Yes it looks small, but that was as close as I could get!
As it was walking off you could see that it had a pretty long tail for a bobcat. After that the girls made me lead the way, which was fine except that I ran face-first into several large spider webs. I hate spiders!
Typical rock formation in Crystal Cove
There is a waterfall in Emerald Canyon, but it is dry most of the time. Here is a picture standing at the top of the falls looking straight down about 15 feet.
Emerald Falls
Fossil scallop at top of falls
Emerald Canyon is landlocked at the bottom, so you can't make it part of a loop. For that reason, the trail does not get heavy use, and is in fact overgrown in places. After passing the falls, the trail becomes even more overgrown as it continues on about a half mile before ending at a locked gate. The return trip up canyon is not steep except for one spot near the falls, and gives you a different perspective of this beautiful trail.
A wise old tree in Emerald Canyon
Rather than climb straight up out of the canyon the way we came, we took Old Emerald Falls Trail, a nice single track that angles up to the top of El Moro Ridge. From El Moro Ridge we took the FencelineTrail back to the trail head.
Sheila and Lauren on Old Emerald Falls
Below is my GPS track from today's run. I see a lot of people using their GPS to get them to where they want to go, but I only use mine to see where I've been!
5 comments:
Any poison oak along the way? I heard there was a ton in the bottom half of the canyon.
Hi Morgan,
Yes, there was quite a lot of it, and because the trail was very overgrown in places, one could not avoid occasional contact with it. I just scrubbed my legs when I got home and had no problem.
To anyone curious about exploring Emerald Canyon - wear long pants if you must. It would be a shame to let a little poison oak keep anyone from enjoying this beautiful trail!
I miss it out there :( Recovering from knee surgery but will be back. Are you going to Blackstar for the race this weekend? Jen
I will! It is a run I have been wanting to do was intimidated by the poison oak, so I only made it down to the Old Emerald trail. Did you use anything special to wash down with?
Jen,
Sorry about the knee, hope you recover fast! I didn't know there was a race in Blackstar this weekend...do you mean the Harding Hustle on Harding Truck Trail? Anyway, I'm running in Whiting Ranch this weekend, but not racing.
Morgan,
Soap and water works fine for me.
By the way, welcome to my blog, and it is nice to meet you both!
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