OC Parks: Peter's Canyon Lake View Trail
If you live in Orange County, you have probably heard of Peters Canyon Regional Park. It’s a part of the OC Parks system with multiple trails and even a lake. While part of it was severely burned during the Canyon Fire in October 2017, it appears to be recovering nicely!
This is a very popular park for hiking and trail running and general fitness walking. A few of the trails are open to mountain biking as well, but it’s not as popular as other nearby parks for riding. We’ve gone on a couple of rides here, and it can be fun, just not as diverse or lengthy as other trails.
The Lake Loop Trail is a great hike to do in the evening after work, or for a quick hike to get outside on a busy weekend. This trail is only 2.9 miles round trip starting at the main parking lot off Jamboree and Canyon Rd. There are trail map signs at the parking lot, as well near the bathroom. This parking lot, like most OC Parks parking lots, costs $3 to park in. Annual passes are a great way to access the many OC Parks available. There are pay machines that take cash or credit card which is very convenient and easy to use. Be sure to pay - it goes to further the initiative of the parks, as well as keeping your car ticket free!
From the parking lot, the lake is clearly visible. The trail meanders around the lake, but never goes right up to the edge of the water. You’ll likely see ducks, egrets and more around the lake while going along the trail. The trail is mostly single track, but it does have some wider “fire road” portions as well.
On this particular trip, in July 2019, we hit the trail in the evening after work and the weather was perfect. The lake was still fairly full with the water from our wet winter, which gives this area some very nice views.
With this part of the park having a water feature, it becomes a bird paradise. This has become something we pay attention to, since Andrea has become a birder. Whether we are hiking, biking, or camping, we are always birding!
This trail is a great bird watching trail. Not too strenuous to pack along a camera, and a great variety of birds frequent the area. We were totally thrilled to see a cute California Quail couple strolling along the trail in front of us. They kindly let me snap a few photos before they dashed off. We saw a flock of bright green and very noisy Parrots fly overhead several times. Parrots aren’t something we frequently see in the wilderness around Orange County, but the flock here gives frequent flyovers. We also had a variety of other birds appear, including an American Coot with babies, a Black-headed Grosbeak, lots of Lesser Goldfinches, several Western Bluebirds including puffy juveniles, and a Yellow-breasted Chat. The diversity of bird life here is great for birding!
As we wrapped around the back of the lake, there was a small overlook loop that took us out to a view point of the lake. This loops drops off just slightly further on the trail from where we turned off. We enjoyed this portion because it seemed that no one else was visiting it on a busy evening. It was a narrow and interesting trail, and we had it to ourselves, to enjoy some peace and quiet.
Once we got back to the main trail, we hit the one super steep portion of the trail. It climbs and descends two hills at quite a serious grade. We know some people who come here to hike, but they will only walk to the first hill and then turn around to avoid the BIG hill, but they are not very long. Unless one has a medical condition or injury, these hills shouldn’t prevent anyone from completing the loop.
Once we got through the two hills, there were a few more up and down portions, until we reached the fire road. This road wraps around and back to the parking lot. This was definitely the most trafficked portion of the trail, with lots of hikers and trail runners, and it also has the most bikes zooming by.
If you are looking for a quick hike (or trail run or ride!), this is a great trail, in a great park with some unique features! If you’re in Orange County, it’s easily accessible for a weeknight jaunt, which makes it stay pretty high on our list!
