Dew and sun and dirt and air—

what wilderness and we are here—

light crowns the monarch

 and the flowers bow.

                                  from  “Garden Notes”

 

 

 MY WILD ORANGE COUNTY

  Poems & Pictures, Here & There

  by Thea Gavin

Whose Wild Orange County?

I've been staring off into the distance at the hills and mountains to the east of Orange all my life. When I was a kid, growing up in the smoggy 60's, I knew it was a bad air day when Old Saddleback disappeared into the sky-muck.

Forty-some years later, I'm still here in Orange. The air actually seems a little cleaner, and I'm the one disappearing into the hills as often as I can. I've got my favorite running and hiking spots, and the hours and miles I've spent on the trails has given me lots of inspiration to write stuff and shoot pictures.

Why do I do it?

Why do I run by myself at twilight—mountain lion breakfast time—near places where wildlife camera traps have recent record of the big cats' meanderings? One answer: lots more runners are hit by cars in traffic-jammed Orange County than are eaten by mountain lions.

Why do I run in and write about and take hundreds of digital images of these hills? (When I could be joining my three million fellow Orange Countians at South Coast Plaza or Disneyland or the stadium belonging to the team formerly known as the Anaheim Angels?)

Part of the answer is . . . refuge. For me. For the gnatcatchers and thrashers. Prickly pear and poison oak. Rattlesnakes and western fence lizards. The scent of red trail dust and sun-baked sage reminds me that I am entering a territory far removed from The Real Desperate Housewives of The O.C, Laguna Beach.  And that makes me happy. (My ongoing delusion that one day, one of my poems or pictures will finally capture and communicate the spirit of the place also makes me happy—a sort of fool's paradise but one I don't mind living in.)

Not even on the radar of most OC folks, these amazing wild lands—the coastal sage scrub and chaparral wildlife communities of the Santa Ana Mountains—are super-rare. In fact, they comprise one of only five areas with similar ecosystems on the planet. And, although these Mediterranean-climate ecosystems take up less than 5% of the earth's surface, they are home to almost 20% of the world's total plant population. Many of the plants and animals here can only survive in this unique environment. (I like to think I’m one of them.) 

Due to the lovely climate that makes lots of people from snow-infested lands want to live here, if you're a native plant or animal you're in trouble—far too many local species are endangered, on their way out, or already extinct.

Most folks, however, go about their frantic So Cal lives and never give a thought to the beauty and significance of these neighboring wild places that we are all connected to.

So . . . I hope my words and images provide information and inspiration—and that all our lives will be richer as more and more people learn about, visit, enjoy and work together to preserve Our Wild Orange County.

Peralta Hills Trail,    Santiago Oaks RP

Sunset in cougar country

Santiago Creek crossing

Winter reflections, Santiago Creek, Irvine Regional Park

Sunset at the Willows, Irvine RP

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