Laguna Coast Wilderness Park Hike
| Distance | 7.5 miles (12.1 km) |
| Time | 3 Hours (Total Time) |
| Difficulty | Hard |
| Total Climbing | 1,210 feet (369m) |
| Dog Friendly | No |
| Park Name | Laguna Coast Wilderness Park |
| Park Phone | 949-923-2235 |
A Laguna Coast Wilderness Park hike transports you into how coastal California had existed thousands of years ago. You’ll hike through some of the last untouched coastal canyons in California, enjoying pristine coastal sage scrub, ridges with panoramic views, and abundant wildlife, including over 40 endangered species. This hike through Laguna Coast Wilderness Park takes you over the best trails, and you’ll get a taste of all the types of scenery that the park has to offer.
All 7000 acres and 40 miles of trails at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park are part of the Natural Community Conservation Planning program. The state program works with county and local governments to protect land with fragile ecosystems and endangered species. You can learn more about all abundant plants and animals when you start he hike at the Nix Nature Center, which has volunteers and interpretive displays, and lists of recent wildlife sightings.
Where is Laguna Coast Wilderness Park?
Use this trailhead address: 18751 Laguna Canyon Rd, Laguna Beach, CA, 92651, USA.
Laguna Coast Wilderness Park is open from 8am to 5pm. The parking lot usually fills up by 9am on weekends, and they will close the lot if it’s full. Pay for parking at the machine and leave the ticket on your dashboard.
The Nix Nature Center, located at the end of the parking lot, has free trail maps, bathrooms, and a place to fill up on water. Stop by, sign the registry (mandatory), and take a look at the wildlife spotting board. Even if there’s no endangered species around when you visit, there will probably be plenty of hawks, mule deer, weasels, and falcons.
Gear for the Hike
While you can get away with fitness clothes, I do recommend wearing hiking gear. It’s a long-ish hike and it can get very hot during the day. Here’s what I bring:
- Hiking boots or trail runners
- Daypack with 3L of water
- A snack
- Trekking poles
- Hiking GPS (although the maps and signs in the park are decent)
- Emergency beacon just in case
- Camera
My Top Gear Picks
Do you have the right hiking gear? Will it stand up to the test? I waste lots of money testing hiking gear every year so that you don’t have to. My gear picks are solid choices that will serve you well on the trail. I don’t do sponsored or paid reviews, I just the share actual gear that I use all the time that’s made the cut. Here are my top picks:
- Garmin InReach Mini Emergency Beacon – Hiking out of cell phone range? Make sure you have one of these two-way satellite texting devices in case your hike doesn’t go as planned. You can read my full review here.
- Injinji Sock Liners With Darn Tough Hiking Socks – This combo is a great way to avoid blisters out on the trail. I have some insider-hiking tips for avoiding blisters here. Pair them with modern, high-tech hiking boots (for women and men) and your feet with thank you.
- Garmin Fenix 5x Plus – It’s a little pricey, but man do I love this thing. Not only does it have all the topo maps and navigation tools on my wrist, but it also acts as a long battery life, rugged, outdoors version of an Apple Watch. Track your workouts, sleep, heart rate, all that stuff.
I have lots of other great, sponsor-free, trail tested gear picks on my “best gear” page.
Laguna Coast Wilderness Park Trail Maps
There other hiking trails in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. If you want a shorter (or longer) hike, the rangers in Nix Nature Center can help you out. They’re great at putting hikes together to suit your parameters. And the trails on the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park hike are shared with mountain bikers and horses. Give them a wide berth and let them pass.
I highly recommend bringing a good paper map with you, and then using it in conjunction with a GPS device. You can see the navigation gear that I use here (I’m currently using the Fenix 5x Plus and love it). Just download the GPX file below and load it onto your GPS.
Many people also print out this web page for the turn-by-turn images. And if you really want to get tricky, YouTube Premium lets you download videos for offline use, so you can download the hike video and save it.
Laguna Coast Wilderness Park Hike Directions
Was This Guide Helpful?
It’s easy to help support this site (which I use to offset website hosting costs, etc.). Simply click on a link below to buy anything from REI or Amazon. I get a small percentage and you don’t pay anything extra.
You can also make a donation if you’d like, but please don’t feel obligated to do so.
The content on this site will always be free for everyone to enjoy.
And you can help other hikers as well. If you do this hike and something has changed, snap a few photos and send me the details. I’ll update the guide so that others can do the hike safely.
