Fitness * Artistic *

From Interstate 605 in Long Beach, exit at Spring Street and turn west. A park entrance is located off Spring Street. (If the westbound gate is closed, make a U-turn at the next light to enter at Spring Street's eastbound gate.) The entrance fee is $3 on weekdays and $5 on weekends. To park for free, continue west on Spring Street and turn right on Studebaker Road. Turn right again on Wardlow Road and then, just before you reach the river, turn right onto Stevely Avenue and park at the corner of Wardlow and Stevely. Skate across the bridge and enter the park halfway down on the north side of Wardlow at the bicycle and pedestrian gate near the fire station. (To do this, you must skate across the four-lane street without a crosswalk.) Map: Orange County Bikeway Map, available free by calling the County of Orange, EMA/Transportation Planning office at (714) 834-3111.

There are no two ways about it: the route of the Coyote Creek Trail, which follows the concrete canyon walls of a flood control canal, is strictly for training, not for sight-seeing. To speed skating and endurance enthusiasts, however, the opportunity to skate hard and fast for more than five miles without having to deal with crowds or stop at intersections is charm enough. The Coyote Creek Trail is accessible from El Dorado Park's bike path, at the southwest corner of Area III. Start out by skating to the south on the San Gabriel River Trail. Along this first mile, the scenery is quite pleasing where the path passes El Dorado Park and its nature study area. Beyond that, a commercial nursery on the riverside supplies bright dashes of color where rows of blossoming potted plants are germinated. A bridge across the river marks the branch to the northeast that is the Coyote Creek Trail. Cross the bridge and turn left to follow the Coyote Creek where it splits off to the northeast from the San Gabriel River. The creek marks one border of the dividing line between Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The Long Beach Parks Department tree farm can be seen across the canal to the left when the path dips for the underpasses of Katella Avenue and Interstate 605. To successfully coast across the seemingly gigantic grooves molded into the dips (presumably to keep water off the trail during the rainy season), keep your speed up and, with knees bent, push one skate slightly ahead to lengthen your wheel base and improve your fore-and-aft balance abilities. Except for a brief break in the urban scenery where Lee Ware Park is in view, wall surfaces and a series of underpasses add the only visual variations to this concrete tour. The route runs slightly below and behind mature neighborhoods and past fences that are either wood, brick, or shrub-covered chain link. Graffiti colors several walls. The bike path ends at Cerritos Regional County Park near an intersection where two counties and four towns meet: the towns of La Palma and Cypress in Orange, and Cerritos and Lakewood in Los Angeles. On the return trip, the bridge across the San Gabriel River marks the juncture where you can take a diversion down the San Gabriel River Bike Trail, described on page 336.