Who was uphill? Paltrow trial spotlights skier code

• March 28, 2023

By Christopher Weber and Sam Metz | Associated Press

PARK CITY, Utah — Skiers have likely noticed signs at mountain resorts across the country saying, “Know the code.” They refer to universal rules of conduct that apply to both skiers and snowboarders — people who partake in inherently risky snow sports that involve navigating down crowded slopes, often at high speeds.

But whether they actually understand the code is another question. For those unfamiliar with snow sports, it’s likely something they’ve never heard of.

That’s all changing as actor Gwyneth Paltrow’s highly publicized ski collision trial is live-streamed from the courtroom. The actor-turned-lifestyle-influencer was accused of crashing into a fellow skier during a 2016 family trip to the upscale, skiers-only Deer Valley Resort in Utah.

After initially suing Paltrow for $3.1 million, retired optometrist Terry Sanderson is now suing for at least $300,000.

The celebrity trial is shining a spotlight on the unspoken rules that govern behavior on the slopes. Testimony over the last six days has repeatedly touched on skier’s etiquette — especially sharing contact information after a collision, and ski turn radiuses — in what experts have said is the most high-profile ski collision trial in recent history.

There are about 100 code-related lawsuits playing out now outside the spotlight, but most cases are settled before going to trial.

Throughout the trial, the word “uphill” has emerged as synonymous with “guilty,” as attorneys have focused on one of the code’s main tenets: The skier who is downhill or ahead on a slope has the right of way. “You must avoid them,” the code instructs uphill skiers.

Rather than focus solely on the question of who hit who, attorneys for both sides have questioned nearly every witness — from Paltrow’s private ski instructors to Sanderson’s doctors — about who was downhill at the time of the collision.

The question has become a focal point of the trial, as both sides call legions of family members, friends and doctors to testify in Park City — the posh Rocky Mountain resort town that draws a throng of celebrities each year for the Sundance Film Festival.

In the courtroom, attorneys have used the term “downhill” hundreds of times each day to try to persuade the jury that the opposing side represents the skier who was uphill and to blame.

Paltrow’s legal team has invested heavily in convincing the jury that she was downhill when the crash happened, even commissioning artists to render their client’s version of events with multiple, advanced animations.

Because no video footage of the collision was included as evidence, the recollections of a ski buddy of Sanderson’s who claimed last week to be the collision’s sole eyewitness has become a sticking point for Paltrow’s team.

Over objections from Sanderson’s attorneys, the court has allowed Paltrow’s team to play three of the seven high-resolution animations on a projector positioned between witnesses and the jury box — showing the eyeball-like prunes of Deer Valley’s aspen trees, the ski coats of Paltrow’s children and groomed snow on Bandana, the beginner run where Sanderson and Paltrow crashed.

Irving Scher, a biomechanical engineer hired by Paltrow’s defense team, used a dry-erase marker to draw stick figures and line graphs, and to jot down equations for force and torque to argue that science supported Paltrow’s claim that she was uphill when the collision began.

“Ms. Paltrow’s version of events is consistent with the laws of physics and how people move and rotate,” Scher testified Tuesday.

In an equally theatrical display last week, Sanderson’s lawyers tried to rope Paltrow into a reenactment of events to poke holes in her claim that Sanderson ran into her from behind — yet ended up on top when the two plummeted to the ground. Her attorneys objected to the actor’s participation in the reenactment and the judge put the kibosh on that.

While there are minor differences in state laws when it comes down to finding fault, “in court it becomes a question of who was the uphill skier,” said Denver attorney Jim Chalat, who has litigated cases in Utah as well. His firm, Chalat Hatten & Banker, has 20 active collision cases in Colorado alone.

“It’s the uphill skier who is almost always in a position to cause the crash,” Chalat said Monday. “If you’re skiing too fast for your own ability and you can’t carve out a turn, and you hit someone, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Still, crashes between skiers are rare. The majority of incidents resulting in injuries or death occur when skiers or snowboarders slam into stationary objects, usually trees. Collisions involving people represent only about 5% of skier injuries, Chalat said.

During the 2021-2022 season, there were two reported fatalities as a result of collisions between two skiers, according to the National Ski Areas Association, who developed the first Skier Responsibility Code in 1962.

