Deer Canyon Park Reserve

In a few hours, Deer Canyon Park Reserve will be hot and empty. But at 7:30 a.m., well before Orange County's late-spring heat wave kicks in, it's about as crowded as it ever gets: two hikers and four doe-eyed teenagers with cigarettes hiding under an oak tree. Who else has heard of Deer Canyon Park Reserve -- a well-concealed 130-acre patch of public wilderness surrounded by condominiums, highways and a golf course in the Anaheim Hills? Not very many, says Barbara Stroud, who lives nearby.

In a few hours, Deer Canyon Park Reserve will be hot and empty. But at 7:30 a.m., well before Orange County's late-spring heat wave kicks in, it's about as crowded as it ever gets: two hikers and four doe-eyed teenagers with cigarettes hiding under an oak tree. Who else has heard of Deer Canyon Park Reserve -- a well-concealed 130-acre patch of public wilderness surrounded by condominiums, highways and a golf course in the Anaheim Hills? Not very many, says Barbara Stroud, who lives nearby.