Laguna Coast Wilderness Park

Owl Clover


Trailhead and Pay Station


Enjoying the peek ocean and canyon views after the first climb

Emerald Canyon. Walking waist deep in the grass wasn't too bad until Scott shared his Jurassic Park velociraptor flashback. I started walking a bit faster.

Very fancy trail map-loop noted in pink

Blue-eyed grass in front of sticky monkey flowers

A bug gets quite friendly with the blue-eyed grass.

A lucky ladybird beetle

White lined sphinx moth

A close-up: check out his furry body!

Laguna Coast Wilderness Park is located in the San Joaquin Hills between the cities of Newport Beach, Irvine, Laguna Hills, and Laguna Beach off of Laguna Canyon Road. This park is a testament of how the efforts of concerned citizens and local and state governments can combine to preserve land for public use and more importantly to protect wildlife and their habitat from development. The park spans over 6200 acres and offers wooded canyons, a natural lake and incredible vistas of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding areas. Most of the area is limited to hiking and horseback riding but there are some mountain biking trails available and are clearly noted on the park map. Hours are 8 am to 4 pm and parking is $3.00.

There are 2 parking entrances off of Laguna Canyon Road. We parked in the lot closest to Laguna Beach and hiked up Big Bend Trail to the Old Emerald Falls Trail and then looped up and back along the Bommer Ridge Trail. It took about 3 hours round trip but that included lots of photo stops and a picnic in Emerald Canyon. The trails are quite steep in places and there were lots of climbs in and out of the canyon. At every peak, however, we were rewarded with ocean views and sea breezes. This is definitely a great quads and glutes work out!