Finding Turtle Rock

I feel that I have hiked most of San Diego's trails and I finally got the chance to drive all the way to Irvine to look for  the Turtle Rock. I was excited  to go by CA 73 toll road with a Fastrak transponder. The last time I went by the route, I was fined  $60 some two or three months after I went through the toll road without paying the $5 toll fee.

Irvine is accessed through the CA-73, a toll road that cuts through  some Orange County canyons into Long Beach, California. Irvine used to be some cattle ranch owned by a rancher named James Irvine. Native Americans known to  Spanish conquistadores as Gabrielino Indians were said to inhabit the area some 12,000 years ago. Claims to the area known as San Joaquin Valley passed from Spain to Mexico and eventually to United States.

Following a well maintained trail from the Turtle Rock community park, I came upon Bommer Canyon where I expected to see a boulder looking like a turtle perched on a summit.  Beautiful homes built on canyon ridges seem to be part of the scenery along the network of trails that constitute the Irvine Open Space Preserve.

I was expecting  to see a rock perched on a summit  shaped like a turtle. I imagined coming upon a boulder as elaborate as the Eagle Rock at Warner Springs. 

I drove 76 miles from San Diego hoping to see hikers posing for a group photo on top of the turtle rock,  like I never got tired of taking chip shots at people crawling into the tip of the Potato Chip Rock.

I just couldn't call it bummer yet, but there's Bommer Meadow.

Past the Bommer Pass.

Within the Bommer Canyon, I couldn't help visualizing a turtle.

But where the fuck is Turtle Rock?

Turtle Rock is the name of a community built in the 1970's where homes range from $800,000 to $15 million in value. The area is known for its well maintained biking and hiking trails that make up the whole 50,000 acres of canyons and open space preserve maintained by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy.

Of course I could read. And there's Turtle Rock!