William T Steed Memorial Park Hiking Trails - San Clemente, California

To get to this hike we had about a 10-minute drive from San Clemente Cove Resort to the parking area of William T Steed Memorial Park hiking trails.  Parking was free and easy to find.  The trailhead however was not easy to find and it was to the left of the public washrooms.  

The trail begins at about 100% incline which HELLO was steep and gets your blood pumping right away.  From there the trail did not get that much easier. 
 



We had a limited amount of time so we actually chose more of a Mountain Bike trail, which loops through a Bike Park that is in the midst of being created.  The sun sets earlier in California and we did not want to be caught in the dark, fumbling and tripping our way back to our resort.




The trail we chose also took us right past the animal shelter, which broke my heart listening to all the dogs barking and howling.  If I was loaded, I would gather all dogs at pounds that were not placed yet in loving homes and open up a Dog Ranch.





The first bird that I saw on the trail was a hummingbird and I heard him or her before I saw him or her which was the strangest sound, I looked up and it was an actual hummingbird sitting still on a branch without its wings fluttering, something I've never seen before. Normally you hear the rapid flutter of a hummingbird's wings before you see them.   Can you tell I like birds?

There is potential to come across wild animals, we didn't see any though but we saw lots of scat.   Rattlesnakes are a thing here too, so we stuck to the trails.
From the top or peak of the trail that we chose there were some beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. 

 
Wear a good pair of running shoes or hiking boots because the trails are very steep.  The trail that we were on would have been super fun on a mountain bike and Fricken scary due to the steepness and narrowness in some areas.








































There was some neat flora to see such as seagrasses, interesting trees, and wildflowers and we even saw a double yellow hibiscus. 

Walking back to the parking lot below.





Can you tell I love plants?

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