Even though serious crashes are uncommon, the snow sports industry has prioritized collision awareness in its safety programming. The responsibility code was recently updated to urge skiers involved in a collision to share contact information with each other and a ski area employee, said Adrienne Saia Isaac, the NSAA’s marketing director.

“Skier-skier collisions are a generally preventable risk we needed to make folks aware of, and let them know what to do if they were involved in one,” Isaac said in an email.

Last week, Paltrow was grilled by Sanderson’s attorneys for leaving the collision without first exchanging information with Sanderson. She said she made sure one of the family’s ski instructors handled that for her.

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The majority of ski collision cases are typically settled before going to trial, and very often the payouts are covered by one’s homeowners insurance, said Los Angeles attorney John Morgan of the firm Morgan & Morgan.

Very few cases target the ski resorts where crashes occurred because of the inherent dangers that come with skiing and snowboarding, Morgan said. The mountain where the Paltrow-Sanderson collision happened, Deer Valley, was removed from the lawsuit in part because skiers absolve resorts of responsibility by agreeing to a set of rules on the back of every lift ticket.

“It’s like going to a baseball game and you get hit in the head by a foul ball. You know by sitting there that there’s some risk of that happening,” he said.

Weber reported from Los Angeles.

​ Orange County Register 

Smashing Pumpkins’ World is a Vampire Tour hits Southern California in August

• March 28, 2023

Rock band the Smashing Pumpkins announced its The World is a Vampire North American Tour on Tuesday, March 28 and it includes a trio of Southern California stops.

Smashing Pumpkins will hit FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine on Wednesday, Aug. 9 before heading to North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista on Thursday, Aug. 10 and Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland on Friday, Aug. 11.

The 26-date tour comes as support of its three-part rock opera album, “Atum” and the third and final act, “Atum: Act Three,” which will be released on May 5. In all, the “Atum” project features feature 33 tracks, acting as the sequel to 1995’s “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” and 2000’s “Machina/Machine of God.” The tour will also have support from rock groups Interpol, Stone Temple Pilots and Rival Sons.

General admission tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 31 at livenation.com.

The tour title comes straight from the opening line of the “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” track off of “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.” More recently, Smashing Pumpkins released the single “Spellbinding,” which will appear in the third act of “ATUM.” In addition, the new record will come with 10 additional unreleased songs. Last year, the band headlined an evening of the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach and brought its Spirits on Fire Tour with Jane’s Addiction to Honda Center in Anaheim and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in November.

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​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers no longer the (only) juggernaut in the NL West

• March 28, 2023

The Dodgers and San Diego Padres have known each other for a long time. But their relationship status has recently changed.

Now – it’s complicated.

For the past decade, the Dodgers have been the big-market powerhouse flaunting its privileges, collecting stars, running up payroll numbers that few if any other franchises dared to match and entering each season as clear-cut division favorites and often the short-odds choice to win it all. The Padres sat in their seaside small market, watched the waves and nursed an inferiority complex.

“I’ve been on both sides and I do recall being on that other side feeling like the little brother vs. the big brother,” acknowledged Dave Roberts who spent two seasons on the Padres’ roster as a player and five more as a coach before becoming the Dodgers’ manager in 2016. “I can say that because I’ve lived it.”

Things have changed as the 2023 season begins. The Padres are the ones collecting stars – Xander Bogaerts this winter joining Manny Machado, Juan Soto and (when his suspension has been served) Fernando Tatis Jr. not to mention Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove in the starting rotation. The Padres are the ones with the robust payroll, throwing money around at a rate only the New York teams have topped this year. The Padres are the ones with a potential mental edge after prevailing in the postseason last fall.

And the Padres are the ones, in many quarters, being touted as favorites over the Dodgers to win the National League West and contend for a championship this season.

“Don’t really care who’s the favorite or not,” Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw said this spring when asked about the Padres’ ascent.

“They made splashy moves. Great for them. They’ve still got to go out and win. You’ve seen it in the past with teams where they make splashy moves but they don’t go out and win,” infielder Max Muncy said.

“You can have whatever team you want on paper but you’ve still got to go out there and do it between the lines.”

The Dodgers have produced some mighty fine paper over the past decade.

Last year, their Opening Day lineup featured eight players who have been named All-Stars (including starting pitcher Walker Buehler) and three former league MVPs. The talent that packed up and left Camelback Ranch a year ago was so impressive that shortstop Trea Turner referenced the ‘Monstars’ of “Space Jam” fame – a powerhouse team that also lost its biggest game of the year.

