Beautiful Wintertime Hike In Whitney Canyon

After we have a raining day here in SoCal, the day after is usually beautiful, especially here in the Santa Clarita Valley. The rain washes away any pollution that may be in the air. The sky is dark blue and the clouds are white and fluffy.

Fall, Winter and Spring are the best times for hiking here. I try to avoid Summer hikes due to the extreme heat and the rattlesnakes.

Right now the hills are green and everything looks so lush. Have not seen any wildflowers yet, but I'm hoping to see some blooming soon.

This afternoon, Hiker and I went for a 2 mile hike in Whitney Canyon.

The trail ends at a waterfall, but I have never taken Hiker as far as the falls because the weeds are high and I don't want her to get ticks, so we usually hike in about 2 miles and then hike back out.

The trail at first is nice and wide.

Eventually you enter several coastal oak groves.

It's always a good day when I spend it hiking with my best buddy.

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.

Two Recent Hikes

On Thursday, May 22nd, Hiker and I went for a short afternoon hike at Vasquez Rocks County Park. The Yucca plants were in bloom and they were beautiful.

There were a few wild flowers around the area.

 It was a great day.

The sky was beautiful.

Hiker and I had a great time.

On Sunday, May 25th, Hiker and I headed over to Whitney Canyon for a morning walk. We had not been there for a few months. There were some wild flowers blooming there, but everything is starting to turn brown from the heat and lack of rain.

Hiker (The Wonder Dog) had a fun time as usual.