Trabuco Canyon, California
37 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1901 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Silverado census division. It lies in ZIP code area 92678. It lies near Hickey Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Santiago Peak quadrangle. 1,020 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,040 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1901 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1901 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 surveys from 37 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1901 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1902 USGS Corona quadrangle1:125000, 7 printings
- 1904 USGS Southern California Sheet No. 1 quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1942 USGS Santiago Peak quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1947 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Santiago Peak quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
- 1956 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1960 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1965 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:250000
- 1974 USGS Santiago Peak quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Santa Ana quadrangle1:100000
- 1997 USGS Santiago Peak quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
86 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 86 fires within 5 miles of Trabuco Canyon between 1992 and 2019, burning about 24,105 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 16 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 16 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 11 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 4 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Orange County Fire Authority | not named |
| 7 September 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | LIVEOAK |
| 3 September 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | POOL |
| 26 September 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | DOVE |
| 26 September 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | TRABUCO |
| 23 September 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Cleveland National Forest | TRABUCO |
| 2 September 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 600 acres | Cleveland National Forest | SANTIAGO |
| 16 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 19 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Trabuco Canyon: 8 past producers, 6 producers, 2 prospects, 2 occurrences. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baker Ranch Extension | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Hicks Canyon Prospect | Fire Clay (Refractory) | Occurrence | ||
| Platz Quarry | Kaolin | Producer | ||
| Wilhunt Mines | Lead, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Santa Ana Mines | Gold | Prospect | ||
| Shirley Mine | Gold | Prospect | ||
| El Toro Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Ike Arnold Mine and Washing Plant | Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Bell Canyon Prospect | Clay | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
7 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Trabuco Canyon in 7 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 4 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 debris flow, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2025 | Heavy Rain | Trabuco Canyon | - | Mesonet station SDOC1 Silverado Canyon reported a total precipitation of 5.16 inches. |
| February 2024 | Heavy Rain | Trabuco Canyon | - | Heavy rain fell across much of Orange County on February 1st and 2nd. Rainfall totals generally ranged from 1-2 inches, with totals between 2.00-2.50 inches occurring in portions of the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County. |
| October 2021 | Heavy Rain | Trabuco Canyon | - | Moderate to heavy rain fell across the region. Santiago Peak reported 1.40 inches of rain in total, with a max hourly rainfall rate of one half inch. |
| March 2019 | Funnel Cloud | Trabuco Canyon | - | Public reported a funnel cloud in Perris on March 3rd around 1245 PST. |
| November 2018 | Debris Flow | Trabuco Canyon | - | Media reported major debris flow in Trabuco Canyon. The debris flow appeared to be mainly comprised of very little water and mostly mud/rocks. |
| November 2018 | Heavy Rain | Trabuco Canyon | - | Santiago Peak 2 mesonet reported a 24-hr rain total of 3.24 inches. |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Trabuco Canyon | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robinson Ranch | 1.3 miles | 37 | |
| Rancho Trabuco | 1.3 miles | 37 | |
| Rancho Santa Margarita | 1.6 miles | 37 | |
| Portola Hills | 2.5 miles | 47 | |
| Dove Canyon | 2.5 miles | 37 | |
| Upper Aliso | 2.6 miles | 37 | |
| Trabuco Highlands | 3.5 miles | 42 | |
| Modjeska | 3.7 miles | 47 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Trabuco Canyon | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q3474916 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1661581. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.













