I love this park and it's beautiful and it's very nice to see people enjoying their own placeread more

I am writing to share some observations from my family's visit to the park yesterday, as I believe…read morethey warrant attention. We generally find the park to be a wonderful amenity, and we deeply appreciate its natural beauty. However, during our visit yesterday, we encountered several situations that significantly detracted from our experience and raised concerns regarding safety and park regulations. While walking along one of the trails, particularly towards the end, we observed a large group of individuals from foreign country spreading throughout the area. Concurrently, we noticed a distinct and pervasive odor of cannabis. Further along the path, my family and I also observed three men gathered near a rock formation up the hill. As we were returning from our walk, we witnessed an individual openly smoking a cigarette. We understand that smoking is generally prohibited in public park areas, especially given the presence of families and children. Additionally, as my children were enjoying their scooters near the path, a vehicle approached at what appeared to be excessive speed, estimated around 30 mph, without slowing down. This incident was particularly alarming as it created an immediate safety concern for my children and other park users. Collectively, these incidents led us to feel a degree of discomfort and concern for our family's safety, prompting us to conclude our visit earlier than planned. I wanted to bring these matters to your attention in the hope that appropriate measures can be considered to ensure the park remains a safe and enjoyable environment for all visitors. Thank you for your time and consideration.

A hidden gem. In the middle of a heavily developed area that has plenty of small, manicured parks…read moredesigned around baseball diamonds and jungle gyms (there's nothing wrong with those!) this is the opposite. Twenty-nine heavily wooded acres - large enough to feel like you're in the wilderness, with a small creek (which would probably be bigger if we weren't in the middle of a 6 month drought), and a few lighty groomed trails. It was literally empty at 1:30 on a hot Saturday afternoon. It was hot out, but under the shade of the huge trees it was very comfortable, extremely peacefull.

I found this park as part of my goal to find local parks and trails amid the COVID-19 outbreak to…read moreget some exercise. It's a 29 acre natural preserve park with out equipment nor restrooms; but it does offer a small creek that meanders through the park. Also, the park has a mature eucalyptus grove, a trail that finds its way around the perimeter of the park, and wild grassy open areas. It's not a maintained open area. You can bring your dogs for a walk. The trail is not very long and it's pretty easy, accept when you have to cross near the creek. It's nice to see these open spaces between communities.

This is a very nice park in East County San Diego that I discovered. It offers some very nice…read moreamenities, excluding a public restroom. It offers a terrific well maintained large grass area, four water stations for humans and pets, doggy poop bags, picnic tables, benches, and exercise stations which to my surprise looked pretty involved and of very good quality. There's a nice path available for walking. The landscaping is beautiful. It was what I most loved about this county park. The park is heavily spotted with mature and young trees, flowering plants and shrubs, and native bushes and California native oak trees as well. The grass area is large enough for many types of games. Parking is along the street adjacent to the street. Great park.

I came here as a result of Google search for a nearby nearby park to have a picnic and relax…read morebefore the car show. First let me point out that the one easily missed sign for the park clearly states Bill Beck Play Ground. This could have affected my decision to visit when I did. On a positive note I was able to check off one more park I've visited. It was actually a nice park to visit. My biggest challenge as a 70 year old man was the fact that there were no public restrooms available. This inconvenience cut my visit short and I ended up going to the Library to relax and use the restroom before the car show. On the day I visited the place was practically empty. One man enjoying the exercise equipment and a coule of kids on the play structure. I'm going to guess the kids were with the man. In addition to the play structure and exercise equipment was a nice field where all sorts of games can be played. There were several picnic tables available with a reasonable amount of mature Shade trees. The addition of a public restroom would have greatly boosted my star rating, even a porta potty with a hand washing station would have been acceptable. I've talked to El Cajon locals nearly my age that lived in the neighborhood as kids who had fond memories of Bill Beck Play Ground. They had the luxury of running across the street to use the restroom at home. I did have a nice picnic and took a few pictures to share. Thanks for reading . Enjoy the photos. ¹

This is a great neighborhood park! It's quaint and small with a couple of swings and slides for the…read morekids with some workout machines for adults. Tonight (Friday's) is summer free movie night in El Cajon which is what I love about living here. Check the El Cajon city website for the movie schedule or just Dr. Google Friday free movies by the park and stop by and enjoy an evening at the park.

This place is connected to the Mission Trails system. It appears to connect to all the trails on…read moreMission Trails. I saw plenty of trails for bikes and hikers. Obviously based on the name horses are allowed on certain parts of the trails. Lots of pretty sites on the trail and the water system here connects to the Old Misson Trail dam. I enjoyed this hike.

Great place ! Even when a lot of cars! Weekends! Week day! So nice! Lots of open back areas space…read moreto enjoy, without all the hoopla ! Nice little camp ground at entrance! Very laid back. Walk! Bike! Hike . Climb.

This is a great place to trail run and mountain bike! There is the main fire road that goes all the…read moreway up to Crest. There are hiking trails that branch off from the fire road. I see rock climbers, but I'm not sure where they are climbing. This isn't as steep as Cowles mountain, but it's much more peaceful! The goal for trail runners is to make it all the way up to Crest. Don't forget to try and sprint Mike's hill!

