A parks district advisory meeting at the Santa Rosa Plateau visitor center was the perfect excuse for me to show up early and finally check out this intriguing open space west of Temecula. The plateau is an uplifted tableland on the southeastern flank of the Santa Ana and Elsinore Mountains. Quaternary basalt flows cap some of the mesas with spheroidally weathered granite peneplains underlying the landscape between. The area is surrounded by fancy ranch homes (lifestyle blocks as they might be called in New Zealand), vineyards, and orchards but remarkably this area has been preserved, offering one of the last remaining landscapes of oak woodlands and prairie grasslands in southern California that would otherwise be developed. It really is one of the best places I know of to get a feel for the rancho period of California's history. The plateau is also important for its unique seasonal vernal pools that pond on top of the basalt and are home to a fairy shrimp found nowhere else.
I planned out a 14.5 mile loop that would take in most of the main trails and varied landscape on offer (I ended up covering a 13 mile loop). I would call it a run except for the many many photo stops I made along the way. I started off on the Granite Loop Trail near the visitor center through scrub, boulders, and stately oaks, then followed Waterline Road into the expansive interior. The sky started moody and dark but gradually broke into scattered clouds then blue skies throughout the morning.
I ran along the road beneath the basalt capped Mesa de Burro, then followed a narrower trail into the wild oak wooklands of the valley headed towards Mesa de La Punta. Splashes of orange poppies, red monkeyflowers, and purple lupines colored the way. Several miles in, I was feeling good running despite my ankle injury, spurred on in part by the surprisingly varied scenery.
I got nice distant views of the plateau's horizon as the trail climbed back up out of the valley and approached the historic adobe buildings at Santa Rosa Ranch. Here my run briefly stopped to walk around the two adobe buildings, including the one room Moreno Adobe built in 1846, supposedly one of the oldest remaining structures in Riverside County. Though it appeared nestled under the protective arms of an enormous oak tree, it still seemed miraculous to have survived fires and floods this long.
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| Moreno Adobe, built 1846 |
From the adobe I continued my clockwise tour along the perimeter trails, this time ascending the hillside up towards the vernal pools. Along the way I spotted two gopher snakes sunning themselves on the trail. Patches of poppies, lupine, yuccas, and prickly pears between the basaltic outcrops made for a lovely foreground to the main vernal pool. Here too my run crept to a walk out onto the boardwalk onto the vernal pool, ducks and other waterfowl lazily cruising around the shallow pond. The section between the adobe and the vernal pool trailhead was the most popular stretch of trail, but still the other hikers numbered less than six.
As I approached the vernal pool trailhead I nearly stepped on a baby rattlesnake, new enough that its rattle was more of an unformed stump. I stopped to watch it until it slithered off the trail. I continued on the Los Santos trail as it wound narrowly up and down swale and rises, mixing between grasslands with extensive views and oak stands.
As I left the Hidden Valley trailhead I was beginning to feel the miles wearing on my feet and the remaining time I had running short. I ended up taking a slightly more direct trail back rather than the detour up Monument Hill that I had planned. At the end I finished the other half of the Granite Loop, a neat way to bookend the run as the terrain was similar to how I started except now it was a clear sunny day. My 13 mile run took me about 4 hours- not particularly speedy but very enjoyable and peaceful.
I ended with just enough time to clean up, change, and look professional for my meeting. I greatly enjoyed my grand tour of Santa Rosa Plateau. Though the trail would be well suited for mountain biking, I really enjoyed the isolation that came with the effort to get to the remote corners of the preserve and sparse visitation. I'm sure the vernal pools and the wildflowers would be a sight to see if they could be caught at their peak.
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