Citrus Ranch Park — Attraction in Tustin

Awesome land on the northeast side of Tustin just about where the suburban city meets the rural, open space! Here the Peters Canyon Hiking & Riding Trail passes thru along Portola Parkway. It’s also a great place to take the kids, family, friends or the dog and go for a walk! There’s random picnic tables throughout the park, with some under gazebo’s for covered protection. A playground contains slides, swings, a rock wall and a bridge. Colorful citrus art tiles adorn that side of the deck, where there’s more gazebo space and a public restroom building. I like the walk up the hill along the bordered dirt trails, passing up thru the lemon grove, up to the gazebo and back down around to the north side of the park. The meandering may seem roundabout, especially if inadvertently going thru the maintenance trails between the lemon trees! Better to stay on the designated paths and avoid the working grove trails, cross-laden with irrigation, equipment and fallen lemons. The north side of the park has been left as an open field. It wasn’t as manicured as the south end. This end seems to be popular for field sports as is, or for taking the dogs to play. There’s perhaps more dog clean stations and trash cans than any other park I’ve seen, so user’s can pick up and help to keep the park...

Nice park with one exception: The summit of the park is over planted with badly selected bushes and trees that block the otherwise awesome view. I mean the obvious point of hiking to the peak is to enjoy the view — right? Before the top was overrun with unsightly botanical monstrosities, the view was great. It was possible to take a gander over to the cinnabar-laced reddish deposits permeating the hill known locally as "Red Hill" and scan the horizon of Tustin Ranch.

Otherwise this is a neat park paying homage to the heritage of the citrus industry in the Tustin area. Depictions of fruit packing labels adorn the walls throughout the park. Picnic tables and grills and are available. Play ground equipment for the kids.

And, of course, the lemon tree populated citrus hill is...

This was a small park that we decided to visit. There were a decent amount of parking spaces, several long and winding sidewalks for walking and scooters, a playground area, and a small (apx 1/4 mile) trail that spirals through a pleasant lemon tree grove, leading up to a small pavilion. Public bathrooms are available and a small picnic area that is nice for hosting an afternoon gathering / small birthday party. Unfortunately, visitors often like to pick lemons and discard them throughout the park grounds. We came in springtime and there was a noticeable presence of flying insects that influenced our decision to depart a little bit earlier than we had anticipated. All in all, a nice peaceful park that was an enjoyable first...