| To receive credit for this earthcache:
Park at the Nature Center at N34 22.681 W118 28.056. Proceed to the Heritage Trail entrance at N34 22.697 W118 28.072. Take the trail to the Oak of the Golden Dream. You will pass a butterfly garden, drinking fountain, the Walker Cabin, some antique farm implements and oil drilling equipment, cross the parking lot entrance road, pass along the streambed and through a tunnel, emerging at the Oak of the Golden Dream.
Email/message us the type of tree (other than oak) under which Francisco Lopez y Arbello discovered gold clinging to the roots of a bunch of wild onions. This information is found on a plaque located near the Oak of the Golden Dream. Find the plaque mounted on a large rock - not the plaque closest to the Oak. Submit your email/message through the geocaching website.
Email/message must be sent at the time you log the find. If caching in a group all cachers must meet the email requirement individually.
In 2011 earthcache guidelines changed to make photos optional.
Now you can earn pins through the Earthcache Masters Pin Program. Enjoy!
Special note for those in a wheelchair: Part of the path leading to the oak was uplifted by storms. If this blocks access to the oak, as an alternative to #1 (above) you may email us telling about anything you found of interest along the trail or at the Walker Cabin, which is wheelchair accessible.
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Placerita Canyon Nature Center and Park is 350 acre park administered by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. The Nature Center parking lot is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. The Trailhead at Walker Ranch is open sunrise to sunset. Admission and parking are free. Important note: Persons or vehicles remaining in the park outside of posted park hours are subject to fine and/or arrest. All events are free of charge. There is a Nature Center, nearby picnic area, restrooms, trash receptacles, drinking fountains, and BBQs. This is a great place to bring the family. Dogs are allowed on a leash and must remain under control at all times. Horses are allowed on designated trails. Some trails are wheelchair accessible.
Click on images to enlarge.
Make the Nature Center your first stop. The Nature Center is a pleasant structure located under shady oaks and it features a Natural History Museum with scientific displays and exhibits on the geology of the area (the park contains the three major classes of rocks – igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary), nearby faults (Placerita and San Gabriel faults), biotic communities (the park represents chaparral, coastal sage scrub, oak woodland, big cone spruce, and streamside woodland communities), fire ecology, weather, and the history of the area.
At the Nature Center there are displays on daytime and nighttime animals, lessons on competition, adaptation, and symbiotic relationships as well as casts of animal tracks, animal skulls and bones. Live displays include: Fence Lizards, Alligator Lizards, California Newts, Spade Foot Toads, Western Pond Turtles, Western Skink, Tiger Salamanders, California Brown Tarantula, Darkling Beetles, Tree Frogs, Side Blotched Lizard, Black Widow, Rattlesnake, Gopher Snake, and Red-tailed Hawk. Skilled taxidermy of road-killed or poached animals has produced animals for educational display, some of which include: Great Horned Owl, Golden Eagle, Mountain Lion, Coyote, and Raccoon. The Nature Center docents bring the animals out every Saturday from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. for viewing and discussion.
Additionally, the Nature Center is the trail head for a number of area trails. The park has seven different trails comprising 12 miles. Trails vary from short to long, beginner to advanced, some are paved, most are unpaved, but well maintained. Some of the area trails are: Canyon Trail, Hillside Trail, Ecology Trail, Botany Trail, Waterfall Trail, and Heritage Trail (mostly paved). Round trip from the Nature Center to the lovely, oak studded Walker Ranch area is 3.6 miles. Check at the information desk of the Nature Center or at www.placerita.org for current trail conditions and a map of the area. The Nature Center docents lead a one hour, easy, interpretative Family Nature Hike every Saturday from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Additionally, there is a Bird Walk held the second Saturday of the month. Consult www.placerita.org for the schedule of events and other available programs (special animal presentations, reptile club, junior rangers, trail team, and docent training to name a few).
The Natural History Museum also features information and a diorama on the historical significance of the area. Placerita Canyon is of interesting historical significance in a number of ways. For one, and the main feature of this earthcache, it is purported that Jose Francisco De Gracia Lopez fell asleep under an oak in Canon de los Encinos (Live Oak Canyon) and dreamt of gold. When he awoke, he was hungry and dug up some wild onions at the base of a nearby tree with his pocket knife. Clinging to the roots of the onions were nuggets of gold. Lopez and his associates scoured the nearby riverbanks and discovered more pockets of gold. They took their findings to nearby Los Angeles and relayed word of their discovery to their native Mexico City. The gold was assayed by the Philadelphia Mint and found to be .926 fine. Hundreds of prospectors from Los Angeles and Sonora, Mexico flocked to Live Oak Canyon, which was renamed Placerita Canyon. The word "placer" is of Spanish origin and means surface deposits of sand or gravel containing gold. From 1842 to 1847, the miners culled some 1,300 pounds of gold from Placerita. This is the first recorded authenticated find of gold in the area and that which is believed to have kicked off the monumental California Gold Rush in 1842. Additionally, Lopez’s was the first attempt at establishing a mining claim. Historians disagree on whether significant gold finds preceded that of Lopez, but his is surely the most legendary.
The oak tree beneath which Lopez took his fateful nap is now a California Historical Landmark, the Oak of the Golden Dream, and is located within the boundaries of the Placerita Canyon Park. It is the featured site of this earthcache and is a short, pleasant walk down the paved Heritage Trail.
Along the Heritage Trail, you will also find the Walker Cabin, another artifact of historical significance. In the early 1900s, Frank Evans Walker built several homes for his family in Placerita Canyon. The only remaining building intact is the one known as “Walker’s Cabin.” The cabin was hand built in 1920 and was sold to the State of California in 1949. The Walker Ranch section of the park also contained homes for the Walker family, but these have been demolished, and only a stone fireplace remains. The Walker Ranch property was used for movies. In fact, William S. Hart, the famous cowboy star, used the Walker property for his film shoots.
Finally, the Placerita Canyon area was home to Tatavium Indians. In AD 450, a small group of Shoshone-speaking people migrated to the Santa Clarita Valley. The Kitanemuk Indians, who lived in the Antelope Valley, called these people the Tatavium. The Tatavium Indians were among the most ingenious, industrious and peaceful Indians of North America. They were reputed to have lived an honest life without laws, money, jails or a welfare system. They had no bad spirits, and before the missionaries came in 1769, they had no concept of hell or the devil. They did not change the land, but rather adapted themselves to it.
For more information on Placerita Canyon Nature Center and Park go to www.placerita.org/