Chino Hills State Park

I like this place. I went there in winter. There were a lot of greens there so you’ll have a very good view of nature. I went there three times, and each time taking a different path for hiking. There are trails of different difficulty levels so feel free to go and you will find one suitable for you — some easier ones take long to finish though.

I love this park. First time here and I loved it. It’s very peaceful and there is not a lot of people. It’s $ 5 to get it. It’s most beautiful in the spring. I did some mountain biking there and it was fun estimate 9 miles, but it was somewhat dangerous because there was a lot of rattlesnakes. Overall great park.

Parking lot is right off of Carbon Canyon Road — before the turn left. Cost is $ 5.00 and secures a safe gravel-​parking place for mountain bikers, hikers or joggers on this mostly unpaved trail. This trail is also accessible to those using park (by lake or tennis courts) facilities.
Visitor center offers great FREE trail maps for all levels of hikers: newbie to senior hiker. Restrooms (clean) are at the visitor center and the rangers are happy to answer any questions you may have. Carry in water unless dehydration and headaches appeal to you LOL.
As we were finishing up today, coyotes made music for a melodic send off. Numerous challenges and records for competitive exist on mapmyride or strava applications. Telegraph canyon to San Juan hill is scenic, sunny and mile heavy.

We recently returned to Chino Hills State Park, and some updates are in order:
First and foremost, Bane Canyon Road has reopened. Previous reviews complaining about the park being closed probably are referring to the fact that this road was closed for a long time, making most of the park inaccessible by car. This is what we took to get to the Rolling M Ranch area so that we could hike the Telegraph Canyon and Hills-​For-​Everyone trails.
Secondly, all of this information and more, including maps, can be found here:
and here:
Thirdly, when you leave the park, you will be asked if you paid the parking fee, so make your life easier and just pay when you arrive. The Discovery Center, the first lot past the Bane Canyon Road entrance, and the Campground Kiosk all have the appropriate envelopes and deposit slots so that you can make your contribution to the maintenance of this beautiful park.
Let me reiterate what I said in my last review: be prepared. Specific trails and sometimes even the whole park are sometimes temporarily closed due to red flag conditions, rain, and other acts of Mother Nature. The official website is updated pretty regularly, as is their Facebook page, but you may want to call because you go, just in case.
I was all excited to report that the first website that I shared here has the Discovery Center open seven days a week from 8 am to dusk, but then I looked at the second website that I shared, which says 8 – 5, and it’s not even clear if they’re referring to the Center or just the parking lot. Then, the official site (refer to my first review) says Saturdays and Sundays, 10 – 2. If I ever get to the bottom of this, I’ll make a revision.
Something else: most of the signs that I saw in the park said that it closes at 5, but one said 7. The official website says 5, but the Hills-​For-​Everyone site says that between April and September it closes at 7. This sounds reasonable.
To everyone who gave CHSP a bad review, I encourage you to come back and experience what you probably missed the first time: an awesome area for hiking, biking, horseback riding, camping, and contemplating nature.
I’d love to schedule a UYE here, but I can’t imagine that alcohol is permitted!
Oh, yeah, water, sunscreen, blah blah blah

We started at Yorba Linda trailhead & worked our way to the top. I love that this trail is a steady inclined back & forth. this is an excellent trail for runners & people who like a little challenge.

The park is now open. Looks great.
Bane cnyn is paved so road bikers will like it. Mountain bikers can ride on the old Bane cnyn dirt road just past the old booth.
New Bane cnyn makes full use of all the spots with the best views.
The new gate booth looks great. See pic.

