Great, within the city , little big park reserve that offers a great getaway for the runner, biker, the hiker, the walker... not to mention the family get together. It's not small, and its not easy. Offering over 6 to 8 miles of trails, steep slopes and challenging uphills - be ready to be challenged! Narrow trails, just 4 entry points and well-maintained and marked trails. Parking isnt hard, either by the main street or the trailhead- with an off site staging area. There are bathrooms, but on the main upper trail area. Great photo scenic areas and fantastic nature ambiance. A strong 4.5 score - missing? Just a few more inner trails to mix it up. And the trail would've been nice to have ended at the beach..but, little details. Have fun, clean up after yourself and enjoy. read more

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First time visitor to this trail Street parking in a residential area off poppy and 5th, also another entrance off San Joaquin Rd area but no parking No dogs allowed Bicyclist allowed one way through Jogger hike walker friendly whether in a solo or group setting Lot of greenery but as many trees overhead for shade so bring a hat sunblock sunglasses as needed, no restrooms in the area or pathway Water can be heard as traveling through Saw various birds, rabbits, and hummingbirds Overall dirt, minor hills, some gravel, some narrow pathways that open up then close off Trail well defined and clean Would Certainly Return back read more

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I feel like this trail isn't known as much, but it's pretty decent! At the top, there is a gazebo. The high points of the trail have nice views. Once you head downwards, it's just a narrow path between foliage and bushes. It's long enough to get some good steps in though. read more

This was my second time coming back today & the distance of the hike said 3 miles total on my Apple Watch. I came here with a friend & it was her first time. I was glad to hear that she really enjoyed the hike & the scenery. Although there was hardly any rain this year, I was surprised to see lots of greenery in the shaded areas & it was beautiful. The shaded areas definitely helped us cool off a bit since it was hot today. Like I mentioned in the previous review, this is excellent trail for beginner hikers & I highly recommend it. read more

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I followed the directions on Yelp, and it took me to a memorial/grave yard place. Couldn't find the trails/parks.

Beautiful walk Bikes and runners also use the trail It is relaxing and is a nice getaway from congested streets of Corona Del Mar read more

Are you looking for a good hiking spot? Not used to hiking? No problem. Start slow and build your confidence. This is a good place for beginner hikers. Hiking with a group is a great way to not get lost on the trails lol Beautiful views. . Tip: Newport Coast Shopping Center - park there and walk to the trail. Starbucks (use the bathroom before hike) 21181 Newport Coast Dr Newport Coast, CA 92657 read more

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Nice hike, not stroller or dog friendly. We parked on Poppy street. It seems like it would be a paved road down but the paved road ends after 0.2 miles and I believe it says no dogs past paved road. Bring a carrier if you're bringing a kid. The day we went there was two other people on the trail, I doubt this place gets too crowded. We got to see a bunny bouncing around on our way. read more

Buck Gully Reserve - We did a there and back trail. Had sandwiches with a view at the top. There are no benches. - Hiking Near Me - Newport Coast, California

Parking is on Poppy in a neighborhood. You walk down the asphalt to the trail and you'll see the creek. Dogs are not allowed past the asphalt. There are 3 bridges along this nice and easy trail. I found it fun to get some trail running in but must be prepared for bikes coming through especially since it's single track. With minimal running, mostly hiking, it took me less than an hour to reach the end of the trail as it came to a climb. One may consider this trail short in length but if you're looking for a bit more mileage you can repeat it or even extend it for some gain (in steepness) in 2 offshoots. Bobcat was marked but not the other. If you come during sunset, you will get to hear the frogs start their nightly serenade. I've just found out the croaking is the males calling out to potential mates. read more