This year, the Dodgers prepare to open the season as defending division champs for the ninth time in the past 10 years – but not quite looking like those juggernauts of the past.

“I do agree,” said Kershaw, a 16-year veteran usually reluctant to compare teams year to year. “I think on paper last year we knew we were going to win a lot of games. But I don’t necessarily know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing – to come out of camp and just know that you’re that good. It’s different too as a player. Regardless of what everybody thinks a player is going to do based on track record, you still have to go perform. Like, even though Mookie and Freddie are all-world baseball players, they don’t think they just have to show up and play.

“There’s that element with everybody. You don’t know if this is going to be somebody’s best year, you don’t know if it’s going to be somebody’s worst year. I think with that, it creates some optimism, some excitement that we have some unknowns with the team. Which I think might be good. Obviously, we think positively of the guys who are going to get a chance but might not have a track record. If they perform, we could be pretty dang good.”

The Dodgers almost certainly will be good. Whether they rise to the level of “pretty dang good” again will likely be determined by the answers to more questions than they typically have had entering recent seasons.

Can their bargain-bin collection of veterans on one-year contracts (Noah Syndergaard, Jason Heyward, David Peralta and J.D. Martinez) offset the subtractions from last year’s team (Trea Turner, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger and Tyler Anderson, in particular)?

Having already sustained the loss of Gavin Lux to a season-ending knee injury this spring, can the Dodgers absorb another injury to a core player?

And are the young players being given opportunities (Miguel Vargas, James Outman and Ryan Pepiot to begin, with Gavin Stone, Bobby Miller and Michael Busch lined up behind them) ready to contribute to a team with championship aspirations?

“I think that’s the thing – just a lot of unknowns,” outfielder Mookie Betts agreed. “We don’t really know. Those are things we can’t control a lot. You just have to let the story play out.”

The Dodgers have been very good at writing feel-good stories during the regular season. But they have had trouble with the final act, losing in the first round of the playoffs after franchise record-setting regular seasons twice in the past four seasons. If MLB’s tinkering with the postseason format has added randomness to October, the Dodgers have been the leading victims.

“It’s no secret that more teams in the playoffs helps MLB make money. That’s no secret,” Kershaw said. “Do I agree with rewarding teams that have mediocre seasons by making the playoffs? I don’t know. But that’s where we are with that.

“It’s whoever’s hot at the time.”

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The Washington Nationals of 2019, Atlanta Braves of 2021 and last year’s 87-win National League champion Philadelphia Phillies all attest to that.

Only five teams in MLB history have won as many games as last year’s 111-win Dodgers. Only one of those teams (the 114-win Yankees of 1998) also won the World Series. The previous four won an average of 16½ fewer games the next season. But two of them won World Series titles in the follow-up season.

Sixteen fewer wins would still make the Dodgers a 95-win team (a number they exceeded in four of the past five full seasons) – pretty dang good and certainly enough to get them into the postseason. But will it be enough to maintain the power position in their relationship with the headline-grabbing, big-spending Padres?

“What they’ve done is great,” Kershaw said. “They’ve improved their team. They’ve gotten big-name guys. They’ve got good players. They’ve extended some of their guys. What they’re doing is great. It’s great for the game and it’s great for players individually.

“I still think we can beat them.”

Winningest teams in MLB history (and their follow-up seasons):

2001 Seattle Mariners – 116-46 (Lost in ALCS)

2002 Mariners – 93-69 (Third in AL West)

1906 Chicago Cubs – 116-36 (Lost in the World Series)

1907 Cubs – 107-45 (Won World Series)

1998 New York Yankees – 114-48 (Won World Series)

1999 Yankees – 98-64 (Won World Series)

1954 Cleveland Indians – 111-43 (Lost World Series)

1955 Indians – 93-61 (Second in the American League)

2022 Dodgers – 111-51 (Lost in NL Division Series)

2023 Dodgers – ???

​ Orange County Register 

The 2023 Dodgers, position by position

• March 28, 2023

ROTATION

The Dodgers’ starting pitchers have had the lowest ERA in MLB four times in the past six seasons (including the past two years) despite the names in that rotation changing on an annual basis. Three All-Stars have been subtracted from last year’s rotation. Walker Buehler is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Tyler Anderson left for the Angels as a free agent. And Tony Gonsolin won’t be ready to start the season on time after a spring ankle injury. But Cy Young Award candidate Julio Urias returns to front the rotation with future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw rolling into the season healthy. Dustin May and Noah Syndergaard have the same challenge – regain their pre-Tommy John surgery forms a year farther removed from that ordeal. The difference this year seems to be that what depth the Dodgers have is largely young and unproven. But those young arms – Ryan Pepiot, Michael Grove, Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone – are dynamic.

