Los Pinos Peak is a summit in the

Santa Ana Mountains The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside co ...

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, about east of

Rancho Santa Margarita :''This article refers to the San Luis Obispo County, California, land grant. For the city of Rancho Santa Margarita, see Rancho Santa Margarita, California'' Rancho Santa Margarita was a Mexican land grant in the Santa Lucia Mountains, in ...

. Los Pinos is the southernmost peak above in the Santa Anas, and provides extensive views south towards

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

and the Pacific Ocean as well as views (on clear days) of the

San Jacinto Mountains The San Jacinto Mountains (''Avii Hanupach''Munro, P., et al. ''A Mojave Dictionary''. Los Angeles: UCLA. 1992. in Mojave) are a mountain range in Riverside County, located east of Los Angeles in southern California in the United States. The mou ...

and

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

in the east. The summit rises rather prominently above the main crest of the Santa Anas and is conspicuously visible from much of southern Orange County, although its actual

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

is only about . The peak is situated in the

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest encompasses 460,000 acres (), mostly of chaparral, with a few riparian areas. A warm dry mediterranean climate prevails over the forest. It is the southernmost U.S. National Forest of California. It is administered by th ...

and is accessible by the Main Divide Road (a fire road); the Trabuco Canyon Trail, which begins near

Trabuco Creek Arroyo Trabuco (known also as Trabuco Creek) is a -long stream in coastal southern California in the United States. Rising in a rugged canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County, the creek flows west and southwest before emptying into San ...

, and the Los Pinos Peak Trail, which begins in Hot Springs Canyon (near San Juan Canyon,

San Juan Creek San Juan Creek, also called the San Juan River, is a long stream in Orange and Riverside Counties, draining a watershed of .7.5 Minute Quadrangle Map, U.S. Geological Survey, San Juan Capistrano, 1968, photorevised 1981 Its mainstem begins in ...

and the Ortega Highway ( State Route 74).

References

Mountains of Orange County, California Mountains of Southern California {{OrangeCountyCA-geo-stub