Anza Narrows

Its nearly always a good thing to uncover a new viewpoint. I've been driving and riding by the entrance to a Riverside County Park for decades, but never stopped to see it until a couple weeks ago, though it is within a mile of my house.

It suddenly occurred to me that the Martha McLean/Anza Narrows Park might have a good view to the north, so I went to the park. The guard at the entrance let me ride in and take a look around.  A short putt to the parking and picnic areas convinced me that I had to go back for the viewpoints near the first parking area. Repeatedly. Anza Narrows is an area of the Santa Ana River basin where the river meanders generally westward and flows under a multiple-arched railroad bridge. The railroad bridge is a concrete construction, but the arches look good despite the mundane building material. I walked down to the bridge once. But I only shot film, so it will be a while before those photos appear. If ever.

These digital photos were largely “test” shots for the 35mm SLR. Though engineered more than a decade apart, the N90s’ area metering and the D200’s matrix metering kept matching each other spot-on. The view above is of Mt. Rubidoux and the buildings of downtown Riverside in the far distance. The bike trail in the foreground runs from the Inland Empire along the river through a long canyon bordering the mountains of the Cleveland National Forest to Orange County on the coastal plain.

Is that Hawaii? No, but it does look quite tropical. Its another view of the Santa Ana River bottom.

The photo above is another long view of Mt. Rubidoux and downtown Riverside. Note that you can’t see the concrete trails, because I walked back to the crest of the slope, which blocked them from my line-of-sight.

The above photo is yet another reason to visit Anza Narrows frequently. The park, like all Riverside County Parks has a per-vehicle entrance fee. $5 for an automobile. $2 for a bicycle or motorcycle. I paid the $2.00 entrance fee a couple times then bought a one year pass to all County parks for $25. I’ll be going to the narrows frequently, since it is so close by, but the pass also covers an additional thirteen regional parks and a number of recreation centers.