Yaeger Mesa is a private inholding surrounded by the Trabuco District of the Cleveland National Forest. The mesa was formerly owned by Jake Yaeger who had a cabin just above Trabuco Creek and worked his mining claims on the mesa between about 1899 and 1925. The land remains an inholding and is now owned by the non-profit San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust (www.sbmlt.com). Since mesa is on private property and requires prior permission, I will not go into detail on the trail locations. The Land Trust does provide organized hikes from time to time through the Forest Service and the Santa Ana Mountains Natural History Association (SAMNHA) (www.freewebs.com/santaanamountains/index.htm).

Yaeger Mesa is located deep in Trabuco Canyon just south of Trabuco Canyon trail approximately one mile east of the trailhead. The mesa (actually two mesas: lower mesa and upper mesa) is elevated several hundred feet above Trabuco Canyon trail. This hike starts out easy enough, and then climbs at what seems like a near-vertical climb. This is not a family hike. SAMNHA was thoughtful enough to schedule this hike a few days after Christmas this year to give me and my fellow hikers a chance to burn off a few holiday calories. The mesa is a good spot to enjoy the higher-elevation meadows featuring native grasses and manzanita surrounded by Douglas firs and coast live oaks. The elevation of Yaeger Mesa is just over 3,000 feet versus the trailhead elevation of about 2,000 feet.

The mesa is the site of a PT-19 (WWII era two-seat trainer) crash. No one seems to know the specifics of the crash. If you have any information on the crash, please email me. I would like to pass it on to aircraft historians Dave Schurhammer and Chris LaFave (of Pat Macha's aircraftwrecks.com) who joined us on this hike, and found previously undiscovered (at least by us) pieces of the wreckage.

Chris Le Fave with
PT-19 remains