Night Hike Thrills Me No End

Yesterday evening I participated in a night hike led by Joel Robinson, chief naturalist and executive director of Naturalist for You. Back in 2001, Joel founded this nonprofit to connect people in So Cal with their wild areas.

My friend Chris and I drove to Silverado, the cute, Mendocino County-like town in one of the canyons near the trailhead. Silverado would be worth a trip in itself, as its hippie feel and pub in the center of town were intriguing, though we did not have time to check things out.

Joel led four attendees and one volunteer on a two-hour walk through privately owned land. Joel was once the naturalist for the Irvine Company's undeveloped holdings and has met its reclusive patriarch, Donald Bren. On one side of the road was Irvine Company land and on the other another family's large holding. Joel is a wealth of information about the local history (Indian massacre carried out by a man named Wolfskin, a resort from the '30s, the land swaps of the Irvine Company) and natural history (what to do if one encounters a mountain lion, the return of bears to the area, the solitary existence of male grizzlies). Joel was absolutely fantastic. And he leads four or five hikes a week--for free! Of course, a donation is always welcome.

Not only was this a beautiful, quiet, peaceful, informative evening, but I was so inspired by Joel, a young guy with a vision who is doing what he loves doing. I sure want to take more of his hikes, especially the one in the spring that he really talked up--a seven-mile trek up a stream bed to a waterfall that disappears behind some rocks and then emerges from a cave. Joel said its one of the most beautiful spots in So Cal.

Besides all these opportunities for exploration with Naturalist for You, Joel also clued me into the Irvine Ranch Wildlands and Parks tours, led by naturalists on the tens of thousands of undeveloped land that the Irvine Company still owns.

So wonderful to explore places so close to home that I never knew existed. So much fun to be out walking around in the beauty that surrounds me.