Bell Canyon

Bell Canyon is a major drainage of the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County, California in the United States. Bell Creek (also known as Bell Canyon Creek or Arroyo de las Campanas) flows about 14.4mi in a southerly direction to its confluence with San Juan Creek. The Bell Canyon drainage is located to the east and parallel to Cañada Gobernadora, and to the south of Trabuco Creek. After Trabuco Creek, it is the second largest tributary of San Juan Creek in terms of length and its watershed area of 26mi2.Most of Bell Canyon consists of wilderness in the Cleveland National Forest and Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park. The valley is more than 1000ft deep and averages a mile (1.61 km) wide, and is joined by the major tributaries of Dove Canyon, Crow Canyon and Tick Creek.Human historyThe Juaneño or Acagchemem Native Americans have lived in the Bell Canyon area for almost 10,000 years, from archeology at the San Dieguito Complex. It is said they would strike rocks against boulders in the canyon, producing a ringing sound that gave the canyon its name. The Native Americans, part of the Acjachemen Nation, found their way of life disrupted when Spanish colonizers and missionaries came to this area of Las Californias Province and established the Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776 at nearby present day San Juan Capistrano, about 10mi from the creek's mouth.