O’Neill Regional Park offers camping facilities for park users. The camp sites are close to Live Oak Canyon Road and are popular throughout the spring and summer months. The campground is family friendly. Lots of kids are riding their bikes, skating, and running around the campground. In short, the campground would be great for people with young kids, families, or someone trying to get outside. I do not recommend the campground for those looking for solitude.
Modjeska Peak and Santiago Peak
The Live Oak – Vista – Hoffman Homestead – Coyote Loop (loop) follows three trails in the O’Neill Regional park. The short hike has great views of Orange County, Trabuco Canyon, and the Saddleback Mountains.
The Quick and Dirty:
Location: O’neill Regional Park
Distance: Approximately 3.5 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Duration: 1.5 hours
Dogs Allowed? No, dogs are only allowed on the paved trails and campgrounds in O’Neil Park
The wind finally died down sometime in the early mornings. We woke up to a beautiful day and took a hour long hike towards the cinder cones on the jeep trail. During our walk, we noted that ecosystem here is really different compared to Hole in the Wall where it was mostly young Joshua Trees and cactus versus short brush near the lava beds. For the second time during our trip, we noted how nice it would be, if we had our mountain bikes with us on this trail.
Bonding time for L and his babies
Baby S slept terribly his first night sleeping in the camper van, so all of us got up early to catch the sunrise and hung around the camper van.
Dakota and S cheering on Baby S during his daily tummy time
Caught Dakota sleeping on Baby S’s jacket inside the Sportsmobile!
We left Orange County around 11AM enroute to Mojave National Preserve. We decided to take the 15 North route since we planned to work our way down the park and exit southbound. We made sure to fill up on gas at the Shell station right before we turned on to Cima Road. This is the last gas station on the northern part of Mojave as there are no gas stations inside the park.
Our first stop was the White Cross World War I Memorial site. There are two campsites at this site, we made a mental note that this would be a great place to stop in the future since this is so close to the 15N.
World War I Memorial Site
Hike Now, Work Later 