Hiller Park

The vehicle gate locks at 8:15pm, fifteen minutes after the park closes. Leave your car inside past that and it stays overnight. Hours are 8am to 8pm daily, and MCSD publishes the gate time separately for exactly this reason.

Inside those 36 acres are about 1.5 miles of loop trail through meadows and woods, two playgrounds, a botanical garden and an off-leash dog area. Everything works off one parking lot at 675 Hiller Road.

Dog rules here are precise and worth reading before you unclip. The official trail map states that all areas and trails not inside the highlighted Off Leash Dog Area require dogs to be on leash. So: off-leash in the mapped area, leashed everywhere else in the park, including every loop trail. The Hammond Trail passing through is leash-only as well.

Those loops connect to the Hammond Trail at two points, which makes Hiller a natural break on a longer walk or ride. They also tie into the Mad River Bluff Trails, owned and maintained by the McKinleyville Land Trust. That bluff property was saved from housing development in 2001 when the California Coastal Conservancy bought the site.

The tree cover is worth slowing down for. MCSD points to many species of native plants and trees, including native coastal pines and Sitka spruce, and notes that the big trees support several types of fungus and ferns that were historically used in Native American basketry.

Families get the two playgrounds, one regular and one tot lot, plus a group picnic and BBQ area, picnic tables and restrooms. Ball games happen next door at the 19-acre Hiller Sports Complex, sharing the same address, with Little League and softball diamonds, two collegiate-sized soccer fields, a snack bar and its own restrooms. Watch the clock on the way out.