Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park — Attraction in Riverside

One of my favorite places in Riverside to hike and enjoy nature. There are miles and miles of trails for hiking or mountain biking. I prefer to park at the Barton Street entrance; no parking lot but there is street parking on a dead end road that leads directly to the park entrance. On the weekends it gets "busy" so arrive early for good parking. You can also enter the park through the Nature Center's parking lot off of Central Ave. or at Sycamore Highlands Park (street parking). There are no public restrooms and trashcans are only located at the main entrances. There is a small creek that runs through the park which can offer some good bird watching opportunities. I mainly come here to hike and for wildlife/nature and landscape photography. Right now the wild blooms cover the entire park. An amazing variety of gorgeous flowers. Coyotes are usual present as well, but I've never encountered any that have been aggressive. However, they do sometimes travel in packs through the park. Be prepared to share the trails with mountain bikers. While not a huge problem, you may run into a few homeless people living in the park. On hot days, plan accordingly and bring lots of water. There is very little shade...

Hikers beware: car break ins 7/16 at 2:50pm Pulled into Sycamore to use a restroom and a hike. I pulled in at the end of the parking lot, the end (North entrance/exit when looking on a map) opposite of the entrance nearest the nature center. I pulled in to see a black Nissan had a back drivers window broken out. Never a good sign at a hiking spot.

I debated if I should stay as I drove up to the nearest parking spot to the nature center. I waited a moment to weigh my options but deciding factor was looking to my right and saw another pile of car glass.

After I pulled back out, I headed down the parking lot back the way I came and sure enough, a homeless man had appeared from the bushes at the far end of the lot and I knew in my gut he was waiting for me to walk away from my car.

Will not be returning to this spot and can’t believe this place has such a...

I have been to this place three times in the last month. Its really great in that, if you stay to the left hand side, you cannot get lost. There are homes and a park that the trails lead to, so you can take an uphill walk to the park behind the trails and then walk back down. So while it feels and looks like a wilderness trail, you also have that security of civilization just a short run away. If you go to the right, however, the trails get a lot more interesting. They increase in difficulty and you can scale some short mountains. The views are absolutely gorgeous, you can see a great deal of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Plus, there's some cool wildlife to see, like birds, bunnies, bugs, and snakes (be careful during the hotter months, they're active). If you like hiking, this is the...