296-Turtle Rock, French Hill Loop, Irvine, 4.5 Miles, 8:30AM

TURTLE ROCK FRENCH HILL LOOP, 4.5 MILES, 8:45 AM
MEET AT 1 CONCORDIA, IRVINE, CA
Meet on Concordia street across from Turtle Rock Preschool
About 4.5 Miles, 900 feet of elevation gain.
Dog friendly.

This hike can be completed in about 2 hours depending on the pace we keep and how long we admire the views on top of Turtle Rock :) !!!

This is one of my favorite conditioning hikes. There are a few steep places, but they are not too long, and one technical hill where one needs to choose a path, use hands and watch footing.
There is an alternative path around the fourth technical hill, if desired.

See my YouTube video below with highlights of the trail.

We'll start at the trailhead off Concordia across the street from Turtle Rock Preschool. Here is the first big hill, a second hill comes within the next mile, but both of these hills are not long. From there it's lower "rolling hills" not too steep. In the spring there is very tall mustard on either side of the trail, it's very beautiful and exhilarating to hike through. By about mile 2 the trail passes behind residential for less than a mile, then up narrow, slightly steep hill.

The fourth and most challenging hill comes next, steep and wide, but it's a slow and steady climb with plenty of places to navigate and get your foothold. At the top of this hill you can see all of downtown Irvine and Catalina Island out yonder. The last mile~ish is the end of the dirt trail, and back to residential which closes the loop at Concordia.

CHECKLIST:
- SHOES W/GOOD TREAD, PREFERABLY HIKING BOOTS
- 1-2 LITERS OF WATER
- HAT, GLOVES
- SNACKS optional

More specific stats and Feature Image from All Trails, see link:
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/turtle-rock-french-hill-loop-irvine

*MY YOUTUBE VIDEO from when I hiked April 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK_chjwdy3Y

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