Hike in Orchard Hills

Yesterday I went on a naturalist-only hike in Orchard Hills. A new set of trails operated by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy on Irvine Company land. The trails wind through avocado groves, owned and operated by the Irvine Co. Unfortunately, it's illegal to take any =/ too bad, I looove avocado. 

The trails are not open to the public yet, except through IRC hikes, but will eventually be dawn to dusk trails. At the moment the trails are like an obstacle course, trying to figure out which side of the fences to be on at each point (part of the reason it isn't open to the public yet, too confusing!)

There were plenty of wildflowers, blue bells, California poppies, mallows, popcorn flower, two species of lupins, one was likely miniature lupin, the other I'd never seen before, non-natives included filigree or storksbill, and clovers. Plants along the trail included non-native Eucalyptus, also natives like laurel sumac, prickly pear cactus.