Читать книгу Urban Trails: Sacramento - John Soares - Страница 30
Оглавление| 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).