Buck Gully Reserve - Hiking Near Me - Newport Coast, California

This trail is a little bit hard to find and off the beaten path. It's located within a neighborhood and you need to park on the side of the street. If you turn left on Poppy Street then you should see the entrance. Usually, if you see other people walking, they may be walking to the trail as well. The trail itself is pretty shaded, filled with tons of biodiversity, and is about a 4 mile out and back trail with other small trails to make pit stops on. One thing to consider is that the walking paths on this trail are very narrow. Typically, people are not able to walk side by side and you have to be careful for bikers. Other than that, come explore this beautiful trail for yourself! read more

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Great trail for beginner hikers or if you just want a nice hike. Unlike some trails, you'll find more shady spots here in case you want a break from the heat because some of the trees form an arch. The uphill treks are also not bad at all. Check out the gully too that runs parallel to the trail. There aren't many points where you can cross directly from the trail to the gully but the ones where you can, check out the little fish and the crawfish that swim there. We saw quite a few crawfish. Only cons are you can't bring your dog with you, entrance to the trail is pretty hidden, and the trail is narrow (but shouldn't be a problem since there aren't as many hikers as with other trails). read more

Buck Gully Reserve - Crawfish! - Hiking Near Me - Newport Coast, California

Easy hike. Had a bunch of 9 and younger. We went about a mile down and hiked the mile back up without a problem. The dog thing is confusing - at the parking lot, it has the rules outlined for dogs, but then you get to the dirt trail, and there is a clear "no dogs allowed" sign. So, leave them home for this one. read more

Went here yesterday morning for a quick little bike ride and WOW! What a hidden gem in the middle of Newport Beach. First of all, it's extremely shaded, which is really nice protection in the heat! Second, it was justttt challenging enough where my heart was pumping, but not too strenuous where I felt like I needed to rest at any point. There was also nothing technical, so really it was just a nice 25 minute bike ride. It was also just so beautiful throughout the trail. Heads up for riders though - this is very packed with hikers, at least in the beginning, so take caution! Another word to bikers - the trail is only one way for bikers, so you'll pop out onto a residential road which you can follow back to the trailhead. Just make sure to bring your phone or another GPS device :) read more

Buck Gully Reserve - Hiking Near Me - Newport Coast, California

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If you use Google maps, you can find the trailhead by putting in " Buck Gully trailhead" located on Poppy Ave. near 5th Ave. This is just residential street parking. However, there is more than one way to get to the trailhead, but this seems to be the quickest way to the trail. I may try parking at Cannon watch Park next time and walk to Bobcat trail to get to Buck Gully or star from the Newport coast community center for a change of scenery. See map. Came after the rain and there were so many beautiful poppies and Lupin on the hillside. Most of the trail is a gentle up and down slope. but know that there is a steeper descent right at the beginning which makes it a steep ascent on the way back but that portion is paved. You also cross a couple bridges as there are streams along the trail. note that there is a sign stating that the trail is closed right now because it is wet. read more

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This is a nice little trail. -the trail is well maintained -the trail is wide enough -the elevation change is gradual -there is a small stream that runs along parts of the trail -there's plenty of street parking -everyone we came across was super nice and wearing masks The only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is that there's not much of a view throughout the trail. Other than that this is a nice little hike. I'd definitely recommend this hike for younger kids. read more

Closed due to the recent rains. But website is not updated. I walked to the beach instead. Quite nice! read more

Buck Gully Reserve - Closed today due to the recent rains. I instead walked to the beach. It's a nice and beautiful walk. - Hiking Near Me - Newport Coast, California

"Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley." --Theodore Roethke Buck Gully Reserve Trail is wonderful... IF YOU CAN FIND IT. It took me quite a while to locate the entry to this lovely trail head. The easiest way to find it is to go to Google Maps and type the following: 1. Search Buck Gully Reserve It will take you a swatch of green with the trail right smack in the middle of it. 2. Follow that trail dotted line to the left until you see the pin marker for Buck Gully Trailhead on Poppy Ave and zoom in. 3. Click on the home off of the trailhead with a big visible swimming pool and use that as the destination for your GPS. Obviously, try not to park in front of that house, but anywhere on the driver's side of Poppy is open to park on. The other side is a no-parking zone. Poppy Lane also curves around that property but I'm not sure if that is a parking zone or not. It's worth a look if Poppy Ave is full. NOTE: I included helpful screenshots with maps. Please reference those in the photos for extra help. Now that you've found it, enjoy a refreshingly nice hike hidden in the middle of Newport! When my hiking buddy and I went, the gully was full of water and we heard the relaxing sounds of a babbling brook on much of the hike. We went in December, when temperatures were cool, and a jacket is definitely recommended. About 2/3 of the trail is lush and bushy all around you with views of the creek, and the other 1/3 closest to San Joaquin Hills Road is dry with views of the homes on surrounding ridge lines. NOTE: At one point the trail with fork. Stay to the side parallel to San Joaquin Hills Rd. The other will dead end into a slope of residential properties. read more

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My husband and I enjoyed a beautiful hike on a Sunday morning. With California's wildflowers in bloom, this hike was the perfect place to see some wildflowers and enjoy the fresh spring air mixed with ocean breeze. Thanks to a Yelper's review, we were able to locate the entrance without any difficulties. If you're coming from Newport Blvd, continue on Pacific coast hwy and make a left turn into a residential neighborhood on Poppy Ave. Street parking is available. Entrance to the hike is located on Poppy Ave and Fifth Ave. There's a gate with a sign indicating the start of the hike. The beginning is a steady decline of pavement and you'll pass a bridge over a water brook. Once you pass the bridge, the path becomes a narrow dirt path. There's a lot of brush and flowers along the path. Towards 1/4 of the way in, the path runs parallel to the babbling brook, which makes it even more relaxing. I love this hike because there's a lot of shade provided by the trees. The hike splits onto another path (Bobcat hike) or you can continue on to the end of the hike for the ocean view. You go back the same way you started, so the incline becomes a little more difficult at the end. Recommendations: 1. Go early to enjoy the hike to yourself. The path is narrow, so you have to stop occasionally to let others pass. 2. Watch out for bikers! 3. As always bring water and wear sunscreen. Happy hiking! read more

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Such a fun easy hike to do with the kids. We love to try new hikes all the time and this will be on our rotation list. We did the three mile trail with the kids but would love to come back and do the six mile one with the hubby read more

Fun new hike:) a little muddy:) 5.2 miles total, took an hour and half at a moderate pace. Loved all the creek action. read more

Buck Gully Reserve - Bridge over untroubled water. - Hiking Near Me - Newport Coast, California

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This spot is a gem! Shaded for the most part, the sound of a running creek throughout, mostly flat throughout (only a few short spots where there's a little bit of an incline)..overall 10/10 recommend!! read more

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Since the pandemic my weekend routine with my family is to go hiking somewhere different each weekend. So I found this trail. The pros: it's smack dab in a nice little neighborhood in Corona Del Mar. There's plenty of parking and even on a Saturday at 11am, we encountered only a handful of people on the trail. From other reviews I saw that the round trip was 4+ miles. My dad wanted to call it quits half way bc "it's too hot and I have better scenery in my backyard". Lmao. I do have to say that the trail was quite nice for the first 0.5 mile - it was shaded, and a nice creek running thru. However past that, all you got was full sun on a dusty, rock filled narrow trail between dried brush. Still, not everywhere's gonna be the Sequoias or Yosemite after all. My poor dad's been spoiled. read more

