Hoots, howls and other cries in the night are what we'll be listening for on this nighttime adventure on The Nature Reserve. Enjoy a night hike, as we learn about nocturnal animals and listen for the calls of the wild.

Interpretation Level:  High
Difficulty Level:  Moderate
Ages: 8 and up

Discover rocks, minerals, and fossils as we become geologists! Dig for your own shark tooth and learn about sharks from long ago. Meet a live snake and tortoise and find out how rocks are important to animals on earth.

Registration not required, walk-ins welcome. Please sign in upon arrival. The program is open house style with self-guided and naturalist-guided hands-on activities and crafts.  Please arrive within 30 minutes of program start time to enjoy all of the activities. Program activities will end promptly at the event end time.

The program activities are geared for children ages 4 and up. All children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult at all times.

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only

Join us at The Nature House at Ranch Camp in Rancho Mission Viejo for our "Home Sweet Oak" hike! We'll start by learning about how the oaks in your neighborhood and on The Nature Reserve form the neighborhoods for our local wildlife. Then, we head out on a guided hike along the trails around Ranch Camp, to meet some of your wildlife neighbors.

Interpretation Level: High
Difficulty Level: Easy - Moderate
Trail Length: 1.1 miles
Ages: 6 and up

Participants must be registered or on the waitlist by Friday, July 25 at 4:00pm.

Heat and light, energy to grow a flower…. this is what we call Solar Power! Learn how plants, animals and people use sunlight energy as we meet a live reptile, make sun prints and a solar oven craft.

Fly, hop, crawl or soar... we’re talking about butterflies, beetles, ants, and more! Learn about the largest animal group on the planet, insects, as we bring out the magnifying glasses and explore these amazing, tiny creatures! Meet live beetles, worms, and a Western toad!

Registration not required, walk-ins welcome. Please sign in upon arrival. The program is open house style with self-guided and naturalist-guided hands-on activities and crafts.  Please arrive within 30 minutes of program start time to enjoy all of the activities. Program activities will end promptly at the event end time.

The program activities are geared for children ages 4 and up. All children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult at all times.

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only

Enjoy an evening outdoors, as you gaze into the night sky, learn the constellations, and peer through the telescopes of our guest astronomers. The Nature Reserve astronomers are all volunteers who enthusiastically share their telescopes and expert sky knowledge with you. (What to bring: warm clothing, flashlight with red cellophane/lens to reduce light pollution, binoculars, optional beach chair.)

Interpretation Level: High
Difficulty Level: Easy
Ages: 8 and up

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only

Help out your community by becoming a South Orange County Fire Watch volunteer!

Offered only once a year, this training is the first step to join our fire watch team. The session will focus on: understanding basic fire behavior, identifying signs of wildfire, dealing with suspect behavior, providing useful fire information, and contacting proper fire authorities. 

Ages: 18 and up

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only.

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only.

This single track trail follows along hillsides of grassland, coastal sage scrub and oak woodland. Enjoy this two-mile hike out along our Sycamore Loop Trail and back along Shady Canyon.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Easy-moderate. 2 miles, loop.
Ages: 8 and up

Please note: participants must be registered or on the wait list by 4:00 pm on Friday, August 22.

Coyote, rabbit, bobcat, deer...who is that walking near? Look for animal footprints on the trail and learn to identify tracks of our most common local animals. Make and take your own animal track craft.

Interpretation Level: Medium
Difficulty Level: Easy
Ages: All

All attendees must be registered or on the wait list on or before Friday, August 22 at 4:00PM.

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: All (recommended 10 and up)

A little more about Open Access Events...

Open access events are exclusively for Rancho Mission Viejo residents. Open Access events are non-guided events on The Nature Reserve trails, which are otherwise protected by locked gates. These events are your chance to explore on your own time and at your own pace. During the event time, participants have open access to designated trails.

Trail maps and safety information is provided during check-in. Staff and volunteers are available during the event, on the trail, and at start and end points. Participants must exit by the event end time, regardless of arrival time.

Open Access events are perfect for family groups, solo hikers, non-professional photographers, nature journalists, trail runners, or anyone that likes to spend time in nature at your own speed.

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only

Join us with guest speaker, Bob Allen, for an evening of photographs, stories, and specimens of tarantulas, other spiders, and night-time insects of Orange County.

Ages: 8 and up

Please join us for Volunteer Orientation and Training!

This fun and informational orientation is the first step in joining us as an official Nature Reserve Volunteer. Learn about The Nature Reserve's history, philosophy and mission, as well as skills for working with the public. Meet other volunteers and learn how you can help preserve Nature Reserve lands through conservation and education.

 Ages: Adult, 18 and up

Thank you for expressing interest in volunteering for The Nature Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo.

Join guest leader, Bob Allen, to get up close and personal with tarantulas and other arthropods! We'll be on the lookout for male tarantulas making their annual late summer search for females. We will also look for trap door spiders and other critters of the evening.

This event will partially take place alongside a private road overlooking oak groves, grasslands and more. Participants will initially drive on the road from site to site to look for tarantulas and other many-legged critters and later take a stroll on the trail to view them.

Enjoy a morning hike along the valley floor of Chiquita Canyon. This hike will take place along an old ranch road which runs along the canyon floor. Take in views of Chiquita Ridge above and Ranch agriculture along the way.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Trail Length: 4 miles (2 miles each way)
Ages: 10 and up

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only

Join The Nature Reserve for a special evening learning about Birds of Prey - with LIVE owls, hawks, and falcons. We'll begin the evening hearing from Tom Millington from The Nature Reserve, as he shares photos and stories about The Nature Reserve's most common bird of prey, the red-tailed hawk. Then, see live birds of prey with the Orange County Bird of Prey Center as they discuss local raptor species, their ecological role, and their efforts to aid them.

Goodnight, Nature Reserve. Goodnight Moon. Goodnight owl and the striped raccoon. Join us for a morning hike on Oak Canyon trail as we say “goodnight” to animals that sleep all day and are awake all night! Learn how nighttime animals see in the dark and make a nocturnal animal craft.

Interpretation Level: Medium
Difficulty Level: Easy
Ages: Recommended 2 - 5 years

Children must attend with a participating adult. However, please only register the participating children.

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only

Enjoy an evening outdoors, as you gaze into the night sky, learn the constellations, and peer through the telescopes of our guest astronomers. The Nature Reserve astronomers are all volunteers who enthusiastically share their telescopes and expert sky knowledge with you. (What to bring: warm clothing, flashlight with red cellophane/lens to reduce light pollution, binoculars, optional beach chair.)

Interpretation Level: High
Difficulty Level: Easy
Ages: 8 and up

This is a strenuous trail with hills that follow the ridgeline between Sendero and Esencia.

Interpretation Level: Low
Difficulty Level: Moderate - Strenuous
Trail Length: 2.2 miles (one way)
Ages: Recommended 10 and up

Open Access events are for Rancho Mission Viejo residents only