Bonelli Park

Social Distance Hikes & Bike Rides

Well, can you get outdoors? From what we understand going on a hike is okay as long as it's not busy and you can maintain six feet of distance from others. And staying local in your community. So we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite easy hikes and bike rides around Southern California. Due to the changing dynamics of the Covid-19 health emergency, please be sure to thoroughly check the official websites of all outdoor places and spaces to learn about and updates in status, such as closures, or parking lot closures. We’ll get through this—be safe, healthy, and kind!

Tucked in the southeast corner of Griffith Park, Beacon Hill is an example of how you don’t have to travel far or aim high to reach one of the best panoramas of LA’s skyline.

When a film location is known as “the most shot-up location in movie history” you know you’re in for an adventure. A 1-mile out-and-back trail in 23-acre Garden of the Gods threads through sandstone boulders that were natural icons of Hollywood’s Golden Age, back when this site was known as the Iverson Movie Ranch.

Biking the 10-mile Newport Beach Back Bay Loop Trail is a great way to see the quiet side of Newport Beach—the side that isn’t beach. Instead you’ll ride through 1,000 acres of coastal wetlands known as the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve and Ecological Reserve.

The 6.3-mileBonelli Park Loop Trail is proof you don’t have to go far to escape the city. In San Dimas, the park's nearly 2,000 acres of rolling hills surround 250-acre Puddingstone Lake with views of the towering San Gabriel Mountains just to the north.

This five-mile fat-tire cruise in the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve is what mountain bikers call a middle-chainring ride—no extremes, nothing technical, but rather a gentle climb into the Simi Hills and a gentle descent on the return through an oak-studded landscape. More about nature than rad biking.

The Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t get many human visitors, but more than 30,000 birds make it a point to visit this hidden gem every year. It consists of 2,200 acres of wetland, farm fields, and desert across two separate units on the Salton Sea’s sparsely populated south shore.

Week: 03.19.2020
Regions: Southern CA

Well, can you get outdoors? From what we understand going on a hike is okay as long as it's not busy and you can maintain six feet of distance from others. And staying local in your community. So we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite easy hikes and bike rides around Southern California. Due to the changing dynamics of the Covid-19 health emergency, please be sure to thoroughly check the official websites of all outdoor places and spaces to learn about and updates in status, such as closures, or parking lot closures. We’ll get through this—be safe, healthy, and kind!

1) Message from Weekend Sherpa's Founder

2) Glow Up

Tucked in the southeast corner of Griffith Park, Beacon Hill is an example of how you don’t have to travel far or aim high to reach one of the best panoramas of LA’s skyline.

3) Garden of the Gods

When a film location is known as “the most shot-up location in movie history” you know you’re in for an adventure. A 1-mile out-and-back trail in 23-acre Garden of the Gods threads through sandstone boulders that were natural icons of Hollywood’s Golden Age, back when this site was known as the Iverson Movie Ranch.

4) Bike the Back Bay

Biking the 10-mile Newport Beach Back Bay Loop Trail is a great way to see the quiet side of Newport Beach—the side that isn’t beach. Instead you’ll ride through 1,000 acres of coastal wetlands known as the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve and Ecological Reserve.

5) Bounty of Bonelli

The 6.3-mileBonelli Park Loop Trail is proof you don’t have to go far to escape the city. In San Dimas, the park's nearly 2,000 acres of rolling hills surround 250-acre Puddingstone Lake with views of the towering San Gabriel Mountains just to the north.

6) Ride Open Spaces

This five-mile fat-tire cruise in the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve is what mountain bikers call a middle-chainring ride—no extremes, nothing technical, but rather a gentle climb into the Simi Hills and a gentle descent on the return through an oak-studded landscape. More about nature than rad biking.

7) Sonny & Share!

The Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t get many human visitors, but more than 30,000 birds make it a point to visit this hidden gem every year. It consists of 2,200 acres of wetland, farm fields, and desert across two separate units on the Salton Sea’s sparsely populated south shore.

Trending Stories NorCal

View all Stories
  1. Aloha from California

    Say Aloha without leaving California with a 7-mile out-and-back hiking adventure to Lake Aloha in El Dorado National Forest. You can also camp here, a premier place for stargazing.

    View
  2. Sequoia Re-opens Crystal Cave

    Step inside Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park's hidden world by visiting the newly re-opened Crystal Cave—the only cave in the parks open to the public. Closed for four years, this rare marble karst cavern is welcoming visitors once again, but only through the summer season!

    View
  3. Easiest Best Hike in the World

    Choose the easiest and most view-rewarding hike in Yosemite. Okay, we’ll go first: the combination of hiking to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point. Both of these lookouts are within a couple miles of each other on Glacier Point Road

    View
  4. Hiker in the forest at Mount Sutro in San Francisco

    San Francisco's Middle Earth

    No need to travel to New Zealand to visit Middle Earth. San Francisco’s Mount Sutro Open Space is practically Hobbiton—a hidden “shire” in the middle of the city. Okay, maybe not quite as magical, but still an incredible place to take a hike in city limits.

    View

Trending Stories SoCal

View all Stories
  1. Can't Top This

    San Francisco’s Presidio was already a fantastic place to hang out for the afternoon, a beautiful site within the largest urban national park in the United States (the Golden Gate National Recreation Area). And Presidio Tunnel Tops is like a cherry on top. Make that two cherries on top, with the newly opened (July 2025) Outpost Meadow, a 1.5-acre green space located at Old Mason Street across from the Crissy Field Marsh in the Presidio.

    View
  2. Underground Garden

    Looking to escape the summer heat? Head to Fresno and discover its cool secret: the Forestiere Underground Gardens–an enchanting garden and architecture oasis like no other.

    View
  3. Volcanic Activity

    Northern California is home to one of the most unique ecosystems in the country: Lassen Volcanic National Park. The region features geothermal areas, including the largest dome volcano in the world, Lassen Peak. Hike to the top of this active volcano on a 5-mile out-and-back.  

    View
  4. Oh Ryan

    Sure, it’s those whimsical trees that give Joshua Tree National Park its marquee billing; but this beautiful landscape also has surrounding mountains and its night sky—one of the darkest in Southern California and designated an International Dark Sky Park. Joshua Tree has four allowable stargazing parking lots, and a newly opened haven for spending the night nearby...

    View