Trabuco Canyon is a small unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 community located in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains

Santa Ana Mountains

The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately 36 mi southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside counties.- Geography :The range starts in the...

 in eastern Orange County, California

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

, and lies partly within the Cleveland National Forest

Cleveland National Forest

Cleveland National Forest encompasses 460,000 acres , mostly of chaparral, with a few riparian areas. A warm dry mediterranean climate prevails over the Forest. It is the southernmost National forest of California. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, a government agency within...

.

Trabuco Canyon is north of the town of Rancho Santa Margarita

Rancho Santa Margarita, California

Rancho Santa Margarita is a city in Orange County, California. One of Orange County's youngest cities, Rancho Santa Margarita is a master planned community set upon rolling hills. Most neighborhoods in Rancho Santa Margarita are within various homeowners associations...

. Plano Trabuco Road leads from the top of the canyon south to Rancho Santa Margarita.

History

Trabuco is Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 for blunderbuss

Blunderbuss

The blunderbuss is a muzzle-loading firearm with a short, large caliber barrel, which is flared at the muzzle and frequently throughout the entire bore, and used with shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity and/or caliber. The blunderbuss could be considered to be an early form of shotgun,...

, a type of shotgun. Some credit a Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 friar traveling with the Gaspar de Portolà Expedition

Gaspar de Portolà

Gaspar de Portolà i Rovira was a soldier, governor of Baja and Alta California , explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey. He was born in Os de Balaguer, province of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain, of Catalan nobility. Don Gaspar served as a soldier in the Spanish army in Italy and Portugal...

 in 1769 with the story that a blunderbuss was lost in the canyon, after which the area was named. John (Don Juan) Forster

John (Don Juan) Forster

John Forster was born in England; became a Mexican citizen of early California, and was one of the largest landowners in California.-Early life:...

 received a Mexican land grant in 1846 and established Rancho Trabuco

Rancho Trabuco

Rancho Trabuco was a Mexican land grant in present day Orange County, California. The five square league grant consisted of two square leagues given in 1841 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Santiago Argüello plus three square leagues given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to John Forster. The name...

. The grant was bordered by Rancho Cañada de los Alisos

Rancho Cañada de los Alisos

Rancho Cañada de los Alisos was a Mexican land grant in present day Orange County, California given by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to Jose Antonio Fernando Serrano in 1842, and enlarged by a second grant by Pio Pico in 1846. The name means "Glen of the Alders" in Spanish, after the native...

 on the west, and by Rancho Mission Viejo

Rancho Mission Viejo

Rancho Mission Viejo was a land grant given in 1845 to John Forster. Later it became a cattle ranch and leased land operation in what is now Mission Viejo, California, in southeast Orange County, California.-Mexican land grant:...

 on the east.

Trabuco Canyon was the site of attempts to mine tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

 in the early 1900s. Mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

 remains from this activity include: tunnels into the sides of the canyon (closed for public safety); the stone foundation of an ore-processing stamp mill

Stamp mill

A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation....

; and several dams on the creek.

On October 21, 2007, a large wildfire

Santiago Fire

The Santiago Fire was an intentionally started wildfire located near Santiago Canyon in Orange County, California, U.S., and one of twenty-three California wildfires of October 2007.-The fire:...

 started in Silverado Canyon and spread to Trabuco Canyon. The Canyon was evacuated by the Fire Department.

Features

Fourth of July

Independence Day (United States)

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...

 features an old-fashioned parade of locals riding horses and pulling home-made floats to the cheers of observers - who are small in number but large in enthusiasm. A local landmark is the Trabuco Oaks Steak House, which was a favorite restaurant of past President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

.

The Vedanta Society of Southern California has the Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 Ramakrishna Monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 on 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) in the canyon, founded in 1942 by renowned author and philosopher Gerald Heard

Gerald Heard

Henry Fitzgerald Heard commonly called Gerald Heard was an historian, science writer, educator, and philosopher. He wrote many articles and over 35 books....

. The Trabuco Canyon Community Church is located in the canyon also.