Aliso Woods and Canyon Wilderness Park

Park Info:

The entrance to this park is located off Alicia Parkway and is actually located in the City of Laguna Niguel. The nearest major cross streets are Aliso Creek Road and Alicia Parkway.
The park address is: 28373 Alicia Pkwy, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677. Hours are 7a.m. to sunset

The OC Parks web site for this location can be found HERE which includes a trail map which may be useful when reviewing info below.

Parking is usually available on the street should you not have an OC Parks annual pass or not wish to pay the fee ($3). There is a large dirt parking lot with outdoor porta potties at the parking lot. An additional porta pottie can be found 1.5 miles down the main asphalt trail

The main trail entitled “Aliso Creek Trail East”, is 1.50 miles each way on asphalt with a shoulder dirt trail. Once you’ve gone 1.5 miles from the entrance at the main parking lot, you can bear right onto “Wood Canyon Trail” which takes you into the unpaved area of the park. This is a mountain bikers playground here with much of the old west in place. I personally have ridden via mountain bike in this area but have not explored this unpaved for birding possibilities. The park is quite large and there are many areas to cover.

At this intersection (Aliso Creek Trail East and Wood Canyon Trail), should the gate be open (owned by the water district), you can continue straight along the asphalt path which extends another 1.81 miles to the gate in which all pedestrian traffic ends – there will be a water plant on your left). The Aliso Creek will be on your left the entire way and follows the roadway. At some points it lines up at the roadway and in other areas its off in the distance.
The images below were taken in this section of the park. I rode the entire asphalt portion by bike for a round trip of 6.62 miles.

Taken from Aliso Woods Trail East just past the intersection of Wood Canyon Trail facing south west.