In our quest for safe, covid-friendly outdoor activities we’ve been searching out hiking spots that are slightly off the beaten path or at least lesser known (aka “less crowded”). Last weekend when we were itching for some outdoor adventure I decided to look back at our archives for some ideas. Lucky for me Andy of Camp Tumbleweed wrote a great article on the best hiking spots for little legs last year so we selected Placerita Canyon in the Santa Clarita area as our destination.

We went on a Sunday morning and then again on Tuesday, so clearly it was a hit! Located around 30 miles from mid-city LA, it thankfully only took 30 minutes to get there because LA traffic is still pretty reasonable.

When you pull off the highway it’s like you’re in a totally different world outside of the hustle and bustle of the city. Arriving on Sunday, the parking lot was almost totally full but we wound up only seeing a handful of people (all of whom were masked) during the three hours we were there exploring.

The park has seven trails of varying lengths and difficulty (FYI - the waterfall trail is currently closed due to fire damage). Some are as short as a 15-minute roundtrip loop while others clock in at more than five miles and are much more strenuous. We did three trails: the botany trail (a very short stroll through a nice woodsy area), the ecology trail (another easy loop that took less than an hour) and the manzanita mountain trail (which was around a mile straight up but my three year-old was still able to walk it herself). Before we even started any trails we played in a picture-worthy picnic area which has dozens of benches perfect for jumping on. If we had only stayed in this section and jumped from bench to bench all morning, my daughter still would have been thrilled with the trip.

We were also excited that while the nature center is currently closed, the courtyard is open with access to a hawk and vulture enclosure which was very neat to see. The courtyard also has very nice bathroom facilities that we were able to use. The website has not been updated recently so I don’t know the exact hours/days that the courtyard is open but believe the nature center facilities are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (try double checking first though!). There is still a Porta Potty available if necessary.

We really enjoyed our two days adventuring through Placerita Canyon State Park and plan on coming back to explore more trails soon. One note: this one is not stroller friendly. If you’re coming with a little one that can’t walk I’d recommend loading them up in a backpack. And the great thing is there is a lot of exploration to be done right by the parking lot and on the short surrounding strolls so it’s fairly low commitment once you arrive.

Happy hiking!

- Callie