Coyote, Trans Preserve, Vernal Pool Trails

Use your imagination and step back a century and a half in time to an era when Santa Rosa Plateau was part of the 47,000-acre Rancho Santa Rosa granted to cattle rancher Juan Moreno by Governor Pio Pico. The adobes dating from 1845 that you’ll visit on this hike will certainly help you imagine mid-19th century California.

Fortunately for those of us who would like a glimpse into that bygone era, the landowners following Juan Moreno did little to this early California landscape of oak woodlands, rolling grasslands and vernal pools but use it for grazing cattle. The relatively gentle use of the land is in part responsible for the remarkable biodiversity flourishing on the Santa Rosa Plateau today. By some estimates, the plateau hosts about half of all the species of plants and animals considered to be rare in the Inland Empire.

Good thing a sizeable portion of Old SoCal was preserved because off the plateau it’s very much the 21st century; that is to say, huge housing developments have pushed up Clinton Keith Road and left today’s ecological reserve something of an island on the land.

Citizen activists, attempting to thwart a developers plans to construct 4,000 homes on the plateau, worked in concern with national, state and county government, as well as The Nature Conservancy, to come up with the money to purchase the property and make it a preserve, which now totals 8,300 acres. The Nature Conservancy handles resources management while Riverside County Regional Parks and Open Space District provides for visitors.

Trans Preserve and a supporting cast of trails offer and grand tour of the reserve. Depending on your time, inclination and energy level, you can hike for two hours, four hours or an entire day on the reserve’s 18 named trails. The extensive trail network in the reserve’s southeast section allows for plenty of options and seems to encourage a hiker’s spontaneous decision-making.

This hike takes you to the vernal pools atop Mesa de Colorado and to the vernal pools. The mesa is capped with basalt, meaning it’s an ideal rainwater collector. Depressions in the rock collect water into seasonal ponds. One pool measures nearly 40 acres and is considered one of the largest in California.

The vernal pools offer habitat to the unusual fairy shrimp and some rare plants that ring the waterline. In winter, seasonal pools attract waterfowl, including grebes, Canada geese and green-winged teal. The pools are a colorful sight in spring when goldfields and other wildflowers surround them.

The hike: Begin on Coyote Trail, named for one of the many animals that roam the reserve, though birders tend to watch for white-tailed kites when hiking along this path. A half-mile’s travel brings you to a junction, where you gear right (south) on Trans Preserve Trail.

Across the reserve you go, hiking over the rolling hills and viewing both woodlands and native grasslands. Trail junctions for paths leading east and west may tempt you, but stick with Trans Preserve Trail all the way up to the top of Mesa de Colorado and a junction with Vernal Pool Trail.

Hike east and check out the vernal pools, then descend from the mesa to the historic adobes, located a bit more than three miles from the trailhead. After taking a break and inspecting the oldest structures in Riverside County, head north on Lomas Trail.

Bear right on Monument Road, and follow it only for a brief time, because Lomas Trail soon resumes and you’ll follow it northbound. When you reach Tenaja Truck Trail, cross it to reach Oak Tree Trail (see Englemann Exploration in this guide). Take the left fork of this looping nature trail and hike in close company with the rare Englemann oaks to Trans Preserve Trail, which you follow southwest to the Coyote Trail.

OK, after all those turns, trails and junctions, you know what to do now: retrace your steps a half-mile on Coyote Trail back to the trailhead.