I love this park, it’s close to home and a great place to have an intense workout. Usually when I go I like to do 6 miles or more with a lot of incline. Keep in mind this isn’t a park for everyone, you could either hate it or love it. For the most part depending on the season you go the vegetation with either be a luscious green or brown and dry. The best times to go are during winter and early spring.
If your starting from rimcrest towards the Yorba Linda side take the south ridge trail to San Juan peak. The peak is at the highest elevation in the park, resting at 1,781 feet. This isn’t an easy hike, round trip is about 6.3 miles with little to no shade. It will take somewhere between 2 – 2:30 hours if you keep at a good pace. Definitely a hike for overcast days.
Another good hike is the trek to Gilman Peak. Starting from rimcrest I take easy street down to telegraph to the Gilman trial head. This hike is hard. It’s an intense incline for about 1.5 miles to get to the peak. During spring time there are tons of little bugs and the path is very narrow with no shade.
As much as I love this park for its hiking trails there are a few cons. This is a very popular place with bicyclist and sharing the road is common. For the most part people are courteous, however there are trails that are off limits to bicyclist yet I have encountered people racing their bikes down. There is a reason these trails are off limits, given the narrowness of the trail I don’t want some idiot to crash into me when I have no way of dodging him/​her.
In addition, don’t bring your dogs here there is a huge sign that points out that dogs are off limits. Not only are they disruptive to the environment, stepping on dog shit ruins the experience. I see people come with their dogs and no dogie crap bag… at the least… really?
Lastly, during hot days be careful of the rattle snakes, they like to sun bath and if you end up encountering one on a really narrow path just remain calm and get the heck out of there quickly.
Overall:
–Wear hiking shoes
–Bring a hat
–Have lots of waters and snacks

I had to take advantage of the little bit of rain fall we had on 2÷27÷15. I knew by waking up Saturday to partly scattered clouds but with rain lurking, it was going to be a great day to visit Chino Hills State Park. The park is located east of Puente Hills and north of the Santa Ana mountains shared by 3 counties, depending how much real estate you feel like covering is entirely up to you and your group. Riverside county covers the southern tip of park just north of Corona, San Bernardino County covers what is the eastern part and Orange County covers the western side of park. With that being said I started my trek to find the eastern side closed due to asphalt upgrades to accommodate not sure who or why add asphalt that doesn’t look right with such a beautiful backdrop. Poor Tarantulas that over populated this entrance at one time, I guess we won’t be seeing them friendly critters at dusk. Plan B was to access from Orange County in the City of Brea and the other entrance that I am not familiar with is at Glider Point north of Yorba Linda. After checking in at the visitor center to pay $ 5.00 for all day parking on a gravel parking stall. Like any other visitor center, now would be the perfect time to get acquainted with park and trails. They issue two detailed maps, one covers the entire State Park system and it’s actually a really nice detailed map that one would expect at AAA. The second map is dedicated to the park itself with a brief history of the land, wild life, plants and topography. Plus a loose sheet for those who rely on GPS coordinates and more of a hand sketch of all points of interest with mile marks and elevation gain. By the way the visitor center is built at 466 FEET above sea level. My main goal was to use Telegraph Canyon Trail which is the most commonly used by all to Four Corners to take my first break and absorb the clean crisp air. My destination was San Juan Hill from Telegraph to Bovinian Trail to South Ridge to San Juan Hill that sits at 1,781 with a geological surveyor mark onsite. The extra pedaling was worth the 360 degree view. My total riding time was 4 hours and traveled 14.5 +/​-​round trip.
FYI:
Restrooms available at visitor center
Portable restrooms are scattered far between
Bring plenty of water, most trails are exposed to direct sunlight
No food sold
Ample parking at visitor center
Soquel (Sapphire Rd) limited parking, new asphalt may lead to new parking lot?
Expect to hear Coyotes at dusk
Bobcats and mountain lion sighting
Snakes

Chino Hills
Got no thrills
You wont go to fast
6 mile climb
To the top
To 4 corners in no time
NAY!
This is a super duper easy peasy paced ride. There is no huffin or puffin here. Just easy riding. If you go past 4 corners there is some single track. There is not a lot of shade, so bring sunblock and some water.
This is a good place for group rides, and BBQs after.

