Soquel Canyon Shenanigans

As has been noted previously here, Soquel Canyon, a place just moments from "civilization," is a world unto its own.  Aside from an odd assortment of discards, including a trailer or two, and long disused ranching corrals, watering troughs and the like, the only signs of life generally were a few head of cattle raised on leased land by a local whose family has been doing such for many, many years.

A walk down Soquel Canyon Road from the Aerojet facility on the east to Olinda Village to the west, especially with a decent flow of water in the creek, can be a great tonic to settle the mind (or, perhaps, the soul) looking to break away from the everyday and enjoy a little isolation.

Recently, however, this isolation has brought some issues.  The aforementioned lessor running cattle in Soquel, as well as throughout large section of Carbon, Canyon had noticed that there were unwelcome signs of new life down there.  Namely, a resident of the Brea side of Carbon Canyon had purchased a landlocked ten-acre parcel, cut locks above Sleepy Hollow to access his holding, and stocked it with a fifth-wheel travel trailer, ATVs, motorcycles, and guns.  Consequently, weekends became a time to party with ridin' and shootin' being some of the main sources of recreation.  In addition, the owner decided to create his own apiary (regular readers will recall that bee-raising has been conducted in areas in and near Carbon Canyon in recent years.)

The problem was, however, that these activities not only affected the cattle being run in the canyon, and posed a tremendous fire danger, but were just plain illegal, especially the shooting.  Finally, after the situation was made known to concerned community members, code enforcement personnel from the City of Chino Hills looked into the matter and communicated with the property owner, who was given to allowing friends and family to use the spread for their enjoyment.

After letters and personal contact made it clear that the use of the property violated any number of city codes, it has been reported that the property owner has removed virtually everything from the parcel, excepting a tractor and the bees.  Hopefully, the situation will continue to be better and that the owner will confine activities on the land in question to those allowed for under code.