Newhall's Placerita Canyon State Park is set in the heart of SoCal's cowboy country, so the movie and gold rush history are hardly surprising. More surprising might be the butterfly garden and the frog pond, which make a nice add-on while enjoying the picnic area and hiking trails that reach up into the Angeles National Forest. It's a great park for kids, with plenty of family-friendly programs on weekends (details below). All offerings—entrance, parking, nature center, hiking, and programs—are free of charge, which is pretty amazing. Check out some of our favorite highlights at this park:

Enjoying the view from the trail

Hiking Trails

Placerita Canyon Nature Center and Ecology Trail (.6 miles)
Placerita Canyon’s recently remodeled nature center showcases native habitats, plants, and animals—including live ones (don’t miss the large birds in the courtyard). The Ecology Trail starts right out back, leading past a replica Tataviam home, then up the hill through the habitats exhibited in the center. Trail guides are available in the nature center or gift shop. Speaking of the gift shop, it is quite small and not necessarily geared for kids, so it's pretty safe to take a peek inside without spending a mint.

Heritage Trail (.3 mile, paved)
The Heritage Trail begins in the main parking area and highlights the more recent history of the canyon. You can peek into the Walker Cabin, where homesteaders Frank and Hortense Walker lived with their 12 children, or attend a Saturday Family Nature Walk to get a good look inside. If the cabin looks familiar, that may be from its appearances on screen in The Cisco Kid or Hopalong Cassidy. Continuing down the trail there are other bits of California history, such as pieces of farm and oil extraction equipment (did you know that California’s first refinery was in Newhall?). The local fauna is highlighted in a butterfly garden and a frog pond, where Pacific Tree frogs and their tadpoles, as well as mosquitofish, can be spotted.

Head down the freshly paved path to see the Oak of the Golden Dream, which is designated as a State Historic Landmark: It was along the streambank under this tree that Francisco Lopez first found gold nuggets while pulling wild onions in 1842. Gold fields in the area were worked until about 1846.

Hillside Trail (.25 miles with steep sections)
This trail passes the old water tower on the hill above the creek bed and main parking lot. There is a nice view and a great rocky place to take pictures. Lovely wildflowers bloom along this trail in season.

Manzanita Mountain Trail (.7 miles)
This trail branches off the Hillside Trail, and you can follow it into the Angeles National Forest. A small spur leads to the top of Manzanita Mountain. The trail itself continues on to join the national forest trail system.

Other trails, as well as a group camp, are currently closed due to damage from the summer 2016 Sand Fire and debris flows from the wet 2016-2017 winter. There is currently no schedule for reopening these trails, as debris must be removed and hillside stability confirmed. The national forest trail that enters the state park from the east is also closed.

Homesteader Frank E. Walker and his wife Hortense built the cabin in 1920 and raised 12 children here. Photo by Konrad Summers/CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Weekends are busy at Placerita. Be sure to check the online calendar for details on upcoming events, as some are seasonal or weather-dependent. If in doubt, call. The park also hosts an annual open house one Saturday in May. If you carefully chose your day at the park, you can attend several events and hike all of the open trails, so be sure to pack a picnic lunch. Here's a summary of what goes on:

Weekly
Family Nature Walks: every Saturday, 11am-12pm

Native Live Animal Presentations: every Saturday, 1pm-2pm

Monthly
Junior Rangers: second Saturdays, 11:30am-12:30pm or so, ages 6 and up

Bird Walks: second Saturdays, 8am-9:30am (weather permitting)

Twilight Hikes: 3rd Saturdays, 7pm (seasonal)

Blooms of the Season: fourth Saturdays, 9:30am

Community Nature Education Series: third Sundays, 2pm (topics vary, some may not interest younger kids)

Between guided programs, hikes, and self-guided history, there's plenty to keep kids of all ages entertained on a visit to this gem of a local park.

All photos by author except for Walker cabin photo