Crystal Cove 7

Posted on May 19, 2003 in Photos

There’s an upland to Crystal Cove State Park that most people who do the beach don’t know about. Or they’ve seen the sign pointing to Moro Canyon on a sweltering summer day, looked at the sunburnt yellow grass, and thought that it wasn’t a place they wanted to visit. No sand, no sea, no interest.

El Moro Canyon isn’t for bikinis or the Muscle Beach Crowd. It’s for those who cover their legs for protection from poison oak and who wear hats to shade them from the sun. Silence is also a virtue of this place. Two long ridges insulate the bottomland from Laguna Beach to the south and from new developments to the north.

We walked the short loop two weeks ago. I loved the gardens left from the ranchers who used to inhabit the canyon and the natural beds spread by wind, animal waste, and landslides into which the former blended gently. This is the season of life in Southern California, when native plants like the lemonade berry and the chaparro hold out against the browning of the introduced oat grasses. During this time, the natives win out for a short time. No hiker should spend a peaceful weekend in the highlands while the flowers are rioting in the low. This is a Woodstock scale event in which every star of the chaparral shows itself, invited or not; and it is special because it does not begin to attract the mud-churning crowds.

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