BULLPEN

The Dodgers have said they are committed to entering the season without a designated closer. Whether he eventually emerges as the closer or not, Evan Phillips is far and away their most important reliever. Released by the Baltimore Orioles and waived by the Tampa Bay Rays just days apart in August 2021, Phillips has blossomed with the Dodgers into one of the best relievers in the National League. He held batters to a .155 average and a .430 OPS over 63 innings last year. The Dodgers will rely on him even more with veteran Blake Treinen recovering from shoulder surgery and Daniel Hudson’s return from knee surgery delayed. The options around Phillips are solid. Brusdar Graterol, Alex Vesia and Yency Almonte were all very effective in 2022, but it all revolves around Phillips.

INFIELD

The Dodgers let two elite shortstops leave for mega-millions elsewhere – Corey Seager following the 2021 season, Trea Turner this past winter – at least in part because they felt they had a viable alternative in Gavin Lux. That plan was blown up when Lux suffered a knee injury this spring that will sideline him for the 2023 season. An infield already in flux underwent further renovation. Miguel Rojas will take down the bulk of the playing time at shortstop now – a defensive improvement over Lux but another blow to a lineup that already subtracted Trea and Justin Turner. A return to his pre-elbow injury form from Max Muncy (now the everyday third baseman) would help offset those lineup losses and rookie Miguel Vargas will get every opportunity to fulfill his offensive potential while developing defensively at second base. Meanwhile, at first base, another MVP-level performance from Freddie Freeman in his second season as a Dodger is the expectation.

OUTFIELD

It’s hard to believe, but this is already Mookie Betts’ fourth season as a Dodger. They have gotten their money’s worth. Betts has finished in the top five of the National League MVP voting two of the first three years, won two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and made the All-Star team each year there was one. The group to Betts’ right, however, is in flux. With Cody Bellinger gone, the Dodgers will turn to platoon arrangements in center as well as left field. Some combination of left-handers Jason Heyward, David Peralta and James Outman and right-handers Trayce Thompson and Chris Taylor will be pieced together on a daily basis. The results in the spring were not always encouraging as Taylor struggled and Heyward showed uneven progress as the Dodgers’ hitting coaches try to salvage his swing.

CATCHER

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has proclaimed Will Smith one of the top three catchers in baseball and the combination of Smith and Austin Barnes the best catching tandem in baseball. It’s not as hyperbolic as it sounds. Smith should have been an All-Star last season when he hit 24 home runs and drove in 87 runs with an .807 OPS. He is a rarity in baseball these days – a catcher who provides middle-of-the-order offensive production as well. Barnes, meanwhile, is a popular target for the Dodgers’ pitching staff.

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BENCH

The Dodgers’ depth took a big hit with the season-ending knee injury to Gavin Lux. With Lux out, Miguel Rojas will be the primary shortstop instead of the multi-position backup he was originally slated to be. The rest of the bench figures to be the rotating group of platooned outfielders. The signing of J.D. Martinez represents a philosophical change by the Dodgers. Martinez will be the dedicated DH, a position the Dodgers used to rotate players through in the past.

MANAGER

Shocking as their first-round exit from the postseason was last October, coming as it did on the heels of a historic 111-win regular season, Dave Roberts largely escaped blame. The loss to the Padres was “an organizational failure” as Andrew Friedman put it and less time was spent this winter performing an autopsy on Roberts’ postseason decision-making than previous winters. But the pressure will be on Roberts again this season (his eighth). The roster is less ‘turn-key’ than in the past with more young players being asked to produce and a closer-less bullpen to be managed.

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers 2023 regular-season schedule

• March 28, 2023

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​ Orange County Register 

Occupational licensing needs real reform

• March 28, 2023

One-in-five Americans need to get a government license in order to do their jobs. While supporters often claim licensing is important for health and safety or critical to ensuring high-quality services are provided, such claims often fall apart under scrutiny. Occupational licensing rules are often imposed at the behest of existing professionals looking to restrict competition by imposing a barrier to entry, with little evidence such licensing is otherwise needed.

