Wildwood Regional Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Wildwood Regional Park
Little Falls waterfall.
Type	Regional park
Location	Simi Hills and Conejo Valley, Ventura County, California
Area	1,765 acres (7.14 km2)
Created	1967
Operated by	Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA)
Status	Open

Wildwood Regional Park is a large park located in Ventura County, California. You can find it in western Thousand Oaks, northern Newbury Park, and southern Moorpark. It's a great place to explore the outdoors!

This park has over 27 miles of hiking trails for you to discover. Some of the main trails are the Mesa, Moonridge, Wildwood Canyon, and Santa Rosa Trails. Wildwood is also home to many different living things. Scientists have found over 250 types of plants, 37 kinds of mammals, 70 bird species, and 22 types of amphibians and reptiles here.

The park covers about 1,765 acres (7.14 km2). It also connects to other open areas, adding another 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) to explore. The Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA) helps manage and take care of the park.

Lizard Rock, a cool rock formation in Wildwood Park.

Paradise Falls, a beautiful waterfall in the park.

Discovering Wildwood Regional Park's Past

Wildwood Regional Park has a long and interesting history. For more than 8,000 years, the Chumash people lived in this area. You can still find many old sites here where they lived. Some things found include stone tools, shell beads, and arrowheads. A Chumash village called Yitimasɨh was once located where Wildwood Elementary School is today. There's also Wildflower Cave near Mount Clef Ridge, which the Chumash used as a shelter a long time ago.

Wildwood's Movie Star Days

In the 1800s and early 1900s, the land was used for grazing sheep and cattle. But then, from the 1930s to the 1960s, it became a famous place for filming Hollywood movies! It was known as the Janss Conejo Ranch. Many wild west movies were filmed here, along with popular TV shows. Imagine cowboys and pioneers riding through these very hills!

Some of the famous shows and movies filmed here include Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, The Big Valley, and Wagon Train. Even today, you might see a TV show or commercial being filmed in the park sometimes.

How Wildwood Park Was Created

Wildwood Regional Park officially started in 1967. That's when the Conejo Recreation and Park District (CRPD) bought parts of the land, including Mount Clef Ridge and Wildwood Canyon. Later, in 1987, it joined with Wildwood Mesa Park. Now, the park is managed by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA). This agency is a team effort between the Conejo Recreation and Park District and the City of Thousand Oaks.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, popular spots like Paradise Falls sometimes had to limit visitors. This was to make sure people could stay a safe distance apart and to help keep the park clean.

Fun Things to Do and See at Wildwood

Mount Clef Ridge is a well-known landmark in Wildwood.

Wildwood Regional Park is a fantastic place for outdoor fun! You can go hiking, mountain biking, jogging, or even horseback riding. It's also a great spot for picnics, educational tours, and watching wildlife.

Some of the most exciting places to visit in the park include the 70-foot (21-meter) tall Paradise Falls waterfall. There's also the Arroyo Conejo Creek, a large wooden teepee, a Nature Center, and the Indian Cave. Don't miss Lizard Rock, a unique rock formation that looks like a lizard!

From high spots like Lizard Rock and Teepee Overlook, you can see amazing views of the whole Conejo Valley.

Wildwood's Special Attractions

Here are some of the cool places you can find in Wildwood Regional Park:

• Arroyo Conejo: A beautiful creek, its bed, and a deep gorge.
• Paradise Falls: A stunning 70-foot (21-meter) waterfall that flows all year round.
• Little Falls: Another lovely waterfall that also flows throughout the year.
• Lizard Rock: A jagged rock formation that really does look like a lizard!
• Mount Clef Ridge: A rocky area made of volcanic rock. It's also a path for animals to travel safely. This ridge has been in many movies, like Flaming Star and Spartacus.
• Indian Cave: A natural cave to explore.
• Nature Center (Meadows Cave): A place to learn more about the park's nature.
• Teepee Overlook: A big wooden teepee on a hill, offering great views.

Exploring Wildwood's Trails

The park has fourteen different nature trails, covering over 27 miles (43 km) in total. That's a lot of ground to explore!

