INTERPRETING NATURE The Park to Playa Trail — Walk Your Watershed
Digi-scoping as they go! Summer Fellow used a camera phone and binoculars to capture this shorebird bonanza seen along a Ballona Creek section of the Park to Playa trail.
By Stacey Vigallon
INTERPRETING NATURE The Park to Playa Trail — Walk Your Watershed
During your Park to Playa Trail adventure, consider bringing a sketchbook with you.
Adapting to pandemic conditions has pushed many of us to seek outdoor adventures close to home, visiting spots we may have overlooked or even dismissed in the past. The Park to Playa Trail is an ideal candidate to visit for a walk in a local watershed here in Los Angeles, with 13 continuous miles traversing the Ballona Creek Watershed from the Baldwin Hills all the way to Dockweiler Beach. Plan it right, and you can have your own birding big day, visiting coastal sage scrub habitat, manicured parklands with established tree cover, paved and less-paved stretches of Ballona Creek, and then beach habitat. Basically, gnatcatchers to oystercatchers on a single urban trail.
There are many entry-points to the Park to Playa Trail, making it a great option to check out specific sections without committing to the entire 13-mile stretch all at once. In the Baldwin Hills area, the trail links open space in View Park/Windsor Hills to parkland at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Stoneview Nature Center, Baldwin Hill Scenic Overlook State Park, and Culver City Park. Each of these parks offers amenities and accessibility for outdoor enthusiasts who may need level, paved surfaces for their adventures. Swooping down from Culver City Park, the Park to Playa Trail picks up at Ballona Creek to become part of the Ballona Creek Bike Path - a paved, car-free hike or cycle all the way to the beach in an otherwise busy urban space. Once at the beach, the trail connects to the Marvin Braude Bike Path, offering adventure into Marina del Rey or the South Bay.
Digi-scoping as they go! Summer Fellow used a camera phone and binoculars to capture this kestrel seen along a Baldwin Hills section of the Park to Playa trail.
In the summer of 2020 and 2021, thanks to a grant from HydroFlask, participants in our Summer Fellows program divided the 13-mile Park to Playa Trail into sections. They hiked, birded, sketched, and created short videos to share their experience and offer helpful hints for getting the most out of each section. A big thanks goes to staff member, Brian Young, for video editing. You can find all the Summer Fellows’ videos at our Park to Playa Trail YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DfVfDV25Gc&list=PL8DbrJYQqLank6FDSjmiqbZ3nPwMm4BGh
Intrigued and ready to plan your Park to Playa Trail excursion? Here’s a list of resources that might help:
More about the Park to Playa Trail: https://trails.lacounty.gov/Trail/237/park-to-playa-trail
More about the Ballona Creek Bike Path: https://trails.lacounty.gov/Trail/91/ballona-creek-bike-path
More about the Marvin Braude Bike Trail: https://beaches.lacounty.gov/la-county-beach-bike-path/
Getting to the Baldwin Hills area on the Metro Link: https://pw.lacounty.gov/transit/TheLinkBaldwin.aspx
Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=612
Stoneview Nature Center: https://parks.lacounty.gov/stoneview-nature-center/
Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook State Park: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22790
Culver City Park: https://beaches.lacounty.gov/dockweiler-beach/
Dockweiler State Beach: https://beaches.lacounty.gov/dockweiler-beach/
Los Angeles Audubon Open Wetlands: https://www.laaudubon.org/events/2021/11-06/open-wetlands-at-ballona
Searching for inspiration from others who’ve committed to local adventures in their respective landscapes? Check out these options:
Alexis Nikole Nelson, forager (NPR interview here: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2021/09/09/173838801/meet-alexis-nikole-nelson-the-wildly-popular-black-forager)
On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation (Horowitz, 2013)
Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey through Britain (Deakin, 1999)
Summer Fellows do some birding along the Ballona Creek during the Park to Playa Trail hike.