Alltrails lists this as 'Horse thief Canyon', then I saw that I had this listing bookmarked on Yelp…read morefor sometime and noticed that they were the same thing! Distance: ~3.3mi., reverse out-and-back (you will be going uphill on the return trip) Difficulty: easy-intermediate-ish (~0.5mi ascent on your way out which can get the heart pumping!) Time: 1.5-2 hours Permit required?: No (according to permit site - https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/r5/passes-permits/?cid=stelprdb5208699&width=full) Sights of Interest: Mini waterfall and pool Parking is in a big dirt lot just off of Japatul Lyons Valley Rd.. Turn in at Forest Rt 16S04. No bathrooms, so bring some T.P.! There are three gates as you approach - two smaller ones and a large one leading to a service road. Take the gate with a sign marking the 'Epinosa Trail to Secret Canyon Trail'. You'll end up on the service road either way. Continue on the service road until you see a sign off to the right that says 'Trail'. This is where you'll begin the descent into Horse thief Canyon. Eventually it evens out into a nice shady area alongside a stream. Lots of vegetation and growth everywhere, so make sure to *bring the bug spray*! There's a stream crossing after which you'll come upon the pool! Lots of great places to hang out on and relax on boulders. Water is pretty clean for swimming too. Awesome place to bring your dogs to cool off after the dusty trail. Just remember to pack your trash out if you plan on picnic-ing down at the pool! Most of your journey is on the Epinosa Trail and supposedly the Secret Canyon Trail is just beyond the pool, but the trail doesn't seem to continue anywhere beyond it. Great trail either way that experiences very little foot traffic so the area is very well preserved and wild! FYI, apparently this area experiences an influx of illegal immigrants and smugglers, but I think that was in earlier years. It was pretty safe when I went and I only had my dog in tow. But, I like to live life on the edge, so if you are wary come with a group!

If you go during the week during normal business hours this trail is dead! It was our 2nd time here…read moreand there was only 1 car in the parking lot and we never even ran into the people. This is nice but also kind of scary especially since it's kind of in the middle of nowhere and you don't have great service but luckily I am alive today to write this review. The first time we went on this hike we missed the path and ended up just heading straight through on a dirt road so pay attention on your right hand side for a sign marked trail. This trail would have gotten more stars if it wasn't for the ridiculous amount of flies. I almost turned back because I couldn't stand them constantly flying in my face and in my ears. Maybe I am not an outdoorsy person if I cant handle that but it was hard to enjoy this hike when I was having to smack flies away the whole time. This is also one of those hikes that is fairly easy on the way down but tough on the way back because you have to go back up. I will say though that it was a really pretty hike and there is a creek at the bottom. We didn't go the whole way but did about a little over 3 miles of it. It's about a mile and a half to see the beginning of the creek. Maybe wearing bug spray might help with the flies?

So I guess I'm going to share how not to go on a hike at The Navajo Canyon Preserve. I missed the…read moreCollege Dr. exit I was directed to when driving Eastbound. Got off at Waring where my map directed to me a very lovely neighborhood which I'm assuming is above the canyon. I then hurriedly look at the other comments here and see something about a church. I find the church and feel like a total freak but still get out of the car because there is a sign and an arrow pointing to the right. I set out on a nice little jaunty hike. A little uphill here, a little drop. I'm not sure how far I actually got (I know it was not far) when I realized that I was pretty much walking thru brush and not really on a trail. I did see the graffiti pipe and after passing that I saw a sleeping bag so I immediately turned around and hauled myself out of there. Upon reaching the top/entrance to my hike, I then see a sign stating that this is a protected habitat. Obviously it had been some sort of trail at some point (my pictures sure look like a trail to me) but not anymore. I was definitely behind houses but not too close and if anyone saw me, I hope they enjoyed the show. The whole thing was just hilarious as well because when I booked it out of there, my water bottle's lid was hanging off and then I dropped it and it rolled just within reach under a cactus which took some maneuvering to retrieve. There are seemingly much better entrances and either someone turned the sign with the arrow the wrong way or it was simply overlooked. I just went that way without a second thought. To state the obvious but just in case someone gets adventurous sometime and goes off the beaten path, I do not recommend venturing here in the summer heat. Enjoy my pictures of my trespassing.

This is a totem of how far we have strayed from loving our mother earth as well as our fellow man…read more First and foremost we were warmly greeted by a strong smell of human and animal urine as well as a bag of dog poop decaying at the start of the trail. I thought well it can't get any worse; How truly wrong I was. At the start of the trail there was a mound of human trash and what appeared to be at first glance a giant jar of kimchi in the mound of trash unfortunately after further inspection it was most certainly not kimchi. I speculate it be a jar of bloody bandages however I could be mistaken. Additionally in the mound were cans of discarded food, clothes and what appeared to be an etch a sketch toy. In this area is also an active encampment they live in the tunnel right on the trail to the left. The walk was very rocky not suitable for the elderly, children, or wheeled items. Also not suitable for me evidently. I chugged on hoping maybe a glimmer of hope lay past that but as the walk progressed more trash was appearing and the distant feeling of being followed was encroaching us. Our group departed to our cars, unfortunately the only parking available at the time was across a busy street so we had to look both ways. A notable trash was obviously the suspicious jar, and a can of empty pears. What was so suspicious about canned pears you might think. Well who's out here being a happy participant of consuming pears that are canned. I don't think my sorrow from this journey will ever turn to joy.