Ralph B. Clark Regional Park is an urban park located primarily in Buena Park, California

Buena Park, California

Buena Park is a city in northwestern Orange County, California. As of Census 2010 the population was 80,530. The city is adjacent to the city of Anaheim and is 12 miles northwest of downtown Santa Ana. The Current OMB metropolitan designation for Buena Park and the Orange County Area is "Santa...

 south of Rosecrans Avenue at the southern edge of the West Coyote Hills

West Coyote Hills

The West Coyote Hills are a low mountain range in northern Orange County, California. Parts of it lie within the city limits of La Habra and Buena Park, with most of it sprawling across western Fullerton between Ralph B. Clark Regional Park and Euclid Street north of Rosecrans Avenue...

. A smaller section with six softball fields is located north of Rosecrans Avenue in Fullerton, California

Fullerton, California

Fullerton is a city located in northern Orange County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 135,161.It was founded in 1887 by George and Edward Amerige and named for George H. Fullerton, who secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway...

. The park was originally opened as Los Coyotes Regional Park in 1981, and was renamed in 1987 after then-retiring Orange County

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

 Supervisor Ralph Clark
(1917–2009).

Park facilities and activities

Amphitheater, barbecue

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...

s, baseball/softball fields, bicycling, fire rings, fishing, group picnic areas, hiking trails, horseshoe

Horseshoes

Horseshoes is an outdoor game played between two people using four horseshoes and two throwing targets set in a sandbox area. The game is played by the players alternating turns tossing horseshoes at stakes in the ground, which are traditionally placed 40 feet apart...

 pits, Interpretive Center, interpretive programs, model sail boating, picnic tables, picnic shelters, playground equipment, tennis courts, volleyball courts.

Interpretive Center

The Interpretive Center is a small museum which features ice age fossil and local geology exhibits.

The Center has an impressive mural of ice age mammals by Mark Hallet.

Among the fossils on display is a 9 million year old baleen whale

Baleen whale

The Baleen whales, also called whalebone whales or great whales, form the Mysticeti, one of two suborders of the Cetacea . Baleen whales are characterized by having baleen plates for filtering food from water, rather than having teeth. This distinguishes them from the other suborder of cetaceans,...

 skeleton that was recovered from a local construction site. It is reputed to be one of the only complete ice age whale fossils in existence.

Admission is free.

Trails

The park has a pleasant tree shaded trail that runs about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) along its periphery (including a 0.3 miles (482.8 m) walk along the north edge of the park).

The trail rises to the top of Camel Hill (located in the north east corner of the park). Sights from the top of Camel Hill include Catalina Island

Santa Catalina Island, California

Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...

, the Long Beach port

Port of Long Beach

The Port of Long Beach, also known as Long Beach’s Harbor Department, is the 2nd busiest container port in the USA. It adjoins the separate Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for U.S.-Asian trade, the port occupies of land with of waterfront in the city of Long Beach, California...

, Signal Hill, Palos Verdes Peninsula, the KFI

KFI

KFI is an AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It received its license to operate on March 31, 1922 and began operating on April 16, 1922 as one of the United States' first high-powered, "clear-channel" stations...

 radio tower, Hawks Point Bluff, Mount Baldy

Mount San Antonio

Mount San Antonio, commonly known as Old Baldy or Mt Baldy, at , is the highest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains, and the highest point in Los Angeles County...

, the Los Coyotes Country Club, the Santa Ana Mountains

Santa Ana Mountains

The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately 36 mi southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside counties.- Geography :The range starts in the...

 and the Huntington Beach Power Plant structures.

Nearby Trails

The trail head for the Emery Ranch Trail lies just to the west of the portion of the park which is north of Rosecrans Avenue. This is a somewhat steep 0.4 miles (643.7 m) long trail that winds its way up through the local coastal sage scrub

Coastal sage scrub

Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the...

 plant community. The trail ends at the peak of the hill near a water storage tank.

The trail head for the Castlewood Trail and the Rosecrans Trail are on the northern side of Rosecrans about 0.4 miles (643.7 m) miles east of the park entrance. These trails are part of the Fullerton loop, a popular mountain biking route.

Wildlife

The park has a surprising variety of wildlife given its small size. More than 130 species of birds have been sighted in the park and there are resident populations of squirrels, rabbits, fish, lizards and turtles. In the evening, just after sundown, bats can be seen feeding on the insects that rise out of the pond. On occasion coyotes, raccoons and opossums visit the park.

Fishing

The pond is stocked with catfish

Channel catfish

Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...

 and trout. In addition, there is a resident population of Largemouth bass

Largemouth bass

The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...

 and bluegill

Bluegill

The Bluegill is a species of freshwater fish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family Centrarchidae of the order Perciformes.-Range and distribution:...

. Catch and release rules apply to the bass.

Fishing licenses are required for people sixteen years and older.

Gallery

External links

• Official Ralph B. Clark Regional Park website
• Map of the park
• LA Times: Article about the recovery of the whale skeleton on display in the museum — Birds of the park - photographs