Outdoor Adventures Volume One: Carolyn Wood View Knoll (Temple Hill)

I grew up in the mountains, so I'm a forest girl at heart. I love love love the beach, and for that reason I still live in this God-forsaken county. But I'm always up for a return to my roots. Also, I'm getting really bored of the mall. So Matt and I made a goal this last spring to go on at least one adventure a month, more when possible. Because in addition to being a mountain girl I'm also a big nerd, obviously I went to the most appropriate place to look for adventure: Barnes and Noble. I trekked through the stacks and found two books on places to hike in Orange County. Apparently such places exist; this is good because I'm loath to venture outside a fifteen minute radius of my apartment (I use minutes instead of miles because miles mean nothing in a beach city).

The other day I suddenly decided that I needed to go outside and roam the wild, untamed wilderness of Orange County (please stop laughing...I swear it exists...well...let's just continue).

As a public service, I'm going to apprise you of today's and all subsequent adventures so you may decide for yourself whether or not you need to spend $20 on Orange County hiking books. In order to best help you, I've devised a scientific rating scale based on my opinions. 1=no thank you; 5=yes please

Destination: Carolyn Wood View Knoll, or "Top of the World," Laguna Beach

The Journey (aka, the drive...but doesn't "journey" just sound better?): 2.5

I give it a 4 for being scenic and a 1 for the one lane road with snail-like traffic. Thus the 2.5

The Hike: 1.2

1/2 mile (according to the book) of a dirt trail from the "bottom" of a 10 foot pile of dirt to the "top." Big letdown.

The View: 4.5

Panoramic View of southern California. It was rather breathtaking, actually. It would probably be a 5 on a clear day, but as it was a bit cloudy, we couldn't see Catalina and Mt. Baldy like the signs said we would.


The Extras: 3.5

The book said "Loop up the knoll to the summit, where there are display maps, benches, and world-class panoramas." There were two signs that said what you were looking at and one stone bench. But at the foot of the "knoll" there was a cute little park (Alta Laguna Park). This afternoon there happened to be a La Leche League sponsored World Breastfeeding Week barbecue. So we topped off our grueling hike with babies and boobies. Seriously...we're talking a good hundred women with their families, many of whom, obviously, were under age one and resting in a sling or baby wrap. It was like a catalog for granola mamas. Don't get me wrong...I breastfed and had a wrap. I'm just saying...it was a lot of babies and boobies. Also, there was a toddler fight. Seriously. There was a little blond boy, probably around age 4, sitting in this weird riding toy. Then this little brown haired boy, couldn't have been more than 2, runs up to him, ostensibly because he wanted to sit on the wooden bouncy horse thing, grabs the blond kids hair, and starts punching him in the face. Hard. No parents to be seen. After a few minutes (I so wish I was kidding) of the little boy wailing on the blond kid, the brown haired boy's mom came from the other side of the park and pulled her son off his victim, who was, understandably, screaming bloody murder. It was intense.


Overall Rating: 3.0

You're welcome. See you next time.