Coyote Hills

 I only get a chance to hike in the desert every 2-3 weeks. In between, I like to hike in the local hills in NW Orange County. I'm fortunate, because in this densely populated area, there's a large chunk of land that is undeveloped and in a state of limbo. The city is trying to buy it for open space, and I think so far they have purchased the parcel to the east. I'm really hoping they can buy the west parcel (where these photos were taken) and keep it as open space. I plan to continue to hike here until someone tells me I can't.

It may look familiar to you since I've posted about this area before, but it's been a while. It's former oil property that has sat unused for many years now, and has a nice wild feel to it. It's crisscrossed with trails and old roads, and I'm forever finding new trails to try out and see where they lead. It also has a fair amount of wildlife, although I've never seen a coyote on the property.

 

California Buckwheat

Prickly Pear cactus

Sandstone hills

 

A quick aside... we keep spotting coyotes in our backyard. Three babies, one mama, and yesterday, this juvenile kept hanging around. Our backyard is a little overgrown, and I'm afraid they likely have a den back there. I wouldn't mind except our chihuahua is in grave danger of becoming a coyote meal! I spent a couple hours yesterday cleaning up our hillside (I heard the coyote jump the 6' fence as I was going up the hill). Still more to do, but hopefully it will help. In the meantime, our chihuahua is only allowed in the backyard with a human excort. OK, back to the hike...

 

There are a lot of these large valves on property. They are kind of interesting. I know nothing about oil wells or oil pumps, but I'm guessing these valves and pipes were used to transfer the oil from the pumps to some storage tank somewhere. That's just a guess.

 

 

Sticky Monkey-flower

MC-179: I see markers similar to this one all over the property. Only the numbers change. I'm guessing they mark the location of former oil pumps. Another guess on my part.

 

The highlight of today's hike: While walking a trail I have hiked many times before, something caught my eye, and I hiked through the brush for about 40 yards and came across this cache of old bottles. Maybe around 30-40 in total, although there might be more if you dig down deeper. It's a real mystery to me why these bottles are here. To my knowledge, no one ever lived on this property.

 

This one's a beauty, but I can't quite read the label.

 

The majority of the bottles are amber or clear and have "Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of this Bottle" marked on the outside. But there are also jars and a variety of other bottles. Anyway, a quick Google search says this phrase was required on all liquor bottles sold within the United States that were made between 1935 and 1964. Interesting, eh?? This oil property was probably operating at peak capacity in the 50's and early 60's, and that certainly fits the time frame for these bottles. Evidently the oil workers did a little (or a lot?) of imbibing at the worksite!

Not a liquor bottle, but interesting.

 

This old liquor bottle still has the stopper in place!

 

I found this old porcelain insulator near the bottle cache. 

  

Vertigo!! I came across this large corrugated drainage pipe (about 2' in diameter). Looking inside, I couldn't see anything. Too dark. I set my phone on the outside of the pipe to stabilize it before taking the shot. Interesting how the phone camera can bring out details in the darkness that the human eye can't see!

 

Even close to home it's possible to find things of interest and mystery. I definitely need to go back to the bottle cache and do a little more exploring!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.