Touring * Beginner *

From Interstate 405 in Fountain Valley, take the Brookhurst Street exit and head north. Mile Square Golf Course begins at Warner Avenue. Keep going north and turn right at Edinger Avenue. Enter the park at Ward Avenue and find a place to park. Map: Orange County Bikeway Map, available free by calling the County of Orange, EMA/Transportation Planning office at (714) 834-3111.

Beginning and first-time skaters can get a safe start on the smooth, shady sidewalks in and around Mile Square Regional Park. Low knolls throughout the grassy park offer a chance to experience the thrill of speed without risking devastating consequences. Picnic tables and water fountains allow struggling novices to take refreshing breaks so that they can get back out on the pavement to work on making effective strokes, turning corners and, of course, applying the heel brake. A couple of little bridges over a creek provide good practice for traversing the bumpy wood-slat bridges that cross rivers and creeks throughout the region. Confidence and skills permitting, skate out to Edinger Avenue and follow its fine sidewalk up to Euclid Street. Turn right onto Euclid Street and continue south until you reach Warner Avenue. A small pond graces this corner, and more sidewalks extend into the central park area. Beginners should avoid continuing up the path on Warner Avenue, because it is paved with rough, pitted asphalt along the edge of Mile Square Golf Course. Faster, stronger skaters can skate the asphalt or take to the street close to the curb to continue around the loop, making another right at Brookhurst Street. Next to Brookhurst, a six-foot-wide sidewalk meanders north to the intersection with Edinger Avenue. Eucalyptus and maple trees decorate the corner that the park shares with the David L. Baker Memorial Golf Course. At the right edge of the sidewalk, a low but unobtrusive fence allows a good view of the golf course.