Where to Park: Pay at entrance to access parking lot Windes Dr, Orange, CA 92869
Things to Chase: Lizards, Birds, Squirrels
Crowd Level: Not crowded on a Sunday, though narrow trails can force close contact. Mountain bikers and horses also use these trails.
Intensity Level: The park has plenty of trails to choose from making it easy to choose any intensity level.
Pros: The trails have clear markers and overall are well taken care of. Trashcans throughout the park for poo drop off. Some shaded trails in the easy area.
Cons: $3-$5 for parking (tbh not bad). "Creek" water is gross and signs advise staying out of it. Broken glass near the Villa Park Flood Control Basin. Could get hot in the summer.
Make Sure You Bring: Money for parking.
The Santiago Oaks Regional Park is a great day excursion outside of the LA hub. The map above highlights the trails we explored on our first visit. There's a huge network of trails available here that extend far beyond the map above.
At the entrance gate there's an automated machine to pay for parking (cash or card). Be sure to place the printed receipt in your dash as proof you're not a delinquent.
After walking down the trail from the parking lot you can pretty much go left or right and have a great time.
The trail markers note the intensity level of each trail which is helpful when exploring with no agenda. For our first visit we stuck to the easy trails and had a fantastic time.
If the weather had been cooler (it was about 70º) we might have attempted the trails leading up the hillsides. Instead we stuck to the shaded areas which were still expansive and full of lizards.
Our route took slightly over two hours and in that time we covered some amazingly diverse terrain. Very tempting to explore off course!
