Santiago Canyon is a canyon and

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in South

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

. According to the 2000 census, Santiago Canyon has several hundred residents living within its borders.

Trabuco Canyon Trabuco Canyon (''Trabuco'', Spanish for " Blunderbuss") is a small unincorporated community located in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains in eastern Orange County, California, and lies partly within the Cleveland National Forest. Trabuco ...

Silverado Canyon Silverado Canyon is a roughly 2,500-foot-deep (760 m) gorge in the Santa Ana Mountains, in the U.S. state of California. The small stream it is associated with, Silverado Creek, rises on the north slope of Modjeska Peak at the elevation of and f ...

, Modjeska Canyon and Williams Canyon are tributaries of Santiago Canyon. Santiago Creek flows northwest from the canyon, then west into the Santa Ana River. Neighborhoods in Santiago Canyon include Santiago Canyon Estates and Falcon View Estates. The landmark

Cook's Corner Cook's Corner is an Orange County, California bar built in 1884 that is popular with motorcyclists. It is located between the city of Lake Forest and the unincorporated community of Silverado. Cook's Corner is situated at the intersection of ...

motorcycle restaurant is also located within Santiago Canyon. The ZIP Code is 92676, and the community is in

area code 949 Area code 949 is an area code in the U.S. state of California that is contained within South Orange County California. On April 18, 1998, the southern cities of Orange County were split from 714, creating area code 949. It includes cities such as ...

History

Within the canyons, there are excellent examples of exfoliation, in which rock layers peel back like layers of an onion, and of frost wedging, in which ice trapped in a crack expands to split a rock. Fossils of millions of clams, snails, and small-shelled, squid-like creatures left behind during the five times that seas washed over the ground can be found. Appearing more than 12 million years ago, the highest points surrounding the canyons are

Santiago Peak Santiago Peak is the southern mountain of the Saddleback landform in Orange County, California. It is the highest and most prominent peak of both the Santa Ana Mountains and Orange County; it also marks a border point with Riverside County. ...

at and

Modjeska Peak Modjeska Peak is the northern mountain of the Saddleback landform in Orange County California. It is the second-highest peak of the Santa Ana Mountains, after Santiago Peak, whose summit is less than to the northwest. Modjeska lies within Clev ...

at . Together the pair forms " Old Saddleback," an easily recognizable landmark. The first people to live in the canyons were Native Americans (the

Acjachemem The Acjachemen (, alternate spelling: Acagchemem) are an Indigenous people of California. They historically lived south of what is known as Aliso Creek and north of the Las Pulgas Canyon in what are now the southern areas of Orange County and t ...

). They arrived to find dense woods filled with

live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks. ...

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry". Species of trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplata ...

mountain ash Mountain ash may refer to: * ''Eucalyptus regnans'', the tallest of all flowering plants, native to Australia * Mountain-ashes or rowans, varieties of trees and shrubs in the genus ''Sorbus'' See also * Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf Mounta ...

, and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

s buffeted by winds. Dependent on acorns and less-plentiful pine nuts as their staple foods, the Native Americans cut paths through the

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

vegetation to reach oak and pine groves. After collecting the acorns, they carried them to canyon streams and immersed the nuts in the running water to leach out the bitter

tannic acid Tannic acid is a specific form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity ( pKa around 6) is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as C76H52O46, which corresp ...

. Once done, they carried the acorns to a large boulder or rock outcropping, where they used mortars to grind the nuts into powder. Over open fires, they cooked a porridge called "atole." The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolà expedition, skirted the southern edge of the Santiago Hills, crossing Santiago Creek before reaching the Santa Ana River. On its way north, the party camped in the area on July 26–27, 1769. The return journey to

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 eighth most populous city in the United State ...

retraced its steps through the area, stopping on January 19, 1770.

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missionary

Juan Crespi ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

noted in his diary entry for July 27: "It he creekcomes down from the mountains, and shows that it must have plenty of water in the rainy season. It was given the name of the holy apostle and patron of the Spains, Santiago." Santiago Canyon was home to one of the major

California wildfires of October 2007 The October 2007 California wildfires, also known as the Fall 2007 California firestorm, were a series of about thirty wildfires (17 of which became major wildfires) that began igniting across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 ho ...

. The "

Santiago Fire The Santiago Fire was a wildfire located near Santiago Canyon in Orange County, California, U.S., and one of thirty California wildfires of October 2007. The fire was intentionally started. The Fire The blaze originated near Santiago Canyon ...

" endangered the Santiago Canyon Estates, as well as Falcon View Estates and nearby Modjeska Canyon,

, and other areas. All homeowners in those communities were placed under mandatory evacuation, with the roads Plano Trabuco and Live Oak Canyon being temporarily closed for the use of emergency personnel. The fire was ignited on October 21, 2007, and was attributed to arsonists. It has burned over , and the cost of rebuilding is estimated to be $5.5 million.

Recreation

Hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

and mountain biking are the two common forms of recreation in Santiago Canyon, due to the area's mountainous terrain. Some popular trails include the Modjeska Trail and Live Oak Canyon Trail, both available for hiking and mountain biking. Santiago Canyon's signature recreation trail is the Santiago Truck Trail, ideal for hiking, running, and mountain biking. The Santiago Truck Trail stretches , to the trail end, "Old Camp".

Bird watching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

is also a prominent activity in the canyon; native birds in the area include the

turkey vulture The turkey vulture (''Cathartes aura'') is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus '' Cathartes'' of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of Sout ...

, red tailed hawk, and bald eagle, all of which can be seen in the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary in neighboring Modjeska Canyon as well.

Motorcyclist Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small- displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous c ...

s and

bicyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

s are common sights in Santiago Canyon. The California historic landmark site Cooks Corner restaurant is a favorite among motorcyclists.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Orange County, California Santa Ana Mountains Unincorporated communities in California