California

Santa Ana River Trail

in California · centroid 29 mi from Riverside

Santa Ana River Trail is hiking trail in California. This page summarises what we have from public sources (OpenStreetMap and trail-association data); always verify current conditions and trail status with the maintaining organisation before heading out.

States: California
Network: Regional (rwn)
Reference: 2E03
Centroid nearest city: Riverside, CA · 29 mi · ~50 min drive
Centroid coords: 34.1386°, -116.9136°
OSM relation: 4004611

From Wikipedia: The Santa Ana River Trail is a multi-use trail complex that runs alongside the Santa Ana River in southern California. The trail stretches 30 miles (48 km) from the Pacific Ocean at Huntington Beach along the Santa Ana River to the Orange–Riverside county line. Planned extensions of the trail reach to Big Bear Lake in San Bernardino County. When completed, it will be the longest multi-use trail in Southern California, at approximately 100 miles (160 km). In 1989, the Los Angeles Times described the path as "a veritable freeway for bicycles". Excerpt from the Wikipedia article on Santa Ana River Trail, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Plan your hike

Practical notes

Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.

Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.

When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.

If you've hiked Santa Ana River Trail and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.

Stay nearby

Affiliate · disclosed

Driving in? The nearest documented metro is Riverside, CA — 29 miles away (~50 min drive). See accommodation in Riverside on Booking.com → RoamFound earns a small commission if you book through this link, at no extra cost to you. How we handle affiliate links.

Sources

Public data + curation

Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.