Jim Trail. They also offer some free water there so if you run out of water on your way back that'd save you. I brought 3L and i ran out by the last 2 mile before the trail ends. To much of our surprise, the 4 miles after the trail through the pothole road to the car was the longest walk of my life, no incline, just purely strained. In total including the walk to the car, I did around 20-21 miles of hiking and walking altogether. Ascent took around 5 hrs with many breaks and decent took just 2 hrs 30 mins with another 3hrs on the dirt road to and back from the actual trail. I would do this again only if they'd let me skip the 8 miles of dirt road and actually drive to the trail's car park. If not then its a great strenuous exercise read more

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I can't believe some of these 4 and 5 star reviews, obviously they don't get out much haha! I am an avid Hiker and this one was on the list. I finally hiked the mountain that I have been driving by almost daily for the past 21 years. It was a pretty difficult and strenuous 16 mile hike. I did expect it to be kind of an ugly hike due to all the Telecommunications towers up there, but boy a lot of it was dirty and unpleasant. The first part of the hike was fairly pretty terrain although there were quite a few mountain bikers racing down on a tight one person trail, it's the second part of the hike when you get to the Main Divide road that it really got bad. On this part of the hike it was like being in rush hour in Orange County, between the hours of noon to around 2pm there was an actual traffic jam. It was also a super rocky road, lots of glass and just dirty overall. At the top, past all the towers the views were definitely amazing with a 360 view of Catalina, Orange County and even as far up as LA. I was trying to get away from crowds and cars and get into a nature zone...not happening here. read more

Took my new jeep out on this trail. It was my first time on this trail and was very pleasantly surprised to see hikers, bikers and 4wheeling peeps on this trail. Everyone was friendly and curtious when passing on the trail. Beautiful scenery. Planning on going back soon. read more

Anyone who hikes in Orange County knows of or has heard of Santiago Peak. It is the hikes of all hikes in OC. 16 miles! The prize for OC hikers. Since the Santa Ana Winds had ruined my first attempt. I had to reschedule my hike to reach the 5,689 ft peak. The parking lot and trail head for this hike is the same as the one to Holy Jim Waterfall. A forest adventure pass is required (FYI, you can get one at The Path Bike shop or at REI). After parking and checking our gear we headed left onto the post trail that leads to the Holy Jim Trail. From the parking lot you will head about a mile and a half into the canyon until you reach the junction. If you go straight you will hit the small waterfall, if you make a left here and proceed onto the Holy Jim Trail towards the Main Divide Rd. Making a right will take you to the waterfall. Once on the trail you gradually begin to ascend the mountain for the next 4 miles until reaching the Main Divide Rd. The trail itself is a single track trail that is well shaded and in pretty good condition. On the main road the tough part begins so be prepare and bring plenty of water and comfortable shoes as the descend is pretty steep and my shoes were a little tight that I had my toes bleeding and my nails turned purple. At the top you will find the antennas and you can walk around the top to see all the way to Catalina and surrounding hills and on the other side you can see the 91 all the way down to Corona. One way from the parking is 8.91 miles. Wearing a knee brace is highly recommended when coming down to help with the stress on the knees. read more