Urban Trails: Sacramento. John Soares

and lets you drop right down to the banks of the Sacramento River, where you can watch birds flying about in front of Sacramento’s downtown skyline. The path runs 0.3 mile past the multistepped Ziggurat office building to the I Street Bridge. Return the way you came, or cross the I Street Bridge and then turn right to drop back into Old Sacramento near the California State Railroad Museum.

3

William Land Park

DISTANCE:	3.0 miles of trails
ELEVATION GAIN:	Negligible
HIGH POINT:	15 feet
DIFFICULTY:	Easy
FITNESS:	Walkers, runners
FAMILY-FRIENDLY:	Yes, includes Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale Town
DOG-FRIENDLY:	On-leash
BIKE-FRIENDLY:	Yes
AMENITIES:	Bathrooms, picnic tables, water, wide variety of recreation facilities
CONTACT/MAP:	Sacramento City Parks and Recreation; download map from website
GPS:	N 38˚32.349', W 121˚30.137'
MORE KEY INFO:	Open sunrise to sunset; much of the park is wheelchair accessible

       GETTING THERE

      Driving: From downtown Sacramento, go south on I-5 for about 2.5 miles and take the Sutterville Road exit (exit 516), also signed for William Land Park and the Sacramento Zoo. Travel Sutterville Road for 0.4 mile and then turn left onto Land Park Drive. Continue another 0.1 mile and then park in the vicinity of the Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale Town. There are many other places in and near the park where you can park your car.

      Transit: Bus 11 stops at several places in and near William Land Park, including at the Sacramento Zoo.

      With everything you could possibly want in a suburban park—baseball diamonds, basketball courts, a golf course, a fishing pond, the Sacramento Zoo, Fairytale Town, numerous picnic tables, and an extensive road and trail system that lets you explore it all—William Land Park is popular with Sacramento residents of all ages and athletic proclivities. That said, it is a suburban park: a lot of people visit, and it’s surrounded

      by busy streets, so it appeals most to those who want a nearby place to walk, and is especially suited for families with younger children.

       GET MOVING

      Rather than recommending a specific itinerary, this description provides general guidance and information and gives you the best options for enjoying William Land Park, a major destination for Sacramento residents since 1918. At 241 acres, the park is easy to navigate, and you shouldn’t have any problem finding your way back to your parking spot. A network of roads and walking paths leads to all major parts of the park, and there are many places where you can leave the roads and paths to wander open grassy areas as well as under the shade of large trees.

      Three main attractions await you in the southwest area of the park, near the parking area described in Getting There, above, and all have major appeal to the younger set. The Sacramento Zoo has nearly five hundred animals of many different species, from the big and tall—lions, snow leopards, and giraffes—to the small—aardvarks, meerkats, and reptiles. (Open daily except Christmas and Thanksgiving; see www.saczoo.org for more information, including admission fee.)

      Fairytale Town delights young children with fairy-tale–themed play areas, farm animals, several gardens, and more. (Open daily except July 4, Thanksgiving, and Christmas; see www.fairytaletown.org for more information, including admission fee.)

      Funderland has a variety of rides, giving young children the opportunity to fly on the back of a dragon, spin inside some really big cups, and ride the miniature train. (See http://funderlandpark.com for more information, including admission fee and hours.)

      North of the Sacramento Zoo, Land Park Drive travels past Duck Lake a fishing spot where anglers young and old try their luck. Farther along Land Park Drive several baseball diamonds make great stopping points during spring and summer if you want to catch a practice or a game.

       Anne Rudin Peace Pond on the north side of William Land Park

      A section of the park extends west from the northernmost baseball diamond, bounded by Riverside Boulevard, Eleventh Avenue, Thirteenth Avenue, and Thirteenth Street. This is a relatively peaceful area to meander among the large trees.

      The northern boundary of the main part of the park lies along Thirteenth Avenue between Land Park Drive to the west and Freeport Boulevard to the east. Beautiful homes with interesting landscaping line the north side of Thirteenth Avenue, while on the south side in the park itself native trees such as redwoods, valley oaks, and California sycamores invite you to enjoy their cool shade. Be sure to visit the Anne Rudin Peace Pond, accessed from Fourteenth Avenue to the north and Eighteenth Street to the east. Named for former Sacramento mayor Anne Rudin, the pond is a beautiful spot to watch ducks and geese.

      You can also walk the perimeter of the park on the packed dirt path, which runs beside city streets with their attendant traffic noise. To have a more natural experience, in many instances you can walk a bit farther inside the park parallel to the packed dirt path.

       Oaks shade a section of the trail from Mormon Island Cove to Browns Ravine (Trail 11).

      GREATER SACRAMENTO URBAN AREA

      The burgeoning population of the Sacramento area has expanded mainly eastward from downtown Sacramento, with small towns like Roseville and Folsom becoming sizable cities in recent decades. Indeed, much of the population of the greater urban area now lives outside of the Sacramento city limits.

      The broad American River winds through this suburban expanse, and you’ll find plenty of walking and hiking opportunities on and near this waterway. The Sacramento area is extremely fortunate to have the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail (American River Bike Trail; see “The American River Parkway” sidebar in the Downtown Sacramento section), a paved path open to walkers and runners that stretches 32 miles along or near the American River from its confluence with the Sacramento River in Discovery Park all the way to Folsom Lake.

      This section features several regional parks along the American River where you can both explore the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail and wander dirt paths and roads that wind across the floodplain and down to the banks of the river itself. You’ll also find the best hikes farther upstream, including a long loop around Lake Natoma, plus paths running along and above the shores of Folsom Lake. Two hikes also run along the riparian corridor of Dry Creek in the Roseville area.