Whittier Narrows Natural Area

Nice local nature area. Mostly flat and paved so easy hiking/bicycling. At the moment lots of water in the San Gabriel River due to recent storms so lots of running water and everything is nicely green. You can do a nice long hike either north towards the San Gabriels or South. A few bicycles, a couple of people on horseback and a few hikers. Plenty of parking at Whittier Narrows park.

Paradise of affordable housing, sustainable living, and freedom lifestyle for nature-in-touch homeless people, their stylish homemade homes, and their deliberately decorated installation art of garbage piles.

Very peacefull. Very clean. Great for long walks , especially doing or walking a figure 8 around both lakes. Alots of shady trees.

Great place to get away from the city. This nature center is nestled right into a little bit of heaven. There is a handicapped accessible trail, Whittier Narrows Police Dept is there, a little museum with #insects #gemsandminerals #taxidermy and they even have outdoor nature classes and events for the whole family. They have night hikes and this was also the place where the Orignal Tarzan was filmed.

A great place for a little walk or a bike ride. Love the little lakes and wildlife

Nice and peaceful lake in LA. Free parking

Great place for a family gathering. Many people go here just to walk around the lakes. There is an area set aside for RC boats which you may enjoy watching when they are there. Be aware that coyotes have been seen in the area so keep any small dogs close to you. There is a part of the park across the freeway that seems little used that would be great for a gathering and across from there on Rosemead is an area for RC planes.

I'm an equestrian and ride the trails around the narrows .between the san Gaberial and Rio hondo rivers ..and up the hill .altho I have my favorite places its hard to tell you where they are ..the county is doing a great job marking the trails and completing the emerald necklace connecting the trail system together...

Free nature center. Has living animals inside the you can observe. Mostly snakes but they have turtles and lizards too. Also has material about local history. There's trails right outside that you can walk. Has restrooms and parking.

Love this place and all the free events they have. Staff is always so nice. From nature walks, mobile aquariums, crafts to lots of educational activities.

This is a great park to have nearby. We went to one of the summer overnight fishing camping weekend at the lake. It would have been so much funner if there was not duck poop everywhere. I mean everywhere! And don't expect to get any sleep since the ducks will be quacking ALL night long. However, the park staff was friendly and the elderly man who helped us with our fishing poles was a gem! They also had face painting and free popcorn, snow cones and a movie. They have quad bikes you can rent on the weekend for 3-5 people to ride.

Love coming here for picnics, fishing and walking. Park is huge, has a few lakes and lots of walking trails. Good for family/work picnics, my husband and I like to come throw our fishing pole into the lakes to see if we get a bite. Other times I come with my sister so she can walk her dog. No admission required so that's good. I would compare this park to El Dorado in Long Beach.

Hidden gym~ excellent place to bring ur kids for some outdoor education, inside the nature center u may find some amphibians n reptiles, even some turtles outside. There r picnic tables around n clean bathroom. There's also a trail u can walk but it's rather hot because there weren't much shade.

Peaceful nice place. Not crowded or noisy. Beautiful walking path. Plenty of picnic benches and a separate reserved area you can call and hold a table for your party but you have to rent for a full day and show proof of 3 million dollars in insurance.They say No bikes, No chairs, No music. Doesn't sound like a fun day at the park especially when the price is so high. Will go elsewhere.

Wild geese health harzard!! Bad! Bad! and getting worse!! It could invite problems and medical issues!

Will definitely be coming back here. Came for the 8am bird walk with Ed. He's the nicest person and very informative. The birds are great to look at and the trails are easy.

This place was magical when I was a kid. So magical, in fact, that I almost never want to return. There was a campaign a few years back to save its cheesy 1970sness. I was down with that campaign, so maybe I should be a little bit more generous in my description of it. It has a very old-school interpretation center. Someone wanted to build something fancy with more interactive displays and more parking so that short-attention-spanned kids could enjoy the center without having to read and explore and just be quiet for a while. But mainly, it was about saving the original building. I think. Anyway, back to my experience of the place. I came here long before I could drive, and even after I started driving in high school, I passed by this place many times over the years without realizing it was right here. I mean, seriously, how many rounds of miniature golf have I played practically across the street? How much time spent in that ridiculously but interestingly interior-designed McDonald's? How many hundreds of dollars on video games? All that wonderful suburban 1970s-'80s teenage fun, and across Durfee? A natural area. And yes, it's not the middle of the woods in the middle of Montana in the middle of a national forest, but it's in South El Monte, for crying out loud. Walk around. The Whittier Narrows Natural Area might have started me on my animal- and nature-loving path. It's part of what made me an environmentalist before I knew what that was and when I was still eleven-years-old and thought war, the military, and other Republican obsessions were cool. So in a sense, I can attribute my love of capybaras to this wonderfully hidden spot in South El Monte. Don't know what a capybara is? Check out some videos on YouTube. You can thank me later. (And no, there aren't any capybaras in the Whittier Narrows Natural Area, but they'd be right at home here.)

A great piece of serenity! Unfortunately it's endangered to be demolished! Home to endangered species, it's being threatened to be demolished to built a center with unnecessary huge parking lot and questionable intentions. It s ensure unsure to destroy nature to teach about nature! Save Whittier Narrows

Been coming here to run for years. Free parking is nice. Decently clean. Other than the lake, there's not much to see here. Wish they would do something about that.

peaceful nature area.so cool to be in the shade of a large tree. quite only birds chripping, slight breeze, calm, i remain in peace with mother nature. kids love it, walk a trail, enjoy the. gift shop.read a book, forget your even by a city.