O’Neill Regional Park

O’Neill Regional Park — Orange County, California
May 7th – 9th 2024 (2 nights)

The main purpose of this trip was to have our Scamp’s rear hitch heavily reinforced to sustain the weight and forces of our new bike rack for long distance travel.  Although our Scamp’s rear hitch was already factory welded on both ends (bumper and steel frame), we decided more robust reinforcement would be desirable since we sometimes drive on rough roads and trails with our bikes on the rear hitch.  The last thing we would want is to have the hitch break away from our trailer while driving and have our new rack and bikes dragged on the road behind us (coincidentally, this is exactly what happened to a couple we met during this trip at O’Neill Regional Park – their new hitch broke off behind their trailer and their hitch and $17,000 in e-bikes were destroyed).  Not many bike racks are rated to be used behind travel trailers because of the extreme forces at their rear.  Our new bike rack is travel trailer rated as long as certain conditions are met (the rear hitch must be welded both to the trailer’s bumper and frame, a 2” receiver is used, and bikes must not exceed 42lbs per tray).

Our first stop was at our Cousin Chris’s house in Arcadia (a city in Los Angeles about 13 miles northeast of downtown). Chris is a professional welder and offered to fabricate necessary steel parts and weld them to our Scamp’s rear hitch.  The hardest part of the process is creating the design and fabricating the metal parts which will be used to ruggedize the union of the hitch to the trailer.  Chris is a master craftsman and created some phenomenal parts which he fabricated out of steel in his shop.  After placing all the metal parts to ensure a good fit, he meticulously welded each piece to the existing hitch, bumper, and frame.  While Chris worked, we enjoyed walking his nice neighborhood as well as interacting with “Feathers”, the resident wild Peacock who lives outside Chris’s house.  Feathers is not only big and beautiful but he also has a blood curdling scream which can be heard for miles!  He often flies up onto the roof and screams to ensure other peacocks can hear him (in which they often reply with their own screams from different nearby locations!)!  The welding process took about five hours and we left knowing that our hitch was now very secure.

Side note — in the late 19^th century, the founder of Arcadia, Elias “Lucky” Baldwin, imported peacock breeding pairs from India to decorate his estate (now the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanic Gardens).  The peafowl thrived on the compound and their population grew with some of them escaping onto the surrounding areas.  The feral peacocks continue to thrive to this day and are protected so they may roam Arcadia without being disturbed.

Instead of driving straight home to San Diego on the same day, we decided to spend a couple of nights at O’Neill Regional Park in Orange County.  A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed our stay at Ronald W. Casper’s Wilderness Park which is close by, so we wanted to try this other regional inland Orange County campground.  O’Neill Regional Park is like Caspers in many ways.  Both parks are run by the OCparks system and have similar beautiful maps and fun programs.  O’Neill Regional Park is on over 4,500 acres, located within Trabuco and Live Oak Canyons.  The campground has 79 campsites and can accommodate very large RVs.  There aren’t any hookups, but there are threaded water spigots and a free central dump station.  Campsites cost $20/night (or $15/night for anyone over 60 or people with disabilities).  We had campsite #34 which was a bit too close to the site next to it (unless you are travelling with family or friends).  Fortunately, we had quite neighbors on the two nights we stayed, but would choose a different site next time with more space between campsites.  There’s a threaded water spigot next to campsite #34 and we used a couple of our hoses to connect to it to refill our Scamp’s fresh water tank.  The Verizon service was good during our stay.  There’s also a free central RV dump station which we used on the way out.

The campground has a very natural feel and is very spread out.  There are numerous day use areas as well as Group and Equestrian campgrounds.  Oak trees are plentiful throughout the park and provide much needed shade when the weather gets warm (which it does since it is about 45 minutes inland from the ocean).  Temperatures were in the low ‘80’s during our visit in early May.  We heard temperatures were supposed to get into the 90’s on the day we left!  Similar to Caspers, ground squirrels are all over the campground and don’t seem to cause any issues with campers (although we spotted one standing up on his hind legs spending some time very curiously inspecting the underneath of our Scamp 13’).  There are plenty of other animals in the park including deer (a man said he and his dog were almost run into by a large deer at night during a dog walk), bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, raccoons, crows, turkey vultures, and more.  We heard a large animal panting in the bush close to us while on a long hike, but couldn’t confirm what it was…

Like Caspers, there are plenty of trails to ride horses, bikes, and hike.  The trails here were busier during our stay than the back country trails we experienced at Caspers though.  We hiked the Pawfoot, Live Oak, and Coyote Canyon trails, which originate near the Ranger Station at the entrance to the park.  Another fun hike is to start the Pawfoot trail above the campground area (heading toward the Equestrian camping area) and take the short walk past an elementary school filled with farm animals (pigs, goats, sheep, and miniature donkeys) to the Trabuco General Store.  The General Store (open 8 am. – 7 p.m. during our stay) has some unique items, including tamales and homemade fruit preserves.

Make sure to check the weather before visiting both Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Area and O’Neill Regional Park.  Both campgrounds are inland, so it can get warm when the temperatures heat up.  However, a visit in the winter, spring, or fall might just be perfect for enjoying a tranquil setting with fantastic equestrian, hiking, and biking trails.  And, if you live in LA or San Diego, the trip to these parks won’t use much gas or cost much in campground fees.  So, take a jaunt to one of these Orange Country inland regional parks, save some money by camping local, and stop by the Trabuco General Store to stock up on tamales and home jam!

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