A Lake Named Bubbles

Irvine Valley

This post is about an enjoyable hike we took in the Dilley Preserve portion of the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.  The draw for me is that it contains the only natural lake (sometimes lakes, depending on the rainfall) in Orange County.

The Dilley Preserve is set away from the rest of the Park, separated by Hwy 73. With Laguna Canyon Rd. (133) so close, this hike doesn't feel like wilderness.  Yet, it's a pleasant 3.5 mile loop with a 300 foot elevation that took us to great views of the Irvine Valley framed by the mountains beyond.  I could squint my eyes a little and imagine what it must have been like in 1864 when James Irvine purchased the land and started his cattle and agricultural empire.  Or even before that when the Juaneno tribe of American Indians ground acorns for meal and harvested the land and sea for plants and animals that sustained them.

Start of the path through scrub oak

The preserve consists of coastal scrub land in the higher elevations and riparian zones characterized by willow, oak and sycamore trees.  Considering that it's the end of January, I was pleasantly surprised by the lush green and colorful flowers that greeted us around every curve, precipitated, I supposed, by the heavy rains that we had in December.

Colorful lichen

The rain had badly eroded sections of the path.  We came upon 2 sets of volunteers who were filling in the eroded areas or rerouting the trail where the damage was worse. It didn't slow us down a bit as we walked past groves of trees and through the fragrance of the sage bushes.

There were large patches of prickly pear, especially near the top of the hill.

As we gained elevation, we could see the Southern California Edison high towers at the top of a ridge.  They reminded us, like the close proximity of the highways, that we were in the smack dab in the middle of civilization.  The red-tail hawk that we spotted on one of them didn't seem phased by it;  he just liked the high perch.  We got as close as we could to him before he spread his wings and soared into the wind currents, flashing his orange-red tail in the sunlight.  Magnificent!

Barbara's Lake. Laguna Canyon Road is beyond it.

We got our first glimpse of Barbara's Lake from the top of the hill.  As we descended down the other side of the hill, we started seeing more colorful flowers and sights.  The vegetation became more lush as we approached the lake. The wind was starting to kick up and bring in dark rain clouds as we rounded the bottom of the hill and headed for the trail that skirts the lake.

I expected to see more waterfowl such as a variety of ducks, herons and egrets.  This is, after all, the Pacific Flyway and there are tons of feathered visitors at the marshes and lakes around here.  Yet, all we saw was a lone great egret at the other side of the lake.  A tad bit disappointing but more than made up for by the variety and beauty of the plants.

Bubbles Lake

We came upon Bubbles Lake, so named because a hippopotamus named, well, Bubbles, escaped from the Lion Country Safari in the 1970s and hid here during the day, coming out only at night to feed. Bubbles was eventually captured and actually died as a result.  Poor Bubbles!  An interesting tidbit of OC history.  Who knew?

Cloverly lushness lined the path along the lake

Once we passed the lake, the clouds moved over the sun and we resigned ourselves to getting soaked.  The path took us parallel to Laguna Canyon Road along the low end of the park.  We followed a stream lined with trees.  Another 3/4 mile and we were back at the parking lot, getting into the car just as it started to rain.  Great timing!  We headed back to Laguna Beach to treat ourselves to a cold draft beer and fish tacos at The House of Big Fish and Ice Cold Beer.