Santa Clarita Valley Parks

Chesebrough Park. Image Courtesy City of Santa Clarita

There is nothing boring about living in the Santa Clarita Valley. Outdoor activities abound with choices including swimming, concerts, camping and day camp for the kids. With the listing of California State Parks, we take you just beyond the SCV to sites you won't want to miss. Visit our Calendar of Events to find out what's happening today in our parks!


SANTA CLARITA CITY PARKS AND FACILITIES
View the map of the valley designating City park locations and details. Santa Clarita City parks are open 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. Softball fields, community rooms and picnic areas are available for rental. Call the Recreation Coordinator at (661) 250-3710 for availability and fees.

Santa Clarita City Parks
The City of Santa Clarita is dedicated to preserving open areas for residents, and is always adding new parks and facilities.

Santa Clarita City Trails
The City of Santa Clarita provides you with approximately 70 miles of scenic trails and 20 miles of paseos. You may use them for walking, riding, jogging and skating.

Find maps here from Hike Santa Clarita.

Skate Park of Santa Clarita
New state-of-the-art skatepark, already being touted as one of the best skatepark destinations, features large bowls, a Street Plaza, Half-Pipe Tunnel, Snake Runs, Skate-able Planters and much more!

Santa Clarita Park Facilities
A sports complex, skate park, aquatics center, activities center and community rooms are all available for residents' use. While the City's sports complex accepts membership, it is open to members and non-members.

Santa Clarita Camp Programs
Half-day and full-day camp programs are available through the city park system.

Santa Clarita Trips and Tours
Whether your idea of fun is camping, visiting the Getty Center or attending the Rose Parade, the city schedules events throughout the year. Registration information is available by calling the City at (661) 284-1465.

Santa Clarita Classes and Special Events
Adult, Child Development, Youth and Teen classes are offered as well as organized sports, and special events. Programs and services designed for seniors are also available.

Santa Clarita Concerts in the Parks
(661) 298-ARTS
Admission is free and so is the fun! These concerts are offered on Saturday evenings throughout the summer. Food and beverages are available for purchase.


SANTA CLARITA VALLEY COUNTY PARKS
Castaic Lake Recreation Area
661-257-4050
Two lakes serve as the beautiful backdrop for some exciting events including moonlight fishing, float tube tournament, and sponsored runs, walks and trail rides. Check the park's website for details.

Water skiing, kayaking & boat rentals/launch, Jetski, wake boarding, sailing, mountain bikes, model airplane field, self-contained RV and organized youth group camping, barbeques, children's play area, picnic tables/picnic shelters, rental rooms/areas for events, jogging track, pool or lake swimming, equestrian and hiking trails. Entrance fee; additional fees may apply to some activities.
32132 Castaic Lake Dr, Castaic

Castaic Sports Complex
661-775-8865
Youth sports include basketball, soccer, self-defense karate, and flag football. Adult programs include basketball, softball, volleyball, jazzercise and a senior social club. Pre-school, summer camp and after-school programs are offered. There's even an Easter Eggstravaganza, Trick or Trunk Fall Festival and an annual snow day and visit from Santa. Contact the sports complex for details and more events.

Jogging track, disc golf course, multiple lighted sports fields, barbecues, children's play area, picnic tables, community room, kitchen facility, rental rooms/areas for events, indoor and outdoor basketball courts.
31230 N. Castaic Rd, Castaic

Del Valle County Park
661-259-1970
Children's play area, picnic tables, restrooms and lovely grassy areas.
8201 W. Sloan Canyon Rd, Castaic

Hasley Canyon Park
661-259-1750
Barbeques, children's play area, picnic tables, multi-purpose open playing field
28700 Quincy Street, Castaic

Jake Kuredjian Park
661-259-1750
Walking path, oak trees; no amenities
25265 Pico Canyon Rd., Stevenson Ranch

Pico Canyon Park
Picnic tables, barbeques, restrooms, a water fountain, and a walking path. The Pico Canyon Trail, designed for hiking and horseback riding, crosses through the park.
25600 Pico Canyon Rd., Stevenson Ranch

Richard H. Rioux Park
661-222-9536
Special events here include a Senior Health Fair & Concert in the Park, Easter Sunrise Service, an Easter Egg-Stravaganza, 4th of July Celebration with fireworks, Patriot Day Remembrance, Fall Festival, Turkey Toss, and December Holiday Celebration. Contact the park for details on these events. Summer day camps are also offered.

