Hike Orange County

Discover the best day hikes in Orange County. Safely explore OC’s most compelling parks, preserves and special places. Hit the trail to improved health as you share a fun and uplifting activity in the natural world with your friends and family. My tips, stories and trail accounts will help you select—and take—a quality hike you’re guaranteed to like.

I got to know—and appreciate—Orange County’s trails while serving for seventeen years as the Los Angeles Times hiking columnist. Recently I collected my favorite hikes in a new book, Orange County, A Day Hiker’s Guide.

I launched HIKE-OC.com in order to help you get to know the trails and terrain in OC’s regional parks, wilderness parks, national forest and state parklands. Enjoy this sampling of outstanding hikes on classic trails and brand-new pathways. And visit again soon to learn more about the wonderful hiking opportunities in Orange County and nearby Riverside County.

Let’s face it, the county’s theme parks, not the county’s nature parks, are Orange County’s claims-to-fame. Still, for hikers in the know, the “happiest place on earth” may not be Disneyland, but along one of the happy trails in Orange County’s backcountry.

Learn more about hiking elsewhere around California and across the nation by visiting The Trailmaster Network, my special collection of web sites. And for a unique look at hiking, America’s most popular form of outdoor recreation, take a hike to www.TheTrailmaster.com

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Features

Hiking OC Learn more about the great day hiking opportunities in the county’s canyons, hills and mountains, and along OC’s beaches and coastal bluffs.

OC Trails Classic pathways, new footpaths, trails-in-the-making

OC Geography 101  Get the lay of the land and learn how Orange County got its name.

Best Hikes in Orange County The Trailmaster’s best picks for waterfalls, wildflowers, sunset-viewing, kids, and a whole lot more.

OC Stewards of the Land Who’s in charge out there? Protecting precious resources is a mighty big job.

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