The Archbridge Institute has released a new report examining occupational licensing across America, ranking the states plus the District of Columbia according to the barriers imposed on workers and the extent of licensing requirements.

The report displays both the broad similarities and differences in how and whether states impose barriers or licensing requirements on different professions.

Every state and the District of Columbia, for example, require government-issued licenses for people who wish to work as attorneys, chiropractors, dentists and psychologists, for example.

But only eight states require government-issued licenses for drug counselors, 10 states require nutritionists to get a license, 24 states require tattoo artists to be licensed and 24 require car salesmen to be licensed.

The Archridge Institute notably ranked California 11th in the country for requiring the most licenses of the occupations they examined.

Underscoring the fact that this is not a partisan problem, the Institute ranked Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma and Washington State as those with the most barriers and licensing requirements in the country.

“California’s most uniquely licensed occupation is Fire/Life/Safety Technician, which is licensed only in California,” the report notes.

Past comparisons of the states have yielded even worse showings for California. The Institute for Justice’s “License to Work” series of reports, focused on low- and middle-income occupations, have generally ranked California in the top three most extensively licensed states in the country.  The Cato Institute’s occupational licensing rankings, based on a select set of occupations, have also placed California in the top two, behind Texas.

As both the Obama and Trump administrations acknowledged, occupational licensing can often be a barrier to entry which limits competition and raises costs for consumers without necessarily providing much in the way of benefits for public health, safety or even quality of service.

States must seriously evaluate whether licensing is necessary.

California does have periodic sunset reviews of its occupational licensing schemes, but they tend to be perfunctory and those most incentivized to speak up during such reviews are those who benefit from licensing. Namely, the professionals who are already licensed and the professional associations incentivized to protect the turf of its members.

This is not a partisan issue. This is a common sense issue. California needs to revisit occupational licensing.

​ Orange County Register 

CSUF’s Center for Leadership renamed to honor a distinguished alum

• March 28, 2023

The contributions of a CSUF alum, an accomplished leader in a wide range of endeavors, will help to ensure that current and future Titans have the tools to become leaders themselves in their chosen professions.

During a ceremony held March 15 in the courtyard outside the CSUF College of Business and Economics, the college’s Center for Leadership was renamed the Giles-O’Malley Center for Leadership.

The center is named for 1970 CSUF graduate Terry Giles and his wife, Kalli O’Malley.

“I am feeling so humbled and so grateful and so incredibly lucky,” Giles said of the naming honor.

Owner and president of Giles Enterprises and member of CSUF’s Philanthropic Foundation Board of Governors, Giles provided a $1 million gift to further the Center for Leadership’s mission and activities.

“This is a center not just for our business school,” Cal State Fullerton President Fram Virjee said. “This is the center for the building of the future of this campus. Every student should be and will be affected by this Center for Leadership. The opportunity will be provided for them to learn what it means to be a leader.”

Along with Virjee, notables in attendance included Jay Barbuto, the center’s director and professor; Sridhar Sundaram, dean of the College of Business and Economics; Charlie Zhang, real estate developer and founder of Pick Up Stix; and many of the center’s corporate partners.

Giles, 74, grew up in an impoverished family and attended 21 schools in a 10-year period before going on to earn a debate scholarship at CSUF and a law degree from Pepperdine.

Giles’ achievements include the establishment of 35 businesses, one being a successful criminal law firm.

He owned the third-largest Canon copier distributorship and turned a failing Toyota dealership into the world’s fifth-largest.

The CSUF alum established Giles Enterprises, a holding company for his family’s array of business ventures.

Giles credited his success in large part to the education he received at CSUF, particularly on the university’s debate team.

“My experiences in the courtroom and the boardroom would not have happened at all, I don’t think, if it hadn’t been for debate at Cal State Fullerton,” Giles said.

In 1994, Giles was presented with the Horatio Alger Award, given by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans to leaders who’ve displayed personal initiative and perseverance, embrace the free-enterprise system and aspire to achieve a better future, often in the face of adversity.

“When you think about where he started and what he has achieved, the award is almost handwritten for someone like Terry,” Barbuto said. ” He has a great eye for success and knows a great investment when he sees it. He is a master of finding a way.”