Came here a couple of weeks ago with my brother for a little hike. I honestly try to start our hikes in the AM, but for whatever reason or another (usually because my brother wakes up late), we usually don't start our hikes until closer to noon. This was what happened on this hike as well. Parking wasn't hard to find (Canyon Watch Park), but the start of the trail was a little confusing. By reading past yelp reviews, I thought the trailhead would start somewhere close to the walkways. It didn't... we had to walk a ways down the road towards the community center parking area to find the start of the trail. Once we did, it was a nice, easy hike. We ended up hiking all the way around, then doubling back to Bobcat Trail to come out onto San Joaquin Hills Rd (because we weren't sure if the trail would lead us through a residential section or not to get back). While I would recommend this hike, I would suggest that the blackline trails be a little more explanatory. Remember to bring water as it gets pretty hot, and there's only shade at one end of the trail, towards Bobcat Trail. read more

It's a nice easy trail near a residential area. It's very narrow in most places. There's enough room for 2 people to walk shoulder to shoulder. Bikes are allowed to share the trail on certain parts of it. There's plenty of free residential parking nearby. I didn't give it 5 stars because there's no bathrooms here. I never get why there's hiking trails with no bathrooms or outhouses on them. My guess is because it's near residential area they figure residents come from their nearby home to hike the trail so they are not too far from their bathrooms. If you're not a nearby resident make sure you use the bathroom before you arrive. read more

I was surprised at how much I liked this trail. I hadn't heard too much about it, so I was excited to find that it was the bit of nature I was craving for a close hike somewhere new. You can't always see around the corner or ahead of the way, since there is a lot of foliage. In the beginning of the south end, there were quite a few bees, but they didn't bother. It's a pretty easy hike, as long as you can handle a small path and slight elevation. Lots of butterflies! It felt like we had a lot of privacy, other than 2 passerbyers. The only thing that bothered me was that when I was making my way back at the south end, I nearly got ran over by a biker going extremely fast. He was coming from the top of the hill with full speed. The path is very thin and there isn't really much room with all of the plants, plus, you can't even see around the corner with all of the roughage, and if I were in any other spot I would have been seriously injured, no joke. I was pretty pissed. No "excuse me" or "watch out." I had to jump out of the way pretty last minute. I ran into other bikers earlier, but they kept a controlled speed and warned us yards away. If you're biking through there, just watch out and watch your speed and announce your presence to people ahead of you. read more

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Great local trail after our California Super Bloom! There is easy access to walk up the trail from Poppy Avenue, or you can park at the pavilions shopping center in Newport Coast and walk about a block to an unmarked entrance. There is a gate and a gravel path that looks closed but keep on going. It is a 3 mile hike each way and absolutely beautiful with the flowers all in bloom. Shade and sun and you cross about three bridges over a bubbling Creek. read more

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Easy trail for family hike. This trail doesn't feel like you're in OC because the entrance is hidden by the residential area and not clearly mark, the address is not specified except off San Joaquin Rd. Start from the bottom and walk up, it's a little uphill in some area but has better view of the ocean. To get to the trail entrance from PCH turn left to Poppy Lane (opposite to the ocean) maybe half a mile and the entrance is on the right. This pics taken before and around 7am. read more

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We had hiked Crystal Cove a few times and enjoyed it. I did a quick google search and came across this one and I had never heard of it. We parked on San Joaquin Rd., our total hike was 4.9 miles. We were pleasantly surprised with the shade that the nearby hills and the trees provided...about half the hike was shaded. It was great to hear the water running...we were curious as to the origin of the water. The sound of the birds added to the experience. A downfall would be the narrow paths that you have to share with mountain bikers. It was awesome to see the view of the Pacific toward the end of our hike. Overall, it was a pleasant hidden gem. read more

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Love this hike! Perfect for my kids. I went during the weekday to avoid crowds and bikes. Nice and shady. Since it's the winter, the stream had running water and the kids had fun throwing rocks into it and sticks and poking sticks into the stream. We enjoyed the hike a lot! read more

Amazing hidden gem. Wanted to hike in a green atmosphere and this hike exceeded my expectations. Lush green trees shade your path, a creek runs along parts of it, you feel lost in nature. It's not too strenuous which I appreciate because my knees hurt of I go down too steep of a hill. Absolutely wonderful! read more

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Great hike for beginners! Took about 2 hours to finish all around, beautiful views once you get to the top and loved the sounds of the birds chirping and little creek running through the hike in the morning. read more

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The directions on yelp take you to the very top of the hill. Instead park on poppy avenue. It's a cute hike. Very popular.

