Directions to Trailhead: The trailhead to hike at Turtle Rock in Irvine is at Chaparral Park, 19032 Turtle Rock Drive. To get to the Turtle Rock Trailhead coming from the 405 going north, exit onto University Drive and make a left. Upon Reaching Culver, make another left. Make a left onto Campus drive, then a right onto Turtle Rock Drive. Proceed On turtle Rock drive for a little while until you see Chaparral Park on your left. Make a left onto Sundance Drive and an immediate left to park at the Elementary School. You can also park anywhere in the neighborhood.
Description of Hike: This is a great Orange County hike in Irvine. The Turtle Rock hike is less than 3 miles roundtrip to do the loop that we did below, with an approximate elevation gain of 250 feet. However the number of trails at Turtle Rock allows any hiker to tailor their hike to whatever length to their needs. You can make your hike at Turtle Rock as easy or as strenuous as you would like. Parking is also free, which is a great price. The top of the hill is a great place to eat lunch and gaze over Southern California. Some portions of the Turtle Rock trail are paved, while the majority of the trail is not. The only negative to this hike is that there are no trail markers when hiking in this area.
Further Thoughts: This was a great hike in Irvine for Ashley and I. We have been up here a couple of times before, but this is the first time we have documented our hike at Turtle Rock. The Turtle Rock Hike offers sweeping view of all of Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains. You can see Catalina Island as well. There are spectacular views of the north portion of the South Coast Wilderness.

Ashley and I look forward to coming back to this area soon. There are lots of hiking trails in this area of Irvine. For those that are interested in exploring a little more of this area you might want to visit the Turtle Rock Nature Center which is just up the road. The operating hours for the Turtle Rock Nature Center are 9am - 5pm Monday - Friday, 9am - 4pm Saturdays, and the Turtle Rock Nature Center is closed on Sundays. They have some great exhibits and a short trail perfect for every one of all ages. To read more about the Turtle Rock Nature Center please visit our write-up of it Here.
Rating: Elevation Gain: 250 ft. (Easy), Distance: 2.7 Miles Roundtrip (Easy).
Time to Complete Hike: 1 - 2 hours.
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My wife and I just did this hike and had a great time. Great views of Central OC all the way from Anaheim to Newport beach.
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Have you ever seen the cave of Turtle Rock? Someone said that if you follow the west side of Strawberry Farms Golf course gold cart path and look west to the hill, you'll see some caves that go as deep as 8 feet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information, we have not seen those caves, but next time we are in that area we will look for them.
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ReplyDeleteI love reading through your blog, I wanted to leave a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuation. Wish you best of luck for all your best efforts.
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