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Hiking Chino Hills: Desert Plants LbNA #52552

Owner:Kelsung
Plant date:Mar 20, 2010
Location: Chino Hills State Park
City:Chino Hills
County:San Bernardino
State:California
Boxes:6
Found by: Lee & Nancy (6)
Last found:Mar 27, 2010
Status:F
Last edited:Jun 14, 2021
Click link for map.

UPDATE: I visited CHSP on 7/21/20 and a lot has changed. There's a new road in, so the old road referenced in these clues is now one of the trails that parallels it. I still want to properly check up on and maintain these boxes some day, but it's a big project. Still, the hike(s) will be worth it even if all of them are gone.

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Enter Chino Hills State Park off Soquel Canyon Parkway, drive in about 1.1 miles on Bane Canyon Road to the kiosk and pay the $8 fee, then continue 1.7 miles over a bridge to where the pavement begins. Pass two picnic tables on the right, then a single picnic table, and just past this are three picnic tables on the left and the trailhead for Aliso Canyon. Park in any on these three areas.

Most of these boxes are hidden a little off the trail beneath what experienced boxers call a Suspicious Pile Of Rocks. When boxing in a group, it's a good idea to have just one person step off the trail to retrieve and replace the box. This will minimize the damage to plants and not create an obvious social trail.

Lower Aliso Canyon / Brush Canyon / Skully Ridge
6.2 miles - 6 boxes


NOTE: This hike includes overgrown narrow footpaths and a ridge with little to no shade. Don't hike alone, watch for snakes, wear sunscreen, bring plenty of water, and I wouldn't recommend bringing children.

Eucalyptus by Lee: Take Lower Aliso Canyon Road past the Corral trailhead and go down the main road until you see a sign on the left for the Lower Aliso Canyon trail. Continue on this narrow footpath until it crosses a stream, then immediately look left for a large tree with a SPOR behind it.

Yucca Plant by Kelsung: Continue down the trail until it reaches the main road again, then turn left. Continue straight past the right turn to a tank, then turn right instead of going straight up the Elevator trail. When you reach the 2 mile marker, continue ninety steps to a badly burnt tree on the right. Carefully go down the sharp slope and look in the hollow trunk.

Saguaro Cactus by Wulfgirl: Continue down Aliso Canyon until you reach the Brush Canyon trailhead on the right. This is another narrow footpath. Proceed uphill through five switchbacks, then continue a short way to an overgrown burnt white tree just off the trail on the right. Carefully step over fallen branches and look in the hollow trunk.

Chalk Dudleya by Kelsung: Continue up Brush Canyon until it ends at the Skully Ridge trail. Go right past a yellow boundary sign and a couple curves. When you turn your back on the distant freeway, descend to another sharp left curve. Just before the bottom, keep an eye out to for a pipe and a valve sticking up about thirty feet off the trail to the left barely visible in the tall grass. At this point, look uphill to the right for a faint animal path and go up this about twenty steps to a SPOR.

Agave by Kelsung: Continue along the Skully Ridge trail up and down. You'll climb what seems like one steep hill too many, but trust me, after that it's all downhill. Go all the way down to a junction and a tank. Turn right and you will reach the 2 mile marker. Look over the shoulder on the opposite side of the trail for a SPOR.

Red Tailed Hawk by Lee: Continue all the way down the road, keeping right twice at turns up to tanks. Pass the Water Canyon trailhead and then turn left over the stream at the junction with the Lower Aliso Canyon main road. Between the two 1 mile markers, step off the trail to the right to a burnt tree and look under bark at the base on the far side.

Continue along Lower Aliso Canyon back to the three picnic tables.

I just wanted to explain that I had a great image of a Joshua Tree that my skills failed to carve, and since two different Red Tailed Hawk boxes were donated, I used one of them instead for this series.