Wilson Canyon Park is a public park located in the western

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

, in the neighborhood of

Sylmar Sylmar is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley and is the northernmost neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles. Historically known for its profusion of sylvan olive orchards, Sylmar can trace its past to the 18th century and th ...

in the northeastern

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

in the northern portion of the City of Los Angeles, California.

History

The park is named after Wilson Canyon in which the Wilson family ranch was located, founded by Christopher North Wilson of Ohio, an early

anglo-american Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

settler of the San Fernando Valley who traveled with his family from their hometown of Meadville Pennsylvania and arrived in California with his family in early

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War – Battle of Bapaume: Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

. C. N. Wilson was survived solely by his son

John Thomas Wilson John Thomas Wilson (April 16, 1811October 6, 1891) was a soldier, attorney and U.S. Representative from Ohio, serving three terms from 1867 to 1873. Biography Wilson was born in the village of Bell in rural Highland County, Ohio. As a child, h ...

, who remained in the San Fernando Valley and would set up his residence in the City of San Fernando; there, in 1888, he would marry María Expectación Graciosa or Grace López, daughter of Gerónimo and Catalina López, prominent californios and members of one of the original families of Spanish settlers of California. Part of the Wilson Ranch was ceded for the establishment of the Olive View Sanatorium in

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

. J. T. Wilson passed away at the age of 90 in April 1947. In the following years, especially in the 1960's, the community of Sylmar to the south of the ranch would go from being primarily rural, mostly olive plantations, to slowly becoming more suburbanized. The area that now encompasses the park would go mostly undeveloped except for the work of flood control works. Finally, the

Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of California in the United States founded in 1980 and dedicated to the acquisition of land for preservation as open space, for wildlife and California native plants habitat Natu ...

, a member of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, purchased of land in Wilson Canyon and opened Wilson Canyon Park in 1996.

Description

Wilson Canyon Park is located in the foothills of the western San Gabriel Mountains and covers an area of , making it one of the larger parks of the City of Los Angeles. It has a relatively secluded wilderness and networks of easy to moderate trails. It is popular with hikers, equestrians, mountain bikers,

bird watchers Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

and picnickers. The park is a popular portal to the adjacent Angeles National Forest and the recently expanded San Gabriel Mountains National Monument to the north.

Access

The entrance to the park is located to the east of

Olive View Medical Center The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

on Olive View Drive, from here the park road takes visitors to the main trailheads and parking areas. The park provides parking near the main trailheads for a $5 fee, but it is also possible for visitors to park on Olive View Drive and walk up the park road to the main park area. The park has easy access from the Foothill Freeway. Los Angeles Metro Local bus lines 224 and 690 have stops in the Olive View Medical Center which are in close proximity to the park.

References

{{coord, 34, 19, 58, N, 118, 26, 31, W, type:landmark_region:US-CA_dim:2000, display=title Parks in Los Angeles County, California San Gabriel Mountains Sylmar, Los Angeles Parks in the San Fernando Valley History of the San Fernando Valley Angeles National Forest

History

Description

Access

See also

References