I came here this morning for a run. I guess it was my fault for not checking the website for closure for certain days of the week. The park at the main entrance is closed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays until their «improvement project» (the park is under construction) is done. I don’t know why they bother starting a project if they don’t have enough money to finish it in a timely manner.
About less than ¼ mile into my run, I was stopped by a ranger who told me that the park was closed. The only main reason why I went in at all was because the gate was wide open so I assumed it was ok to enter. So I turned around and went back to my car that was park in the street near the entrance. Another ranger came by a few minutes later and mentioned to me (again) that the park was closed. Both rangers never told me that the park was closed on certain days or if it was closed everyday of the week. I suppose I can go to other park entrances, but this means that my commute would be 10 to 20 minutes longer and I don’t feel like driving longer just to get a run in. The main entrance is closer to me and is easier to access from a freeway which is why I use this entrance. I’m also more familiar with the trails on at this end of the park and because of my familiarity at this entrance makes me feel more comfortable to run alone. I generally don’t stray away from the main road. If I do go off-​roading, the trail is somewhat wide enough that I can see snakes and small critters (cross my fingers that I never have to encounter a mountain lion) and the trail has a dead-​end. I like dead-​end trails.
The second ranger who came up to me also mention that dogs weren’t allowed in the park. Since when? I came here in May of last year and there were lots of people/​hikers/​runners with dogs entering the park. I didn’t run with a dog last year, but I have been running with one this year. I’m not sure if I want to return to the park if dogs aren’t allowed in the park anymore. In a way, I want to come back on a day that the park is supposedly open to the public, but I don’t want to waste a trip just to find out that the main entrance is closed to the public everyday until this «project» is done (I saw a sign that says «Closed until March 2015»…I’ll share the pictures once I get them downloaded to my computer.)
I’m not sure if I’m coming back before or after March 2015… if I do come back after March 2015, I hope there is a great improvement and I’ll update my review.

Really I drove here from chino near eastvale and there closed who closes a state park I mean the whole thing? Anyway thank goodness for a local couple that saw us stopped in the middle of the road gazing at a closed state park cause they directed us to an amazing carbon canyon regional park which was awesome. Redwood hike is great there. We plan to go to the discovery center next door next time.

I looked this trail up on Unilocal and absorbed in a mixture of reviews, so I went first hand to see how this trail is. As I approached the trailhead, there were fences that indicated that this place was closed and not open to the public. What did I do? I went around the side up a huge incline and traveled the path less traveled.
This place was very dry and not that scenic. This trail was also very short.
I completed the trail and then went on the main road back down (which was closed due to construction). A park ranger came and stopped me in my tracks to see what the hell I was doing there. I told him I was lost and this was the only way out. He let me go and that was my adventure here.

This place is always closed! I went last weekend only to come across a closed till 2015 sign! I hope they are improving on the hike, it is pretty bad. Just flat dirt trails and no scenery whatsoever. Hopefully by 2015 it will look better.

This is the most amazing park ever! We go hiking here in the mornings and it so nice. Just watch out for mountain lions try to make noise as you go down the trail so that you dont startle them. Also please try to keep all your trash and bring it back out with you so that we can keep this place nice and clean!
Watch out when parking in neighborhoods that you dont get your car towed, be courteous and dont block peoples driveways and congest a street and you should be good to go!

Currently under construction.
There are several trails which are pretty easy. The only thing is that the electrical towers actually make noises… imagine how much closer to death you are with all those waves!
There isn’t much of a view.

Hills, hills, everywhere! This is Chino HILLS State Park, so I guess it should come as no surprise that there are rolling hills all over the place.
It’s a pretty humongous park that has entrances in 3 cities. The main Chino Hills Bane Canyon entrance is the address for this listing, and then there is the Brea entrance by Carbon Canyon Regional Park which is also known as the Discovery Center entrance. Finally, there are the entrances in Yorba Linda, Rimcrest Trailhead and the Equestrian Parking Area which are next to one another.
I first came here during a hot summer day through the Bane Canyon entrance and it was pretty brutal. It was brown everywhere, with dried up shrubs of the hills moving with the wind and it was actually quite beautiful (
). There isn’t much shade in this park, I can only point out Telegraph Canyon Trail (
) as the one trail that has some shade. Interestingly, that trail is the easiest trail in this whole park and perfect for beginners as it has almost no incline.
If you’re coming from Bane Canyon entrance (which is currently closed for construction), there are many trails that go off of Bane Canyon Road into the hills. Coming in this way is somewhat convenient because it’s the only road you can drive cars on in this park. The Carbon Canyon/​Discovery Center entrance gives you access to either North Ridge Trail or Telegraph Canyon Trail. If you want a little bit of challenge, take the North Ridge Trail and maybe go up to Gilman Peak. From there you can hike down to Telegraph Canyon Trail and head back to the starting point. For the ones coming in on RImcrest Trailhead, the most ideal hike might be to go on South Ridge Trail to San Juan Hill (the highest point of this park:
) then head down to Four Corners and take Telegraph Canyon Trail until you decide to come back up to South Ridge Trail on one of the connector trails.
Because of the lack of shade here, I would try to come here on cloudy days. If you’re coming during the hot days of summer, come during the cooler times and wear plenty of protection (hat, clothing, sunscreen). There are also camping sites at Rolling M Ranch which seemed deserted when I went during summer. Maybe that area is more happening during the cooler seasons…
Most comprehensive map of the park:

