January Interlude: Tin Mine Canyon & Trail

January 19, 2024

January Interlude: Tin Mine Canyon & Trail

Leaves fall from the trees every year. I notice when the branches of trees grow thin with less weight. I notice when they pile up on the ground. I tend not to notice them when they are falling. It is not a conscious thing, mind you, I don't intentionally look away for some sentimental reason - I don't want to see them falling - It's just that, you know, it happens every year and they don't exactly fall differently one year from another.

Well... there can be an exception.

The canyon had narrowed considerably and the willows, growing in the proverbial thicket, were being compressed in the confined space. It seemed like as good a place to turn around as any. The trail runner, the only other person on the Tin Mine Trail this morning had reached his limit not much further ahead, and was on his way back down canyon when he stopped to give Finn a pat on the head and confirm that there wasn't much running to do up canyon, the trail was too choked with flora, both alive and dead. Anyway, we had noticed the breeze becoming more decisive now that the canyon had lost its width, with one especially insistent gust sending a gentle cascade of yellow willow leaves raining down, tumbling and spinning and they fell.

It was impossible not to notice those falling leaves.

Confession, I have never hiked the Santa Ana Mountains. I have mountain biked a few trails, but as far as hikes go, they have always seemed kind of second rate compared to the San Gabriels, the Santa Ynez Mountains, and most certainly not up to par with the Sierra Nevada. I'm sure people who are more familiar with the Santa Anas are saying to themselves right now, "well, your loss dude," and they would be right. I had deprived myself of the Santa Anas unique beauty for too long, and as I quickly scanned the maps for the January interlude hike, my eyes shifted south and west to seek out something new.

The Tin Mine Trail starts out, on the edge of Corona, as the well known Skyline Trail, a dirt trail popular among mountain bikers, hikers and runners, before branching off under its own name, and heads "up" Tin Mine Canyon. Up may not be the right word, for right up to the point we turned around, the trail was about as flat as a trail can get. One might argue that the two easy to spot mine adits are the main draw of this lightly used trail, but that is not giving enough credit to the beauty of the canyon itself. Tall sycamores and wide oaks, tower above the colorful willow. Yellow and red berried toyon add color in great mounds. Ferns and mosses cover faces of the canyon walls like a hipster beard, and dainty wildflowers sprout here and there from the thigh-high grasses. I was fine with almost every other person we encountered sticking to the wide Skyline Trail, it made the Tin Mine Trail seem all the more isolated and away. Indeed, the further up canyon one goes, the less defined the trail becomes, and the more that feeling increases.

The January interlude to Tin Mine Canyon, provided just a taste of the Santa Ana Mountains, a taste I will be looking to refine in the future.