Seeking the Waters of Paradise--Just Off 101 Freeway

Paradise in Thousand Oaks?

Yes indeed, if falling water is a top indicator of an idyllic setting.

Paradise Falls leaps about 60 feet over a basalt cliff into a large pond. The falls’ size and vigor are unexpected, considering the land surrounding the cascade--an often dry locale that served as a film location for such western TV series as “Wagon Train,” “The Rifleman” and “Gunsmoke.”

The falls’ close-to-civilization location also adds to its surprise--just two miles as the raven flies from the Ventura Freeway.

Winter and early spring are the best times to view Paradise Falls at its most robust. However, even at times of low water, Paradise still manages to keep up appearances with a thin but frothy cascade slip-sliding in three tiers over the rocky crags.

Another spring attraction of Wildwood Park is its wildflower display. Spring bloomers include owls clover, Indian paintbrush, lupine, goldfields, California poppy, mariposa lily and shooting star. Astute floral observers will spot two rare flowering plants--Conejo buckwheat and Conejo dudleya--clinging to the cliffs adjacent to Paradise Falls.

Wildwood Park has plenty of room to roam--about 1,700 acres--and a trail system that’s well signed. Trails explore a handsome grassland plateau known as the Mesa, the dramatic volcanic crags of Mountclef Ridge and oak-shaded Wildwood Canyon.

With its extensive trail system, the park offers several paths to Paradise. You can loop around to the wild west end of the park via Mesa and Lizard Rock trails, then drop down to Paradise Falls. The quickest way to the falls is a rapid descent via Moonridge Trail.

My favorite way to Paradise is by way of Wildwood Canyon Trail. This path follows the North Fork of Arroyo Conejo and thus enables the hiker to watch the creek build up steam, so to speak, for its great leap and fall in the form of Paradise Falls.

Alas, even Paradise is not perfect, and it’s my duty to report that the area around the falls often does not smell as good as it looks. The malodorous smell appears to rise from a sewer line that extends near the trail and a sewage treatment plant that’s located along Arroyo Conejo near the park’s southwest boundary.

Directions to trail head: From U.S. 101 in Thousand Oaks, exit on Lynn Road and drive north 2.5 miles to Avenida de los Arboles. Turn left and drive about two blocks to the Wildwood Elementary School and signed Fort Wildwood Park on the left (south) side of the road. If school is not in session, park in the lot. If there’s no space in the school lot, plenty of parking is available across the street by the Wildflower play fields. For your safety, use the pedestrian underpass to cross Avenida de los Arboles.

The hike: Walk past the playground equipment at Fort Wildwood Park to the huge play fort. Unfortunately for the kids, Fort Wildwood is closed for repairs and encircled by a chain-link fence.

Wildwood Canyon Trail begins on the northwest side of the fort, by some residential backyards, and soon descends rather steeply into the canyon. Typically a canyon trail uses switchbacks to make the descent, but Wildwood’s trail builders created a series of steep wooden stairsteps to hasten the path’s descent.

The trail levels near the canyon bottom and crosses a footbridge over Arroyo Conejo. Soon you’ll encounter two more creek crossings, requiring some nimble boulder-hopping to keep your feet dry.

After the second crossing, the trail meets the park service road and begins a mellow meander 0.5 mile west to the Meadow Cave Nature Center, where there are restrooms and a drinking fountain.

Wildwood Canyon Trail continues paralleling the creek along tile oak-shaded canyon bottom to Little Falls, a picnic area. Next you follow a chain-link fence (designed to prevent hikers from tumbling like the water) to the base of Paradise Falls.

A large rock obscures the middle tier of falls, so the only way to view the entire falls is to wade into the middle of the pond. Most hikers are content to view the top and bottom sections of the cascade from the end of the trail.

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Wildwood Canyon Trail

WHERE: Wildwood Park, Thousand Oaks.

DISTANCE: From Port Wildwood Park to Nature Center is 2 miles round trip with 300-foot elevation gain; to Paradise Falls is 3 miles round trip.

TERRAIN: Oak woodland, volcanic rock formations.

HIGHLIGHTS: Robust waterfall, spring wildflowers.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Easy to moderate.

PRECAUTIONS: Wear your best waterproof boots and clothing.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Conejo Recreation and Park District; tel. (805) 495-2163.