Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve — Attraction in Newport Beach

This is the first time I've visited Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve. I was very impressed with this beautiful open space area, which showcases Upper Newport Bay, offering up stunning views of these wetlands.

The sky was overcast, when I pulled into their large free parking lot. There's plenty of Handicapped Spaces, up front, & so many parking spots, it'd be hard to imagine this lot being completely filled, except on the busiest days.

A super wide dirt walking trail begins from the southeast corner of the parking lot. You can see Upper Newport Bay best, from near the start of this trail. All that sparkling water is set off nicely, by vast green water reeds, which surround this tidal area.

As you descend this main trail, lined by daisy bushes, it branches into many smaller dirt footpaths. You'll lose the epic views of Upper Newport Bay, the further downhill you progress.

A small trail jogs left, & heads a short distance to the impressively-sized, modern-looking building, Peter & Mary Muth Interpretive Center. Inside, you can see some amazing displays, that are as impressive, as they are informative. You'll learn all about Upper Newport Bay, & all the flora & fauna, which live here.

I wandered to the base of this building, after watching speedy Cliff Swallows, darting into their mud nests, which line the intersection of the building's concrete wall & roof overhang.

Cousin to the Tree Swallow, but differently decorated, color-wise, one swallow stays inside the nest, while the other forages for insects & insect larvae, to feed their young. I found out a bit later, that they get the mud, which they build their nest with, from muddy banks of a creek, which feeds Upper Newport Bay. I captured a few nice pics of these interesting birds.

I then headed down to the bottom of one trail, where a dirt berm overlooks the tranquil creek water. Cliff Swallows came & went, both zipping above the placid surface of the creek, looking for insects & landing on the muddy bank, digging up mud for their nests.

There were quite a few birds out, the morning I went. I saw lots of Song Sparrows, quite a few brown & rust-colored California Towhees, usually in pairs, several pairs of American Goldfinches, with the males displaying a shocking yellow color, & a black cap & wings. I could hear the honking cries of Black Skimmers, off in the distance, though I couldn't see them. The coolest bird I saw on my short hike, was a Cooper's Hawk. It swooped into a tree, not 30 feet from me, just as I was changing my camera lens. Once I had my zoom lens on, & pivoted toward the tree, the hawk bolted from its perched position. The only pic I got of it, was a shot of its back, as it flew away.

This nature preserve provides seemingly endless walking trails, as well as bike paths in certain areas, so whatever your exercise level, you can accomplish your activity goals here, & be provided with super pretty views, while you're doing it.

An iron bridge rises over the creek, heading south, so you can bike on that side of the creek, though only walking is permitted on the lands, beneath, & on the north side of this bridge.

Things I liked here:

You get gorgeous views of Upper Newport Bay, from some areas of this Nature Preserve.

I loved watching the nesting Cliff Swallows, both in & around their earthen nests, & zooming through the skies, here. Mullet were also jumping out of the calm creek water here sporadically, which is interesting to watch.

Some of the trails have a series of wooden stairs, though they also have a descending dirt trail, along one side, for people who have difficulty with stairs, like myself.

They have a huge, free parking lot here, & there is no fee to walk around, this lovely nature area.

2: Things I didn't like:

You will not be able to get near Upper Newport Bay, from this area, since walking & bike trails go nowhere near this entrancing body of water.

Bikes come flying downhill, & across the large iron bridge, so if you're walking on this, you'd best be paying attention, at all times...

Right now many of us know that being cooped up inside fearful of the pandemic situation outside your door is not healthy. Well, I'm here to show you one of the many places among the Orange County area that are awesome to experience!! Even better, it's FREE!! So, as you'll notice that in these pictures most people are observing social distancing as well as face masks. But that aside, talk about beautiful, open space where you can take your best friend or your kids and the family dog and just walk, explore, and enjoy the trails. Granted there are rules posted and strict hours to adhere to. There's a locked gate so, you definitely don't want to get caught behind that after closing. In a couple of my pictures you can see I was so bold as to picnic on my hood. There are benches and observation areas with some seating and even a few picnic tables. Please be so kind as to observe the rules and keep trash where it belongs. You can clearly see in the pictures that the park is in an incredible state of beauty and cleanliness. The little fowl and critters are quite happy and do thrive. That being said, as we head into winter, you won't have to worry about experiencing any unwanted reptiles as the weather is cooling off. But, peak summer hours or very hot days and you will be following the guidelines for making any encounter a peaceful and smooth resolution. I want to also take a moment to say thank you to my pals at Nice Guy Vegan on 19th Street in Costa Mesa, across from the DMV. If you go over on the Google maps and punch them in, I have a review there for their amazing vegan burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, tater tots, and other delicious, cruelty free, vegan food. I always enjoy my day better when I take time to unwind here in this park and today of ALL days, I felt I should make it an extra special occasion by enjoying a Cali Burger and some tots with ranch dressing!! They make all of their dipping sauces daily and they are always on point and really YUMMY!!...

BEAUTY TO BEHOLD ! My wife and I rode our electric bike rentals around most of this nature preserve ( we ran out of time ) when we vacationed up here last February. We enjoyed our bike ride so much that we planned to ride the whole circuit of the nature preserve on the 4th of July weekend. This time we brought our own electric bikes ( hitch bike rack on the back of our new Tesla Y ). We checked into the Newport Beach Marriott Bayview Hotel on Friday afternoon and grabbed a quick lunch at our fav coffee shop nearby before hitting the trail on our electric bikes. After riding about half way around the nature preserve we were brought to an abrupt halt by a huge barrier across the road....a sign stated that the road was closed due to the pandemic shutdown. We were a bit disappointed but we did manage to get a few great photos along the way. On Saturday morning we headed out early ( a hot day was predicted ) to ride the trail from the other end of the nature preserve. We rode around all over the place within view of the nature preserve but believe it not we could not find the road which allowed access to the trail. We took a bunch of great photos of everything we saw on our bike ride. Put this scenic bike ride...