AllTrails San Francisquito Open Space Trails Loop, 2.12 miles.
May Gray provides perfect days for hiking the treeless trails that fry us in the summer. This week Barbara and I drove up to Santa Clarita, a classic "boom burg" (rapidly growing not-a-city-city but big) 30 miles NW of DTLA. Incorporated in 1987, Santa Clarita has the same respect for nature the original Chumash practiced on this land as far back as 3000BCE and carried on by the Tataviams from 450AD until European settlement. Today's Santa Claritans made open space preservation a priority by creating an Open Space Preservation District to preserve natural land from development, create more community parks, protect the flora, fauna, and geology. Hunting is not permitted, and the trails are clear. The space may look meh in the photo, but that's the magic of learning about land in person and on the ground. Along the flat middle of the trail we walked along the edge of a dry, rocky riverbed. The closer to the dirt we got the wider the variety of wildlife. Yucca in every stage of growth, many topped by crows watching us come and go. Prickly pear cacti provided the only red on the hike (Mother Nature LOVES yellow in the spring). There was purple sage, broom snakeweed, desert broom, and several flowers too tiny to document. The first half of our counterclockwise hike was flat. The second half led us up and down an overgrown trail through surrounding hills for a panoramic view of the area. Santa Clarita is 30 miles NW of DTLA, just slightly N of Magic Mountain, so the Open Space trails are a trek, but if you're in the neighborhood, take a hike in Santa Clarita's Open Space and keep your eyes on the ground. Another great way to cozy up to our amazing cities and state.
- May 04, 2025
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