Outdoor stage, barbecues, children's play area, picnic tables, shade shelters, areas for events, sports fields/diamonds, jogging track, basketball courts and restrooms.
26233 W. Faulkner Dr, Stevenson Ranch

Val Verde Park
661-257-4014
A bilingual Moms Helping Moms class is only one of the many programs offered here. Others include a toy loan program, family bingo night, wrestling, ping pong, jazzercise, Aztec dancing, piano, drama and acting classes. Special events include an Easter sunrise service, Easter Egg Hunt, Cinco de Mayo celebration, Thanksgiving Day celebration, Val Verde Olympics and a visit from Santa Claus. Contact the park for details and other programs.

Swimming pool and aquatics program, barbeques, children's play area, picnic tables/picnic shelters, community room, kitchen facility, rental rooms/areas for events, sports fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, shuffleboard
30300 W. Arlington Rd, Castaic

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area
If you only have time to visit one remote area in Santa Clarita, this is where you should go. Spectacular rock formations are easy to climb and are a favorite to photograph. In the cool months (October - May), the rangers offer guided hikes and animal presentations. This is also a favorite filming spot for movies, television series, and commercials.
10700 Escondido Canyon Rd, Agua Dulce

William S. Hart Park
661-259-0855
William S. Hart Mansion Museum, gift shop, Western and Native American garment displays, live animals, bison herd, historical society on premises, organized youth group camping, barbeques, children's play areas, picnic tables/picnic shelters, community room, kitchen facility, rental rooms/areas for events, equestrian and hiking trails
24151 Newhall Avenue, Newhall


CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS
If you are considering heading out of the Santa Clarita Valley to explore our state parks, consider first previewing Russ Christoff's "Traveling California State Parks." An excellent video series, Russ and his crew take you inside California's State Parks, highlighting the things you will not want to miss on your visit. Russ tells us this is the only series of its kind in the nation, and we've checked it out for you. It's outstanding!

Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve
661-724-1180 (Message)
Lancaster
Folks come from all over the state to view the California Poppies when they are in bloom. Call ahead as the blooming season (in the spring) is limited. Ideal conditions may create a spectacular bloom, but windy days will find them closed and less than showy.

The park is open everyday sunrise to sunset even when Poppies are not blooming. The visitor center is generally closed except for the flower season but the park is a wonderful place to hike and explore on its 7 miles of trails.

This 1,745 acre State Reserve, nestled in the Antelope Buttes 15 miles west of Lancaster, California, is located on California's most consistent poppy-bearing land. Other wildflowers: owl's clover, lupine, goldfield, cream cups, and coreopsis, to name a few, share the desert grassland to produce a mosaic of color and fragrance each spring. As unpredictable as nature--the intensity and duration of the wildflower bloom varies yearly.

Seven miles of trails, including a paved section for wheelchair access, wind gently through the wildflower fields. The broad views of this landscape provide eyefuls of brilliant wildflower colors. Whether you most enjoy expansive fields of wildflower colors and fragrance or the close-up study of a single flower, this is the place to visit.
15101 Lancaster Rd, Lancaster

Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park
661-946-3055
661-942-0662
Lancaster
Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park is California's State Regional Indian Musuem representing Great Basin Indian Cultures. The exhibits and interpretive emphasis are on American Indian groups (both aboriginal and contemporary) of the Southwest, Great Basin, and California culture regions, since Antelope Valley was a major prehistoric trade corridor linking all three of these culture regions. The museum contains the combined collections of founder Howard Arden Edwards and subsequent owner Grace Oliver. A number of the cultural materials on display are rare or one-of-a-kind objects.
15701 E Ave M, Lancaster

Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park
661-942-0662
Lancaster
The 566-acre Ripley Desert Woodland is located a few miles west of the Poppy Reserve on Lancaster Road at 210th Street West. The park protects and preserves an impressive stand of native Joshuas and junipers which once grew in great abundance throughout the valley. Today, only remnant parcels of this majestic woodland community remain in the valley, the rest having been cleared for farming and housing. In early spring months, creamy white blossoms begin to grow on the ends of the branches of the Joshua. The blooms last for several months, growing larger and larger as the weeks go by. Set in a bed of wildflowers, the Joshua becomes a site of stately beauty.
QG34+CM Fairmont

Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area
661-248-7007
Gorman
The second largest unit of California State Park's Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division. Located in the Tejon Pass north of Los Angeles and along the Interstate 5 corridor, Hungry Valley offers 19,000 acres and over 130 miles of scenic trails for motorcycle, All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV), dune buggies, and 4x4 recreation. All levels of Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) operator skills will be challenged by the wide variety of terrain and trails at Hungry Valley SVRA.
5301 Ralphs Ranch Rd, Gorman

Saddleback Butte State Park
661-942-0662
Lancaster
Elevation 3,651 feet, is a granite mountain top that stands some thousand feet above the broad alluvial bottom land of the Antelope Valley about twenty miles east of Lancaster, on the western edge of the Mojave Desert. The 2,955-acre state park surrounding Saddleback Butte was created in 1960 to protect the butte (one of many similar land features in the Antelope Valley). This park also preserves examples of native Joshua Tree woodlands and other plants and animals that were once common throughout this high desert area.
M5QG+RG Wilsona Gardens

Fort Tejon State Historical Park
661-248-6692 Park
661-248-6692 Fort Tejon History Association
Grapevine
Come take a step back in time and join with the men, women and children of Fort Tejon. Relive a day out of the past. These Living History demonstrations take place on the first Sunday of each month year around. At Fort Tejon visitors are always welcome and the modern world is checked at the gate.
4201 Fort Tejon Rd, Lebe

The 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake was one of the greatest earthquakes ever recorded in the U.S. (Magnitude was about Mw 8.0). The earthquake left a surface rupture scar over 350 kilometers in length along the San Andreas fault. Despite the immense scale of this quake, only two people were reported killed by the effects of the shock. About one hour from the SCV.

Tomo-Kahni State Historic Park
661-942-0662
Tehachapi
The Tomo-Kahni State Historic Park: Kawaiisu Native American Village was created as a unit of California State Parks in 1993 to protect and preserve the integrity of the location. Nestled atop a ridge in the Tehachapi Mountains, overlooking Sand Canyon to the east and the Tehachapi valley to the west, Tomo-Kahni, or "Winter Village," was the site of a Kawaiisu (Nuooah Village.) The location was likely chosen for its moderate temperature and plentiful resources. The Kawaiisu migrated from the Great Basin and made the Tehachapi their home for two to three thousand years.

Due to the extremely sensitive nature of the site, Tomo-Kahni is available to the public by tour only. These tours are led by trained State Park Volunteers on weekends during the spring and fall months. About one hour from the SCV.
4MX7+8J Tehachapi

Tule Elk State Reserve
661-764-6881
North of Gorman
Once the predominant form of animal life in the Central Valley, mass hunting all but eliminated the herds of Tule elk by 1875. Cattle baron Henry Miller stepped in to protect the elk in 1895 and we can now enjoy viewing these on a small reserve 20 miles west of Bakersfield. The elk are most active during rutting season, when the mercury rises upwards of 100 degrees. You may be treated to a scene of good ol' antler thrashing, as the predominant male bull fights to ward off other males encroaching on his territory. About an hour and a half from the SCV.
8653 Station Rd, Buttonwillow


ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST
For more information on the portions of the Angeles National Forest nearest Santa Clarita, please visit the Wilderness Areas page.