Sunday, December 28, 2014

Wildwood Canyon Open Space - Newhall, CA

It's been awhile since I've done a blog about one of my hikes.

The city of Santa Clarita, CA is constantly adding new open spaces to it's recreational areas and my brother Keith and I, along with my dog Hiker decided to explore one of the newer open spaces this afternoon. I found that this area is not as scenic or historic as some of our other hiking areas.

We visited the Wildwood Canyon Open Space in Newhall, CA. It is located not far from the Senior Center at the end of Haskell Vista Lane. To get there from my house in Canyon Country, I took Sierra Highway south to Newhall Avenue where I turned right, then I stayed on Newhall until I got to Market Street where I turned left and drove passed the Senior Center and up to Cross Street. I turned left on Cross and headed for Haskell Vista Lane where I turned right. The street dead-ends at the trail head.


There were many loop trails to take, ranging from Gentle, to Moderate, to Steep. You have to take the Moderate trail before you get to the other two. As you start up the mountain, the trail is narrow, so watch your step. There are some nice views from the top of the ridge.



Once we reached the ridge, we took the Gentle loop trail as I have not been hiking much and am pretty much out of shape. It winds along the bottom of a canyon, through some Coastal Oak Trees.



We then headed back up the Moderate trail and headed back down to the trail head where we had left our car. We did just under 2 miles, but you can do more if you want to check out all of the loop trails.

There is no designated parking area at the trail head so you will have to park on the street.

Below is a map of the trails at this open space.