Really nice beginner level hike! Some inclines but nothing too crazy. The trail was so cute, lined with arches of trees, a creek with ponds and fish, bridges, and even a couple benches! There is also a significant amount of shade which is always a plus for me. I didn't see much wildlife but also didn't see too many people or trash along the trail which was nice. It looked like it was well maintained/kept clean. I believe the full Buck Gully Trail is about 3 miles one way, we only did a little over half of it today though and turned around and it was perfect read more

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By far my favorite hike ever. I jog it at least once a week, the scenery is especially gorgeous during Spring. I love how close to the beach it is too. If you haven't already you should check it out! read more

It was ok. I prefer trails that have an end view. This trail just has nice bridges but the ends don't have anything spectacular read more

Gorgeous ocean views from this hilltop trailhead. Adjacent parking and well marked trail heads with a shorter and longer hike as options. Saw squirrels, butterflies, and a lot of birds. read more

Buck Gully Reserve - Hiking Near Me - Newport Coast, California

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This place was pretty hard to find. We had to park small parking space along the street and to get to Buck Gully Reserve, we had to walk up side walk, pass the light, pass the gated houses, then you will see on right side. We had to ask local for the direction. Walk was great! It had small walk space in between bushes even tough many bushes were dried we had to walk in 1 line. Be careful with bicycle, they will pass pretty fast pace! There are some bridges to stop by, small river, and chair to sit. It's not loop trail, so after we walk to the end of trail we had to come back half way and took short cut on a way back to parking spot which was pretty steep. I love this trail because it's not crowded, so quiet and you can actually enjoy the nature. We walked about 5 miles total. And my little 5yrs old made it so can you!! Family funday! read more

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found this spot on yelp since i was looking for a new place to hike! overall, it was a pretty easy trail with a few hills to climb if you go down certain paths. there is definitely A LOT of shrubbery probably because of the rain we've had but if you get allergies or don't like things brushing against you then i suggest wearing longer pants/sleeves. once the sun came out, it did get a little warmer so i suggest a hat (tho i have def been on hikes with way less occasional shady spots). however, there are great views of the ocean and lots of floral around so it's a great 'so cal-esque' hike. now for the LOW DOWN of how to even find this place! once you're driving up san joaquin road, the parking lot will be on your right (it's very small like those typical for scenic viewpoints). if you're driving downhill on san joaquin, you'll have to make a u-turn at some point because it's a one way road with a fat divide in the center. parking is free (whoop!) after you park there are two ways of entering the trail, you can either walk up san joaquin toward the housing area (this will take you to the buck gulley trail end (or beginning)- the length of the trail is about 2.6 miles one way OR you can walk down san joaquin (so you're facing cars as they drive by) until you see harbor watch park which is less than 5 min walk away from the parking area. walk down the cement path toward the buck gulley sign and you will first hop onto the bobcat trail which will meet the buck gulley trail in about 0.7 miles (you will be at the middle of the buck gulley trail once you hit it). don't be afraid of the shrubbery around you, if there is a clear path you are walking in the right direction!! once you hit buck gulley, if you walk right you will hit corona del mar and the shops near the beach. if you walk left, it will just take you up toward the housing complex area (i assume i didn't go this way but that's where the other end begins) as i am directionally challenged so apologies for all the descriptions! we ran into a few people like us who were looking for it for the first time so good luck and hope this helps! read more

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No dogs allowed but pretty looking trail. Couldn't get far due to having my dog, will be back.

A great hike where you really feel immersed in nature. The trails are narrow which makes it a bit hard when bikes are trying to pass.