Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park is a 2,500 acre public

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distr ...

within the city of Lake Forest in southern Orange County,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Whiting Ranch features

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a ripar ...

, oak woodland,

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

, and

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

environments throughout various canyons and hillscapes. The park is home to over 17 miles of trail spread out over 23 different paths, making the location a popular destination for mountain bikers, hikers, and horseback riders. The park is close to

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest is a National forest (United States), U.S. national forest in Southern California that encompasses 460,000 acres/ of inland Montane ecosystems, montane regions. It is approximately 60 miles from the Pacific Ocean, withi ...

. Mountain lions frequent the park, searching for deer and small animals. While attacks on people are rare, they do occur and visitors are warned to be alert and not approach the animals.

History

Whiting Ranch was the first part of a 10,000-acre

ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

named Rancho Cañada de los Alisos that was granted to Jose Serrano in 1842. Following a period of cattle and crop farming, Serrano had to foreclose the property in 1864 due to a

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

. Dwight Whiting bought most of the land in 1885 after it was divided up by land developer J. S. Slauson. Whiting developed a large portion of the property into the city of El Toro, now known as Lake Forest. Whiting Ranch was left mostly untouched until a 1959 sale of the area to V.P. Baker and Associates, who have since built homes near the site.

Amenities

Trails

Whiting Ranch is home to 23 trails:

Borrego Canyon

Borrego Canyon is a portion of the park that features an entrance point at Portola Parkway and the Borrego Canyon Trail. The lower portion of Borrego Canyon is tightly situated between two Foothill Ranch housing tracts and is covered with a swath of oak trees. Snakes, deer, and birds can be found living in this area.

Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon is an area at the north end of the park that has become a popular location for visitors. The red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

cliffs are unique to the area and thus have become one of the most notable features of the park. Due to the gradual erosion of the canyon,

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

have been discovered there. In 2020, the canyon was inaccessible due to damages from the Silverado Fire.

Serrano Creek

The 7.5 mile long Serrano Creek travels through Whiting Ranch.

Vista Lookout

Vista Lookout stands as the highest point in the vicinity of the park. At 1,500 feet, visitors seek out the spot for panoramic views of the landscape as well as the suburban cityscape of Orange County. In 2020, the point was inaccessible due to the Silverado Fire.

Wildfires

Due to the dry climate in much of the park, Whiting Ranch has been subject to numerous

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

s. The 2007 Santiago Fire devastated the area, burning 90% of the property and leaving a lasting effect over a decade later. The Silverado Fire, which took place in October 2020, burned a similar path to the Santiago Fire and burned through much of the park. The Bond Fire, another wildfire that took place in the same vicinity in December 2020, did not cause much further damage to the park. According to the Orange County Fire Authority, the forward progress of the Bond Fire was largely hampered by the Silverado Fire burn scar, much of which covers Whiting Ranch.

Wildlife

The park is home to various species of wildlife that are found throughout Southern California.

Mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

, the only species of deer found in Orange County, are common in the park. They are preyed upon by an estimated 30 mountain lions that move throughout the Santa Ana mountain range and its foothills. Mountain lion sightings are uncommon but have prompted park closures on multiple occasions. Coyotes, bobcats,

raccoons The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

, grey foxes, and both striped and spotted skunks are frequent throughout the park. The elusive american badger has not been sighted within the park, but is known to inhabit the greater surrounding wilderness. The park is home to various

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s, including the common western fence lizard and the southern alligator lizard. Pacific gopher snakes, Red diamond rattlesnakes, Southern Pacific rattlesnakes, and other species of snakes inhabit the area.

Red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members of ...

s and

red-shouldered hawk The red-shouldered hawk (''Buteo lineatus'') is a medium-sized buteo. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. It is a permanent resident throughout most of its ...

s can be seen flying throughout the park's boundaries. Both

great horned owl The great horned owl (''Bubo virginianus''), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air") or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extreme ...

s and

barn owl The barn owls, owls in the genus '' Tyto'', are the most widely distributed genus of owls in the world. They are medium-sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons. The ter ...

s are known to be present in the area. Whiting Ranch is also home to several small bird species, including the cactus wren and the endangered California gnatcatcher.

Mountain lion attacks

On January 9, 2004, a 35-year-old cyclist named Mark Reynolds was attacked and killed by a mountain lion at Whiting Ranch. That same day, it attacked another biker in its defense of Reynolds's body. Authorities located and killed the mountain lion responsible and stated that they would also kill any other mountain lions they spotted for an indefinite period. Investigators later announced that they believed Reynolds was attacked and killed while crouching down to fix his bike after its chain broke. The attack was only the 22nd in California since 1890 and only the sixth time a person had been killed by a mountain lion in the state's recorded history. As a result of this incident, the Mark J. Reynolds Memorial Bike Fund was created to offer bikes to underprivileged children.

References

External links

* {{cite web , url=https://www.ocregister.com/2012/07/11/whiting-ranch-offers-family-mystery/ , title=Whiting: Ranch offers family mystery – Orange County Register , newspaper=The Orange County Register , date=July 11, 2012 , author=David Whiting , accessdate= December 31, 2020 Parks in Orange County, California Regional parks in California Santa Ana Mountains