It is a very calming place to just walk and enjoy the view. There are plenty of benches to take…read morebreaks on and the sound of the birds chirping around just feels so natural. There are many beautiful flowers and plants I would highly recommend to venture out.

Talk about diamond in the rough, first of all, I completely forgot about the decent part of San…read moreBernardino- YES, there are nice parts of this city, all of it north past the 210 fwy, facing the mountains. (Which would include the University). This park is located amongst it. Don't let the stigma of the area discourage you, you drive up & see a normal neighborhood filled with mostly working class folks and this park with a small playground, baseball field, basketball courts, skate park & parking surrounding it. Clean restrooms & Pet friendly too. Even though I saw dog crap through out, it wasn't as much as the other popular trails. You have lots of trails & options - no markers, but it's wide open, self explanatory & you won't get lost. You got a good view of the area all around. Although from pictures it looks big, it's relatively under 2 miles. I did close to 3 miles doing laps. Coming down can be tricky with the rocky dirt inclines - wear good comfortable shoes with good tread & just use caution going down because you'll slide. And your not too far to drive up towards Arrowhead & Crestline, etc., more options to explore.

Zanja Peak Trail,located in the beautiful community of Yucaipa,California is a great collection of…read moreflower and tree covered trails that offers short easy hikes to longer more energetic hikes as well. The trail head offers free parking and leads you to the well marked trail head. Mountain bikes,trail running and dogs on a leash are welcome and at this time of year the flowers,shrubs and trees are blooming and quite stunning,especially with the snow covered peaks of San Bernardino peak on the background! Fresh lavender,sage,eucalyptus,ground flowers and more offer great picture taking opportunities for you and your family. To bag Zanja peak is 3543 feet high and will take about 1 hour to the top and at the top are spectacular 360 degree views of the surrounding area. Bring some good athletic,tennis,hiking,or trail shoes,a sweat shirt or lite sweater,a small bottle of water,a snack or picnic lunch and sit at the top and enjoy the beauty. From Zanja peak you can see San Bernardino peak due east, Mount San Jacinto due south east and Mount Baden Powell towards the west. . . . . #zanjapeaktrail #zanjapeak #yucaipa #ilovespring #iloveyucaipa #gohiking #hikingyucaipa #sanbernardinopeak #mtsanjacinto #mtbadenpowell #behealthy #hiking #ilovehiking #californiadreaming #californiadreamin #easyday #trailsofcalifornia #easytrails #bringacamera #scenicplaces #waynesalvatti #trailrunning #backpacking

Zanja Peak Trail Head is easily a five star hiking/biking location. I was expecting it to be an…read moreeasy hike, but man was I wrong. I hike here and there, but for zanja I had to take a few breaks on the way up. This location offers many routes and it all depends on your skills. It is most inclines with very few declines. Signs and easy to follow dirt routes will guide you all the way up and down. Worth of advice, bring some water, snacks and some hiking shoes. There is no problem using running shows, but hiking boots make it easier. The Zanja trails are located in a good area near nice neighborhoods, but I did see a few transients. Dirt parking is available at the entrance and cell reception works just fine. The scenery is totally worth the challenge.

Box Springs is a partially landlocked valley in the hinterland of the Inland Empire (IE). A small…read morerange of mountains frames several points of interest and landscape features, including Pigeon Pass Road, Reche Canyon, Blue Mountain, Box Springs Mountain, and the San Timeteo Canyon that goes through the Badlands region. In this case, Box Springs Mountain is notable for the big Moreno Valley 'M' and topped by a series of radio and signal towers to ruin the view. I found, rather, learned from other hikers that there are two approaches from the parking lot. Both start and end on the same dog-leg (lead-in) trail, but the shorter and steeper one diverges after the first climb. I took the longer approach and found it enjoyable and moderately hard at times in the steeper areas where erosion and rocks are hard to establish positive foothold. A hiking pole helps. The switchbacks near the summit are fairly generous in evening out the gradient, and it's possible to cut corners on established trails. Near the top, the soil is more sandy than lower extremes and signifies that this was once an island in prehistoric times. No donkeys on the ascent, but droppings suggest they're there sometimes. I recommend starting early-ish, before 9am. It took under 2 hours there and back, and it's possible to extend the hike along the peaks to the Two Trees Trail a little to the North. Bring plenty of water and something to munch on.

Well, let me tell you... the snake was an added surprise . That side winder was a bit big for my…read moretaste! Beyond that, the park is vast..mostly meadows with some steep climbs and rocky facade. Trails were fun, fast and traveled all over around the park. Parking is strict, so follow the rules please. Views are stupendous , the atmosphere was inviting and the experience memorable. Pack light and run to the top! Overall, location facilities atmosphere and availability made this park a 4.25 experience!

