The 105 acre Ralph B Clark Park is nestled at the foot of the Coyote Hills. The park lands range from large open grass areas, to gently rolling hills of native plants, to sheer sandstone cliffs to the north.
The park is well maintained and a nice place to go for a family picnic or a day out on the town. It has an interpretive center, fishing pond, tennis courts and more. Click here for more info.
The Park
Nestled at the base of Coyote Hills, Ralph B Clark Park is a 104-acre property that offers visitors a wide variety of recreational activities. Large open grass areas, gently rolling hills of native plants, and sheer sandstone cliffs to the north make this a great destination for hiking, biking, and picnicking.
The park also has several playgrounds, baseball/softball fields, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, a lake and more. It is a great place for families and friends to get away from the city and enjoy nature.
A small number of studies have examined the relative importance of different features in parks for encouraging adolescents to visit and be active and social (Baran et al., 2014; Edwards et al., 2015; Loukaitou-Sideris and Sideris, 2010; Marquet et al., 2019b; Reed and Hooker, 2012). However, little is known about what adolescents value the most and how to optimise their visitation, PA and social interaction in parks.
The Interpretive Center
Located in the 105-acre Ralph B Clark Park, the Interpretive Center provides an educational view of prehistoric Orange County through exhibits, programs and guided tours. Here you can also watch scientists and volunteers excavate and prepare fossil specimens for study and educational displays.
It features marine and terrestrial fossils ranging from about one million years ago to more recent species that lived tens of thousands of years ago. Much of the collection was discovered when the California Division of Highways excavated sand and gravel from the area for use in construction of the Santa Ana and Riverside Freeways.
It’s a nice little museum that’s well worth visiting. It’s a small collection of fossils but they have some really neat pieces like a 9-million-year-old whale, and the skeletons of a camel and ground sloth, among others. A great place to also visit is Adventure City. Here is another spot to visit.
The Lake
Lakes are bodies of water that have a specific set of features, such as the drainage basin (also known as catchment area), inflow and outflow, nutrient content, dissolved oxygen, pollutants and pH. These factors are important in determining the health of lakes and their surrounding ecosystems, which in turn can affect the animal and plant life that inhabits them.
The lake at Ralph B Clark Park is a three acre pond regularly stocked with rainbow trout, largemouth bass, bluegill and catfish. There is no fishing license required for children under 16.
The 104-acre property at the foot of Coyote Hills includes expansive shaded picnic areas, hiking and biking trails, tennis courts, a softball complex and large playgrounds for children. A prehistoric interpretive center offers visitors the opportunity to explore the area’s prehistoric past through exhibits, displays and programs.
The Trails
Located at the base of the Coyote Hills, Ralph B Clark Park is a 104-acre gem of a park. This clean and well-manicured park offers a variety of recreational activities including large shaded picnic areas, hiking and biking trails, children’s playground areas, tennis courts and a stocked lake.
The park has a legit hiking trail that runs around its perimeter as well as several other smaller walking trails. These are great for a quick stroll around the grounds, and you’ll also find a few benches along the way for taking in the view.
For a more challenging hike, you can try the Castlewood Trail or the Rosecrans Trail, which are both about 0.4 miles east of the park entrance. The latter is especially nice because it climbs to the top of Camel Hill (a sandstone hill in the north eastern corner of the park) offering stunning views of the city. Discover more interesting articles.
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