Giles’ endowment will go toward helping the center’s current initiatives and programs expand and grow, Barbuto said.

The center offers an executive speaker series, executive shadowing and networking opportunities with the center’s corporate partners that include the Honda Center, the Anaheim Ducks, Southern California Edison, Walt Disney International, the Orange County Business Council and others.

The center also curates a local television program on YouTube, “The Leadership Voice.” The show engages Orange County-area executives in discussions on leadership excellence and development while incorporating field research by CSUF faculty.

Each episode features a business or community leader who shares their experiences and knowledge to provide viewers with insight into leadership ideas. Giles himself was featured in an episode titled “Become One of the Fifteen Percent.”

The center also hosts an annual Leadership Awards banquet that recognizes Orange County and Southern California organizations in different categories of leadership.

Giles became involved with the Center for Leadership about 15 years ago when he was asked by other CSUF alumni if he would help fund the new center, which was in the planning stages at the time.

“It has turned out to be one of the best decisions that I was talked into in my entire life,” Giles said.

He also praised the work of Virjee and Barbuto for the center’s growth and impact on the CSUF campus and the community.

“The Center for Leadership wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for the hard work and dedication and passion that Jay brings to the table,” Giles said. “I’m so grateful the school brought him in to drive the program. I can’t say enough in appreciation for the job he has done.”

Giles’ $1 million gift, along with a $250,000 donation from Zhang and significant donations from philanthropists MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, will help fund the construction of a three-story building just east of the College of Business and Economics that will be the Center For Leadership’s new home.

With construction scheduled to get underway later this year, the new center will feature a library, auditorium, conference room and faculty and staff offices.

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​ Orange County Register 

Trail system in Saddleback Wilderness area debuts

• March 28, 2023

Mother Nature reclaimed the hilly area not far from Irvine Lake that was once a popular motocross course, and now that the natural habitat has been preserved, it is once again opening to people.

This time visitors will be able to hike or mountain bike the 3.3 miles of trails that will be open in the newly debuted Saddleback Wilderness during special access events hosted by the OC Parks system.

The moment officials cut the ribbon on the new Saddleback Wilderness on Monday, March 27, 70-year-old Janice Bora took off running up the dirt path.

Bora ran past OC Third District Supervisor Don Wagner, headed up a steep path and disappeared behind a curve as the rest of the dignitaries and invited volunteers started hiking up the trail to explore along behind her.

The new trail system is part of OC Park’s Irvine Ranch Open Space and was donated in 2014 to the county by the Irvine Company.

Upon receiving the land donation, the county “went through a robust environmental evaluation process,” said OC Parks Operations Manager John Gump in an email. “Once complete, we were able to design a trail system that avoided locations with sensitive resources, while also doing our best to have trails reach points of interest and scenic viewpoints for the public to enjoy.”

From the late 1960s to 1984, Saddleback Park used much of the land for a “motor playground” enjoyed by motocross riders, off-road trucks and buggies. It was one of the largest motocross tracks on the West Coast. But liability concerns and other pressures ultimately closed it, according to online histories.

In the years that followed, it was left to return to its natural state.

Gump said you can still see remnants of the former track in the trails. They follow parts of the race track and roads that visitors used to watch the competitors.

Saddleback Wilderness is being advertised as offering 360-degree views from the ocean to the mountains.

Volunteer Roxanne Bradley said, “the scenery is great and you get a good view,” but she especially like the blossoming flowers.

The Irvine Ranch Open Space it is part of includes about 25,000 acres in the eastern foothills of Orange County that stretch from the natural areas near the 91 Freeway and 241 Toll Road connection and Santiago Oaks Regional Park down to where the 133 Toll Road branches from the 241 and near Limestone Canyon.

Much of it is strictly protected because of the rare and sensitive nature of its habitats and areas are only open to the public during special access days and events.

“Many OC Parks facilities are encumbered by conservation plans that prioritize habitat protection while also securing public access and establishing approved trail systems,” Gump said. “When OC Parks received the land donation from the Irvine Company in 2014, it presented a unique opportunity to offer additional trail options for local hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians.”

Developing the parking lot and trail amenities, as well as performing the required environmental studies, cost about $514,000, about half of which was funded by an endowment that came with the land. The rest was funded by OC Parks.

Staff Photographer Jeff Gritchen contributed to this story.

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​ Orange County Register