Wow! This is what I'd consider a fairly serious hike my friends! It's not a 14ker but you'll work,…read morebelieve me! I faxed in on 5/8 for a Vivian Creek permit to Gorgonio for 5/20 and didn't get it approved. We arrived at 815A to the ranger station on Saturday and were only able to secure a permit for this trail. 13+ miles ONE WAY to Gorgonio Peak. By the time we parked and started on the trail it was 856A. We knew we had very little chance of summiting and making it back to the car before dark and were not prepared with headlamps to make that trek. We revised our plan once it took us 26 minutes to figure out how to cross the very first creek. That was a ton of wasted time and luckily another couple identified some logs to safely cross on. Once started we told ourselves we'd go out until about 245P and then turn back to make it back safely before dark. We went out 9.10 miles (on my Garmin 4,882 elevation gain) and turned back there. We stopped about 3 hours in for a little lunch break but kept a fairly decent pace otherwise with only a few short breaks here and there. If for whatever reason, you chose to do a day hike from this trail to Gorgonio you will want to start as early as possible. Had we had a permit already starting at 6A may have made this feasible but we didn't. We passed Agnar Creek, Dobbs and were almost to Plummer Meadows (I want to believe) before having to turn around. The first 5hrs and 45min were ok, we'd eaten brekke, had snacks, although it was warm the trail had plenty of shade. We only took one slight wrong turn but didn't lose too much time on it (maybe 10min) BUT the return really started to feel a bit brutal into hours 9-10. My legs were extremely sore by the time we reached the parking lot at 705P. I'd done 7000m of indoor rowing the day before so that may have played a role but I immediately popped 4 Advil. I'm still pretty sore in the calves 2 days later but we covered over 18 miles in 10 Hours and 5 min. Since I haven't done Vivian Trail I'm not sure if I'd recommend this trail over that one, but this is said to be FAR less trafficked trail and I can see why because it's almost double the miles one way. Totaling over 26 miles round trip, which again may be ok in the Summer months with the longer days and starting from the crack of dawn. It was a nice training hike, to carry our packs but most people we met along the way were all staying overnight. Parts of the trail were overgrown in areas with a few fallen tree trunks to climb over and several creeks with water to navigate across. I consumed 3 liters of water from my camelbak but if you have a filter, there are several options for refilling along the way. I'd pack at least 4 liters if you don't have a filter. It's the longest in mileage and most elevation gain you can get climbing to Gorgonio Peak, so if that's what you're into - select this route! No Adventure Pass is required for this parking lot.

When my hiking friends asked if I wanted to join them for a day's hike at the San Bernandino peak,…read moreI was super stoked. Especially when she said, "you will LOVE it....it's a beautiful chill hike!" OMG I want to slap her!!!! I'm pretty active and fit for the most part AND have done many hikes (including the Incan Trail to Machu Picchu). The hike to the peak and back at San Bernandino almost BROKE ME....I wanted to cry. It is a 16-mile hike (8-miles up and 8-miles down). We prepped days in advance for this hike. I got my camelback, hiking boots, hiking poles, heart rate monitor and protein bars. We woke up at 3am in order to start our hike promptly at 6am. The idea was to beat the heat as much as possible. The first 2-miles were brutal. I was huffing and puffing.....the slowest one of them all. It leveled off sporadically but it was a consistent uphill. We took many water and snack breaks. Our group of 10 split up eventually as some of us slower hikers could not catch up with the faster ones. At about 5 or 6 miles into the hike, I thought to myself "where the HECK is this peak at?!" It was brutal. You can't see the actual peak at any one point from the hike going up. All I remembered was the trail kept going and going and going. When we did reached the bottom of the peak finally.....it was confusing because there weren't any signs anywhere. I was OUT for 20 mins sprawled out on the ground. I could not talk to my friends. I was totally incapacitated. I had to take ibuprofen at that point for my lower back pain from carrying my camelback up the hill for 4 hours. We ate lunch and rested for about 30 mins at the peak. **I ran out of water halfway through because I had a 2-liter camelback. I recommend that you at least take 3-liters** We were super excited going down because our speed was twice as fast. And it only lasted for the first 4 miles. My toes started hurting gradually from going downhill even though I have really good quality hiking boots. It was also very hot. I remember running into a few people that told us, "you're almost there just another 30 mins." That was the biggest mistake ever because it tortured us. It took us another 1.5 hours to get to the parking lot. I was literally limping those last few miles. We completed our hike at under 9 hours. My toes were KILLING me. I was crying at one point. When we got to the car, I had nasty blisters all around my toes and my heels. I was OUT for 5 days....could not work out whatsoever. Anywho....HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Other than above mentioned, it actually was a very BEAUTIFUL hike with picturesque mountains all around.

Amazing and fun. Alot of donkeys and friendly people. Clean place and easy directions.read more

Highly recommend this hike, as the scenery was spectacular. I'm not sure if the mountain is this…read moregreen all year but cam here in January and it was very green almost comparable to Switzerland green how can it be so green in riverside? It is pretty much an incline the whole way until the top, then we saw a Herd of donkeys. Spotted a few coyotes as well but they are harder to find. Not much shade so prepare water and hats. Then you go downhill on the way back. It is around a 2 hour hike, very nice views!

The San Gorgonio wilderness is 58,969 acres of incredible wilderness. There are numerous trails…read moreand is a great place to go for a day hike or a weekend backpacking trip. My husband planned a wonderful trip for Labor day and even though this is one of the most popular trails and on a 3 day weekend, it wasn't crowded. We saw a good number of groups but there was very little passing along the trails. This particular trailhead is located only about 1.5 hours from West LA and really easy to get to. Just past the town of Mentone, continue along highway 38 about 20 minutes past the ranger station and arrive at Jenks Lake where the trailhead begins just past the paved parking lot. To summit Mt. Gorgonio, which is the highest peak in southern California at 11,502 ft is the ultimate goal and starting from this particular trailhead it will be a trip of about 24 miles. It can be done in one very long day or campsites are available for a more leisurely trip. Permits are required but are free. To park you need an adventure pass to display on your car. To get a permit you need to send in for one using the website listed above. Parking passes can be purchased in advance at REI. The trail head at Jenks Lake starts you off at 6,900 ft. After 2.5 miles is Poop Out hill where the trail will split to Dry Lake or Dollar Lake. We took the route towards Dry Lake. It is about 7.5 miles from the trail head until Dry Lake at 9,000 ft. Dry Lake is where some campsites are offered, it is also the place to stop and refill your water. As with all backpacking, you have to carry in everything you need including water. You can refill here using your preferred sanitation method. There are two campsites at Dry Lake and the next site is Trail Flats about 1.3 miles past Dry Lake, which is where we camped. From Trail Flats, you can begin the summit at Sky High Trail and will be another 4 miles to the top. This is incredible scenery and remember to bring plenty of water as your last water source was Dry Creek. Also bring a hat because at this elevation, you probably don't want the sun beaming down on you. There are a good number of switchbacks but I didn't find it to be that strenuous but at that point, I had put down my 25lb pack at the camp site. It will take about 2.5 hours and affords incredible views including the wreckage of plane. The main perk of taking this trail is that the ascents are gradual. The scenery is just amazing and the trails are well maintained. It's incredible to see entire hillsides and trees just flattened due to previous avalanches. The trees are just beautiful and even uprooted are interesting and intricate. Overall I really enjoyed this trip as it can be taken as leisurely as you'd like or as quickly (and much more strenuously) as you'd like. The air is thin but it feels wonderful to get away from the smog of LA. The view a the top includes Mt. Baldy, the San Bernardinos, Mt San Jacinto, and various other things I probably can't identify. The hike goes through mostly tall shaded trees but changes to rocky meadows and falling trees, and some small streams to cross. It's anything but boring! Be careful of altitude sickness, it can hit at any moment, be prepared for possible rain, and enjoy this beautiful wilderness. Check out this great blog for more detail: http://www.modernhiker.com/2009/09/22/hiking-san-gorgonio-mountain-via-south-fork-trail/

The trail reopened in 2017. It's a nice area for the most part, but the fire that came through…read morereally destroyed a lot of the environment. The first part of the hike really looks like a warzone, or some scary setting for a Lord of the Rings film. Luckily there are small trees sprouting from the ashes, as well as bushes closer to the ground that are thriving. The second half of the trail looks more normal, right around Dollar Lake, then soon after that the trees eventually thin out as they're starved of oxygen at higher altitudes. Unfortunately this place will take a while to fully recover, but it will be fun seeing it come back to life. My dad really loved the meadows and ferns and lush greener that used to be here, but I didn't get a chance to see it, and now it's gone. If you want a longer hike and gentler incline to the top of San Gorgonio, this is the one for you. If you want scenery not devastated by a fire, and a little shorter with a more rapid incline, I'd recommend starting at the Vivian Creek trailhead instead.

One of my favorite getaways since I was a kid . If you go please pack it in pack it out and keep…read morethis place beautiful and clean .

The drive up to this trail is not bad at all! I sometimes get scared of driving up high into the…read moremountains but this was a pretty easy drive and there weren't any parts that I felt were scary. I was driving from Ontario, CA. You do need a pass to park in the lot. There are restrooms at the parking lot if you need to use them. The hike up is a pretty short one with pretty views! There are tons of shade from the trees and the water/waterfall was beautiful!

Beautiful is all you can say. It is a place where my family and I go for the weekend day trip and…read morerelaxing hike experience.

A beautiful, well maintained preserve with a stream, a few small ponds and waterfalls, and many…read morethemed trails such as: Hummingbird Hill, Falling Waters, Sunflower Lane, Pioneer Loop, Conifers of California, Wetlands Boardwalk, Deciduous Forest, The Artist's Palette, Hidden Hollow, Sacred Springs, and Children's Forest. While there are some dirt walk paths, it be difficult to navigate if in a wheel chair or if you have a stroller. There's a good sized parking lot, though during apple-picking season and when it snows it can be a bit difficult to find a spot. Regardless, if you're in the area, it's a place definitely worth the visit. Love and appreciate that they are dog-friendly to leashed and well mannered dogs and free admission, but donations are much appreciated.