San Juan Hill Trail: Came in from the RimCrest Trailhead (free parking on 1 side of the street — pay attention to the signs! No parking from 7pm-​8am & permit parking only on residential streets).
For directions to the trailhead:
Wanted to get AYCE sushi in Riverside, so what better way to start the day with a hike near-​ish by to get our work out in before pigging out? This 5.6-ish miles RT was the perfect workout — nothing extremely strenuous but enough moderate inclines to get our hearts racing. The trail is clearly paved so as long as you follow the road more traveled, you’ll hit San Juan Hill (the highest peak in Chino Hills State Park — 1781 ft). You’ll be surrounded by rolling greens/​hills that seem like it never ends, but continue to trek on & you’ll see an offshoot sign on the right side for San Juan Hill. If you pass a sign for «Bovinian Delights», you are almost there.
Once you hit the top, you are suppose to see a 360 view of the area. Unfortunately, we showed up on an extremely hazy day so we didn’t see anything at all :(The only good thing about it being a hazy day is that the trail has NO trees, so a partly cloudy day is the best weather to tackle this hike. On a sunny day, definitely wear plenty of sunscreen, wear a hat and drink/​bring enough water.
It seems like you can connect with other trails to make it longer and explore more areas of this state park. We stuck to hitting San Juan Hill & it took us about 2 hours to get in & out of the park.

This is a good place for a day out in nature! You can either hike or bike, or take your dogs on a walk on Bane Canyon.
There’s plenty of parking outside on the road and you walk up Bane Canyon to get to the trails. There’s a map online or there is a sign posted once you get up there to where you pay for parking.
It’s a pretty big area and I only explored a part of it, but I’m sure I’ll go back soon. There’s a lot of different trails that goes all around so look up where you want to go before you start!
I’m sad that dogs are only allowed on Bane Canyon because I would want to take them on trials…

We hiked the «Easy Street» trail (see my other reviews re: being out of shape). There wasn’t much wildlife to be found – a few squirrels, a few things that were sort of squirrel-​shaped but larger than squirrels, but too far away to be identified. Foxes? Raccoons? Obese squirrels? While I did take mammalogy in undergrad, I didn’t have any binoculars today. I think we heard a coyote howl, but we didn’t see it.
Unfortunately it was too dry for there to be any water in the creek bed that ran alongside the trail, but that meant that the trail itself was in good condition and not muddy.
The trail is slightly steep in parts, but not difficult; just watch your footing. For the Easy Street trail, park along Rim Crest Drive and take the very obvious path into the park. From there, the trailhead is clearly marked, and there are signs directing you to other trails as well.

What a great place for a hike. Bring the kids, the neighbors, grandma & grandpa, the family pet, you name it bring them for a good work out. My wife and I parked at Alterra Park and took the service road towards Chino Hills State Park. Great warm up before hitting the hills.
We saw walkers, joggers, runners, and bikers. Plenty of trails and hills to get the blood flowing. Bring water or Gatorade to stay hydrated, not that many trees around to give you shade.
Plenty of wild life out here. We saw a squirrels, rabbits, a snake, and a tarantula. That’s probably why my wife ran so fast through this park. On a serious note, I did bring a bat because they do have some wild animals out here. You never know when you will run into a mountain lion or coyote.
Enjoy the exercise and have fun! Stretch after the workout, you will need it.