page_title: Santa Ana River
section_title: Recreation
hierarchical_section_title: Santa Ana River / Recreation
caption_attribution_description: English: Santa Ana River looking upstream near the river mouth. Bike and pedestrian path to left.
context_page_description: The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, before cutting through the northern Santa Ana Mountains via Santa Ana Canyon and flowing southwest through urban Orange County to drain into the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Ana River is 96 miles long, and its drainage basin is 2,650 square miles in size.
  The Santa Ana drainage basin has a diversity of terrain, ranging from high peaks of inland mountains in the north and east, to the hot, dry interior and semi-desert basins of the Inland Empire, to the flat coastal plain of Orange County. Although it includes areas of alpine and highland forest, the majority of the watershed consists of arid desert and chaparral environments. Due to low regional rainfall, the river carries only a small flow except during the brief winter season, when it is prone to massive flash floods. The San Jacinto River, which drains the southern half of the watershed, rarely reaches the Santa Ana except in extremely wet years.
context_section_description: There are many recreational opportunities along the Santa Ana River. The Santa Ana River watershed includes parts of the Cleveland National Forest, San Bernardino National Forest, Angeles National Forest, Mount San Jacinto State Wilderness Area, Chino Hills State Park, and Lake Perris State Recreation Area. Big Bear Lake, Lake Elsinore, and Lake Irvine are popular recreational lakes in the watershed. The river never actually flows through any of these lakes, but they each have drainage to the river via tributaries.
  The Santa Ana River bicycle path which, when complete, will run from the river's mouth at Huntington Beach to near the San Bernardino Mountains, currently extends about 30 miles (48 km) along the river to Prado Dam. The proposed distance along the trail is over 70 miles (110 km). In Riverside County, the Hidden Valley Wildlife Area also has 25 miles (40 km) of recreational paths. Some entities have been opting for a Santa Ana River Park, which would encompass a strip of land on either side of the river for its entire course. The city of Redlands would like to develop riverside green space near the historic downtown district. The Santa Ana River Lakes, located near Anaheim, are a popular recreational fish farm fed with water from the river. Ultimately, the trail could link a network of river-bottom parks. In 2014, naturalists navigated the stretch of river flanked by Chino Hills State Park on the north and the Cleveland National Forest on the south. The rafts made it 2 miles (3.2 km) before the vegetation was impenetrable but they were convinced there were possibilities of improving public access and recreational opportunities.
caption: The Santa Ana River bicycle path
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