Some of the most popular trails include:

• The 2.5-mile (4 km) Mesa Trail Loop.
• The 3-mile (4.8 km) Lizard Rock Trail.
• The 3-mile (4.8 km) Moonridge Trail.
• The 3-mile (4.8 km) Paradise Falls Trail.
• The 3-mile (4.8 km) Indian Creek Loop.
• The 4-mile (6.4 km) Wildwood Park Loop.
• The 6-mile (9.7 km) Lower Butte Trail Loop.
• The 6-mile (9.7 km) Lynnmere Trail.
• The 6.3-mile (10.1 km) Santa Rosa Trail, which goes towards California Lutheran University.
• The 6.5-mile (10.5 km) Santa Rosa Loop.
• The 7-mile (11.3 km) Hill Canyon Trail.

To get to the main park entrance, take the Lynn Road exit from the 101 Freeway (Ventura Freeway). Drive north on Lynn Road for about 2.5 miles (4 km) until you reach Avenida de Los Arboles. Turn left and continue for 0.9 miles (1.4 km) to the end of the street at Big Sky Drive. There are also many other places to start your hike, including various spots in Thousand Oaks, Santa Rosa Valley, Camarillo, Newbury Park, and Moorpark.

This park is a special path for animals like cougars.

Wildwood's Amazing Nature

Wildwood Regional Park is famous for its different types of land, its many animals, and its two waterfalls. The park has large areas of volcanic rock, the Arroyo Conejo creek that flows all year, and its two waterfalls. You'll also see forests of coast live oak and valley oak trees. The creek-beds are lined with California sycamore trees and cattails. There are also several canyons, steep hills, and flat grasslands.

The weather here is like a Mediterranean climate, which means mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. It's often a bit cooler than other areas nearby because cool breezes from the coast can easily blow through the canyons.

Plants of Wildwood

The park has a huge variety of plants, with over 250 different species recorded! The types of plant areas, called habitats, include:

• Southern oak woodlands: Forests mainly made of oak trees.
• Riparian woodland: Forests found along the banks of rivers and creeks.
• Chaparral and coastal sage scrub: Areas with tough, woody shrubs that can handle dry weather.
• California grassland: Open areas covered in grasses.
• Freshwater marsh: Wet, marshy areas with water plants.

Wildlife in Wildwood

The western pond turtle lives in the Arroyo Conejo creek.

Wildwood Regional Park is home to a wide range of animals. It's also an important wildlife corridor. This means it's a safe path for animals to travel between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Santa Susana Mountains. The park has 60 types of birds, 37 kinds of mammals, and 22 species of amphibians and reptiles.

You'll find many mammals here, like the common mule deer, coyote, and bobcat. Sometimes, you might even spot cougars and ring-tailed cats. Smaller mammals include the grey fox, striped skunk, spotted skunk, California raccoon, and Virginia opossum. You might also see Audubon's cottontail rabbits, long-tailed weasels, and western gray squirrels.

The most common amphibians live near the Arroyo Conejo creek. These include the ensatina salamander, slender salamander, western toad, American bullfrog, California toad, Pacific tree frog, and the California red-legged frog.

There are many reptiles too, such as side-blotched lizards, southern alligator lizards, and western fence lizards. You can also find the native western pond turtle. The park is home to several types of snakes, including southern Pacific rattlesnakes, San Diego gopher snakes, California kingsnakes, and western aquatic garter snakes.

Look up to see a variety of birds! There are songbirds, woodpeckers, and birds of prey like red-tail hawks, Cooper's hawks, owls, ravens, and falcons.

Mammals of Wildwood Park

Wildwood Regional Park is home to 37 different kinds of mammals, including:

Reptiles and Amphibians of Wildwood Park

Here are some of the reptiles and amphibians you might find in Wildwood Regional Park:

Movies and TV Shows Filmed Here

A road nearby, Flaming Star Avenue, is named after the movie Flaming Star (1960), which starred Elvis Presley and was filmed in this area. The park is still sometimes used for filming today.

Here are some of the many movies and TV shows that were filmed in Wildwood Regional Park: