This past Saturday, July 10th, 2010 Jenn and I drove out to the Laguna Beach area near the Aliso and Wood Canyon Wilderness park and decided to go on the Valido Trail. The descriptions of this hike indicated that it was moderate in difficulty but rewarded the hiker with stunning ocean views from atop the summit.
After parking on a residential street (Valido Drive) it was weird that the trail actually started in between houses built on the hillside. The first house on the left that we passed on the trail had an array of wood, plants, and bottles on display and was no doubt home to a whimsical character I can imagine. In other words, or my wife's, a pot smoker most likely. haha.
Right after going up a mild quick hill, not a steep initial incline like the description read, we could see into the canyon and get an idea of where we were headed. We saw the typical warning signs of bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, etc. but after a quick read and a snapshot of the beginning of our hike we were on our way.
Right at the beginning of the hike we could already tell it was going to be more scenic than almost any other one we have done before. It rivals our Topanga Canyon hike and Id have to have a refresher on that one since its been several years as to which one was actually more scenic. In any matter once we started into the canyon the trail started to elevate pretty rapidly at times. Now gradual elevation climb I'm a fan of, quick steep elevation climb I am not. This was more in the quick steep category. It did level out at times but not as much as I nor my wife expected. As we moved further along it was evident that this entire trail was pretty much an elevated climb up with barely any level straight sections to it. After a couple of brief stops for a drink we continued up and saw a couple headed back down. They were probably middle aged and as they stopped to talk to us the bee's nearby became very friendly, too friendly for my taste and so much so that after a few minutes of casual conversation we had to move on and head forward up the hill.
There were several spots on this trail that overlooked the ocean, one while we originally hikes through the trail and another once we got to the summit. Both were wonderful views however it was overcast on Saturday and the sun really never came out during our entire hike so as good as the views were I'm sure they would have even been much better on a sunny day. With that being said we reached the top of the summit and it overlooked a golf course and the ocean.
After reaching the top we basically turned back around and just came back down the same way we came up and although it is more difficult on the knee's going back down the positive's are you go down the canyon much quicker than we went up and it is not half as strenuous as the climb up. On the way down at nearly the end of the trail I did take short video of the trail. Sorry ahead of time for any heavy breathing that you may hear but hey after a 2 mile hike it tends to take a little out of you.
Total time for the hike was 1 hour and 4 minutes. All in all it was the most difficult but by far the most enjoyable and scenic hike we have been on this summer!
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