The Fullerton Loop Is Finished. West Coyote Hills Is Still Being Built.
August 20, 2026
August 20, 2026
Six in the morning at the Berkeley Avenue lot behind the county courthouse, and the regulars are already there: a woman clipping a leash onto a leash-trained mutt, two guys in cycling kits checking tire pressure before they drop onto the Bridal Trail, someone jogging in place waiting for a friend who is always seven minutes late. This is the start of the Fullerton Loop, and nothing about this scene has changed much in a decade. Across town on the west side, past Gilbert Street, a different kind of morning is happening. The dirt is newer. The signage is sparser. And the land itself is, right now, in the middle of a negotiation that could reshape how much of it exists in a few years.
That is the thing worth understanding about Fullerton's trail system this summer. It is not one thing. It is two trail systems on two different timelines, and only one of them is finished.
The Fullerton Loop is a roughly 11-mile circuit that stitches together old equestrian paths, a former Pacific Electric Railway rail bed, and stretches of sidewalk through residential blocks. It climbs about 900 feet over its full distance, nothing steep enough to need real gear, and it is built almost entirely out of infrastructure that predates the current housing stock around it. Riders and runners typically start at that Berkeley Avenue lot, pick up the Bridal Trail, connect north to the Hiltscher Park Trail, cross Euclid past Sunny Hills High School, and follow the old rail corridor back around. String together the connectors through the Robert Ward and Panorama nature reserves and the loop stretches past 20 miles for anyone who wants more.
None of this is new information to anyone who has lived here more than a summer. What is worth restating is how stable it is. The city's own parks department lists roughly 28 miles of trails spread across Fullerton, and the Loop has been the backbone of that number for years without major expansion. It is a known quantity. Reviewers on trail apps routinely flag the same two issues: limited shade in the open stretches, and heat that turns brutal by midmorning once August arrives. Laguna Lake Park, which sits directly on the route, has restrooms and a water fountain, which matters more than it sounds like it should once the temperature clears 90.
The Loop is not going to surprise anyone. It has settled into what it is.
The trail system on the city's west side has a completely different story, and it is one most residents only got a partial version of.
West Coyote Hills is a former oil field, 510 acres in most records though the figure has shifted slightly across filings over the years as parcels were resurveyed. Chevron subsidiary Pacific Coast Homes has owned it, and for decades the land sat behind fences while a citizen group called CHOOSE, and later the nonprofit Friends of Coyote Hills founded in 2001 by Connie Spenger, pushed to keep it out of development. The site holds some of the last intact coastal sage scrub in this part of Orange County, home to 56 pairs of the threatened California gnatcatcher, the largest known population of the species in Southern California, and 69 pairs of coastal cactus wren, a state species of special concern.
In December 2021, the city closed a purchase of two parcels for $18.04 million, which completed public ownership of the entire east side of the property, 217.8 acres including the Robert E. Ward Nature Preserve. Initial trails opened to the public in May 2023 after a ribbon-cutting at Sunny Hill Church of Christ. Mayor Fred Jung called it the product of fifty years of work. Councilmember Shana Charles, who is also a Cal State Fullerton associate professor of public health, talked about finally having a new section of the city to walk into. Today those Initial Trails include the Basque Trail, the Cactus Wren Trail, and the Gnatcatcher Trail, all threading through the preserve's sagebrush and cactus, plus the Nora Kuttner Trail connecting to a paved multi-use path that runs south to Lancer Way.
That is the part of the story most people already know if they have hiked out there since 2023.
Here is the part that is still unfolding. By December 2025, Friends of Coyote Hills had helped raise $75 million toward acquiring what remains of the property, with a $20 million gap left to close. Chevron was, at that point, in advanced talks with the State of California on a purchase agreement for the rest of the site. A private foundation offered to match community donations dollar for dollar up to $1 million to help close that gap.
"This is our moment," Angela Lindstrom, president of Friends of Coyote Hills, said at the time.
Then, on April 23, 2026, the California State Coastal Conservancy considered a grant of up to $1.6 million to the Watershed Conservation Authority specifically to acquire approximately 483 acres of West Coyote Hills, for the stated purpose of protection, restoration, and public access. A CEQA notice of exemption filed in June 2026 confirms the acquisition is moving forward under that funding.
Set that next to the 217.8 acres the city already turned into public trail. The acreage now on the table through this year's state action is on a different scale than anything that has closed before it. Whatever the exact final boundary turns out to be once the deal is done, this is the biggest single piece of West Coyote Hills that has ever moved through a public agency at once.
For a resident who has only ever hiked the Basque Trail loop and figured that was the whole story, that is worth knowing before it becomes common knowledge.
| Fullerton Loop | West Coyote Hills / Robert E. Ward Preserve | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Finished, stable for years | Mid-acquisition, expanding in 2026 |
| Distance | About 11 miles, up to 20+ with connectors | Initial Trails opened 2023, smaller footprint for now |
| Surface | Equestrian path, old rail bed, sidewalk | Dirt singletrack through sage scrub and chaparral |
| Best for | Long rides, running, dog walking | Short hikes, birding, wildlife viewing |
| Access point | Berkeley Ave courthouse lot | Trailheads off Euclid Street, east side |
Heat is the real constraint on both systems right now. Trail reviewers consistently flag the Loop's open sections as brutal by late morning once August sets in, and the west side preserve offers even less canopy. Early starts and real water are not optional in either place through the end of summer.
But the bigger reason to pay attention this year is timing on the acquisition itself. The Coastal Conservancy vote happened in April. The CEQA filing followed in June. Deals like this move through public agencies on their own schedule, and the residents who track the Friends of Coyote Hills updates now will be the ones who know what opens next, and when, before it shows up as a finished trailhead with a parking lot and a sign.
A few ways to stay ahead of it this month:
Fullerton's trail identity has always leaned on the Loop, and that is not going anywhere. What is changing is everything west of it, acre by acre, funding round by funding round, in a process that is still very much in motion this year.
If you are the kind of Fullerton resident who tracks things like this, whether it is a trail acquisition or what is actually happening with home values in your own neighborhood, Eve Calas Realty Service pays attention to the same kind of detail. Request a free home valuation and personalized market plan whenever you are ready to talk.
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