Los Jilgueros Preserve — Attraction in Fallbrook

Los Jilgueros Preserve is a lovely pristine off-ramp from fast-paced city life. This nature area in Fallbrook has nice walking trails and plenty of scenery to take in as you wander.

From large parking lot, we took the trail on left, with wooden planking visible. This trail skirts South Mission Road, for a bit over 1/4 mile. Traffic noise was clearly audible, as we walked. You'll then walk over several short wooden bridges as you continue. If you can, shut out the car sounds, and focus on all the tall elegant deciduous trees on your right, absent of their leaves now. Eventually, you'll see some creek water as well, again, on your right.

This trail, now all dirt, loops around back toward the parking lot, and there's water on your left, and lots of brush and twigs. We heard two frogs carrying on quite a conversation in this water, loudly croaking back and forth.

Trees aren't quite as tall on this portion of the hike, but there are several nice sized trees to the right of the trail. We saw a beautiful Red-Shouldered Hawk relaxing in one of them.

You'll then see some small Oak trees, grassland and bushes as you make your way slightly uphill, back to the parking lot.

All in all-nice scenery, maybe 2 very slight inclines on this relatively flat, relaxing nature hike. Also, this place has a nice large parking area, and as a bonus, there's no fee...

With plenty of rest spots to sit and take in the sights and the sounds, this small preserve is a short and fun hike (1.5 miles or so). Great for kids with plenty of wild stuff to look at. Is it very well kept, and virtually trash free, although some of the smaller ponds in the area are stagnant and look like runoff has been deposited there, there was little decomposition smell and as long as one stays on the trail pose little risk to hikers. There's a larger pond in the central area of the north part of this elongated preserve, and there are ducks, turtles, and fish to be observed. That's in addition to plenty of lizards, rabbits, birds and butterflies one sees on the trail. There are also old farm pieces of equipment worth investigating, but take care with children as the metal gets hot in clear days. Some friendly hikers like to leave colorfully painted stones/rocks along the way for others to find and enjoy, but please take nothing but memories, and leave...

I was really disappointed in not finding a flat place to walk--until I found this preserve. But, I only walked Los Jilg once in finding it too late. I searched for it by driving and mistakenly thought preserve non-accessible. But, a city employee informed me---much better if one is in nearby setting to walk to the preserve.

The summer heat makes walking for more than 1/4 mile or more difficult with no trees and if past 8am. I drove to a variety of parks--and was stunned that there are not trails or paths to walk on covered with deciduous trees. I also super searched for trails. I learned Wagon Trail is a residential street. I found a very pretty area with churches and more "paved routes" with the name Trail in them. This preserve has a lot of short trails and makes it a good place to visit on a routine basis. I wish people adhered to "dogs...