Wilderness Gardens Preserve

Exit Interstate 15 at Highway 76(Pala Road). Drive east 10 miles to the Wilderness Gardens Preserve parking on the right.

Wilderness Gardens is a 676 acre open space preserve located near Pala.

The park is open Thursday through Monday, 8 A.M to 4 P.M. The trailhead features a nice picnic area. The nearby Alice Fries Nature Trail loops a sort distance around the north bank of the San Luis Rey River.

The hike described here starts by crossing the San Rey River. Just ahead, on the left the Upper Meadow Trail begins. Follow it along an oak-dotted terrace and up some steps to the small “upper meadow” and around the edge of a small, dried-up reservoir at 0.5 miles into the hike.

The trail continues west a little, and then drops through a shady ravine to a grassy slope just south of a large, cattail-fringed pond.

To the right, currently offlimits, lies a ranger residence, an old barn.

Our way bends left on the Camellia View Trail, which curls around a couple of grassy depressions and connects to a graded dirt road (1.3 miles) along a flat river terrace just south of the San Luis Rey River. Turn right (east). Soon the road bends south, returning you to the cattail-fringed pond.