Trail Running in Orange County
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last updated April 15, 1998


Santiago Oaks Park

Description:

!! This is not Santiago Oaks West Park !!

...so if you look on the map, realize there are two different parks. Santiago Oaks Park (this page) and Santiago Oaks West Park (different)

The trails themselves are mostly wide with a lot of loops. The loops are both flat and steep so you can pick and choose the difficulty of your run. A lot of the trails go through trees/forests while a few others climb like a rocket to the top of the canyon giving you a gorgeous view of northern Orange County.

Not a lot of mountain bikers (probably because of the wide trails) but there are a lot of equestrians so be courteous (and watch out for those horse-pucky piles).

There are some mountain lions in this area. You can find more info at the Park Information Signs (two of them, see map). The Park Information Sign contains a lot of good info about poison oak, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, and also a complete trail map of the park.

Parking is $2 per vehicle weekdays, $4 on weekends if a parking attendant is present (otherwise the self-feed machine is $2).

Facilities include:

There are two "sides" to this park. The side north of the creek and the side south of the creek.

Directions:

Via 55 Freeway

  • exit Katella (south of 91, north of 22).
  • Head East (left from 55 South, right from 55 North)
  • Katella turns into I believe Villa Park
  • Villa Park will turn into Santiago Canyon Road
  • Look for Windes (not a major street, but has a stoplight)
  • Left on Windes, go up the hill.
  • Through residential neighborhood, dead-ends at park
  • Please don't park on the street (illegal)..pay $2/$4

Where To Run ??

There are two "sides" to this park. The side north of the creek and the side south of the creek.

North Side

In the parking lot head towards the creek. You will see a trail cross the creek. This pretty much leeds you to the north side of the park.

The north side consists basically of a lot of little loops and circular trails for you to run willy-nilly in! Oh yeah, go Crazzee! ..

Seriously you can get a good 3 to 4 mile run in in one loop. Take a bunch of turns going willy-nilly and you can easily up that to 6 miles.

The trails are wide, mostly flat, and have very little in the way of interfering brush (except for the Oak trail which is the one really steep trail on this side of the park..). The lack of mountain bikers are probably due to teh trails being so wide and not very hilly. However there are a lot of horses so be careful of those.

The creek babbles during opening hours as the dam is open from 8am to 5pm

It's difficult to really map out a course since there are so many turns ...so just go and run and have fun! There is pretty much no way to get lost (except if you leave the park boundaries).

If you find the Oak Trail, this is the trail which goes to the top of the canyon. It's the one trail on the north side of the park where the trail is VERY narrow and there is a lot of shrubbery which may inhibit your running. You will leave the park boundary (you will pass two gates) but at the very top you will be treated to a glorious, almost fantasy-majestic type view of northern Orange County. Enjoy the view, and turn your butt and go back the way you came ...there is no "official" way to continue going and loop back to the entrance. So this Oak Trail is just an out-and-back

South Side

At the very end of the parking lot there is a small walkway which goes through a picnic area and leads to a large clearning. You will see a little wooden stairway on the left and right. These are both entrances to the Windes Trail, a small 2 to 3 mile loop. Along the Windes trail there is an entrance which leads to the Pacifica Trail which is a second 3 to 4 mile loop.

This is the yin of the north side "yang". There are only the two loops to run on and your choice basically is how many times to run on these loops. So if you are looking for a structured, but more challenging run, this side of the park is for you.

The tracks are a bit more narrow, but wide enough to run comfortably

The trails are also mostly hilly. They will take you along the side of the canyon and through the trees until you reach the top where you will be given a great view of northern Orange County.

The first loop will probably take you through a 2 to 3 mile trail.

Add the second loop and you probably will have a 6 mile run

Consult the Park Trail Map

There is a large Park information sign which contains a large trail map of the park as well as some info about things you may encounter in the park (mountain lions, rattlesnakes, poison oak, etc.). You may want to check this out.

The most interesting thing I remember reading is that the odds of a mountain lion attacking you are about the same as being struck by lightning.

I have an 8.5x11 copy of the trail map for the park which i hope to scan in somehow so you can take a look at it.



Trail Running in Orange County
Home Tips Trails (text) Trails (with 6Kbyte clickable map) Other Resources
last updated April 15, 1998
All pages and images Copyright@1998 Ben Yau


These freaky Geocities people are giving out Free Home Pages...what's the world coming to?

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