It has grown on me!

Thursday, May 25, 2023

【Hike】Turtle Rock and French Hill Loop in Irvine

In March, my husband and I went to Turtle Rock for our weekend hike in Irvine. I found this trail, Turtle Rock and French Hill Loop, on AllTrails App, which is my favorite app for hiking. It was a moderately easy 4-mile hike. There are four hills makes this hike challenging, so it was great workout for me. I thought it was the best time to enjoy this hike because of a lot of wildflowers.

Tips for Walking on Turtle Rock and French Hill Loop.
・Apply sunscreen on entire body.
・Wear sunglasses and hat with high UPF.
・Drink water often.
・You can bring your dog.
・It's moderately easy trails.

My Turtle Rock and French Hill Loop Walking Summary (UA MapMyWalk App)

When I go hiking, I use Under Armour MapMyWalk App to track my walk.

My Turtle Rock and French Hill Loop Walking Summary (UA MapMyWalk App)

Last year, I also started using AllTrails App. It's easy to use and helped me to not get lost. In addition, it's easy to find new hiking trails, and you can save your activities on AllTrails App. If you love hiking, you should try this app. It makes your hiking more enjoyable.

My Turtle Rock and French Hill Loop Walking Summary (All Trails App)

Parking

We parked along the street, Concordia.

Concordia

Trail Hour

Turtle Rock Open Space 6 a.m. to Sunset

Sunset Point Trail 7 a.m. to Sunset

Turtle Rock Open Space

Sunset Point Trail

Turtle Rock Trailhead

Turtle Rock Trailhead

This is Turtle Rock Trailhead. I was surprised that wildflowers were incredibly overgrown. We hiked up this hill, French Hill.

French Hill

I was amazed that the entire hill was covered with beautiful yellow wildflowers.

These mustard plants were taller than me.

This place looked pretty popular. Some people were enjoying seeing great views. We saw a small child holding a small lizard in his hand. We also saw a woman sitting with wildflowers and reading a book under the sky when we reached the top of the hill.

Then, we hiked down the hill. We walked the narrow path between overgrown mustard plants.

After going down the hill, the trail was very quiet and we didn't see hiker for a while.

Turkey Vulture

Prickly Pear Cactus

We kept walking on the path. This is very quiet trail, but we noticed that there was only one group of four young people behind us.

We went down the steep path leading to the Ridgeline Dr.

Ridgeline Dr

Then, we walked on the sidewalk of Ridgeline Dr.

Ridgeline Dr

Ridgeline Dr and Turtle Rock Dr

We passed the intersection of Ridgeline Dr and Turtle Rock Dr, and we went on the paved trail along the Ridgeline Dr.

Paved Path Next to Ridgeline Dr

I noticed that there was still the same group of people 100 feet behind us. It's a pretty complicated route if you don't know this area well, so I thought they were using AllTrails App just like we did that day.

We went up this hill again. It was a pretty challenging steep trail and we took a break for a while behind rocks. It's because we didn't hike the hill up fast, so we wanted to let the group of people go ahead. However, after they found us taking a break, they looked like they were very surprised and confused. We were very surprised at this moment. They probably didn't know which trail they should go on. They also started taking a break 100 feet ahead of us. We finally realized that they were not using the same App, and they were just following us to not get lost. 😆 We started walking on the trail again, and they also started walking and kept distance 100 feet behind us. 😂

After we went down the hill, we walked the paved path, Turtle Rock View Point Trail.

Turtle Rock View Point Trail

Then, we climbed up the stairs.

On your right, you will see the Sunset Point Trail.

Sunset Point Trail

Sunset Point Trail

On Sunset Point Trail, there were many people hiking. This trail seems very popular place for hiking. I thought that this hill looked like a turtle. We started hike up the steep hill again.

Sunset Point

The view from the top of the hill was so beautiful.

We walked down the hill.

The trail finally leaded to the paved street of Via Novella.

Via Novella

We started walking on the sidewalk of Via Novella. At the intersection of Via Novella and Amalfi Dr, turn right to the Amalfi Dr.

Amalfi Dr

Amalfi Dr and Turtle Rock Dr

At the intersection of Amalfi Dr and Turtle Rock Dr, turn right to Turtle Rock Dr.

Turtle Rock Dr

Turtle Rock Dr and Campus Dr

We passed the intersection of Turtle Rock Dr and Campus Dr, and we kept walking on Turtle Rock Dr.

Turtle Rock Dr

On your left, you will see the street of Concordia, where we parked.

Concordia

About a few minutes after we arrived at our parking space, we found that the group of young people following us also went back to their car. We were surprised that they parked on the same street and pretty close to us. They might have been following us from very beginning of this hike. 😆