Yeah the trail is overrun with homeless camps to the North and to the south its still Santa Ana. Find a hotel near the beach and run down there its worth the extra cost.

just rode my bike past there on Saturday... heading towards the beach (south) is fine... heading towards Angels stadium it gets kind of shady... they did get rid of 80% of the encampments. I wouldn't feel to comfortable with my wife running north but I wouldn't think twice about it (as long as there is some daylight).

The portion from Memory lane to Ball/Taft was scheduled to be closed for a while. Not sure how the lawsuits and such impacted that closure and I haven't been over there to see. There are also restricted hours so you couldn't run past 6 pm right now. Like others have said, probably better places to run....


"The public access hours will remain the same as currently posted, November 1-February 28 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and March 1-October 31 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Public access hours will be actively enforced along the entirety of the SART. Individuals who access the SART outside of posted hours will be in violation of state trespass laws and subject to citation."


https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/county-to-temporarily-close-portion-of-santa-ana-river-trail-for-project-actively-enforce-public-access-hours/

Are you staying at a hotel? Which one specifically? Could maybe give more tips.
I've run and ridden the SART at night plenty of times. So do many others. Not sure about this new enforcement, they've never really enforced the hours before.
Hart Park is a bit to the east of there. Santiago Creek Trail goes east of there towards some better neighborhoods. Stay away from Santiago Park to the west of Hart at night. Parts of it are a gay hook up site.

During daylight, all of the areas are basically safe, just stay aware of your surroundings. If something doesn't look or feel right, turn around. At night, some of them get sketchier.

But, if you are not from the area at all, head down to the beach trail in HB and run and do some people watching.

Cleaning up of the area and removal of “long term campers” is scheduled to restart on Tuesday. Personally I would not go on the trail north of the 22 or south of Yorba Regional Park.

---

check out my blog http://theswimmingtriathlete.com

Unfortunately, River View Golf Course is pretty much smack dab in the middle of the high risk zone in regards to the SART. I would say anything south of around Warner Ave. to the beach should be fine - the closer you get to the beach, the nicer/safer it is. Alternately, anything north of Ball/Taft should be ok, also (I would say Katella, but there was a big cluster of tents just north of Katella the last time I was through there). Bear in mind there are no lights on the trail, so you're going by ambient light after dark. That whole homeless situation is very fluid right now - lots of media coverage and lawsuits flying around, so things can change day by day. I'd say your best bet would be anything south of the 405 - maybe park at Moon Park in Costa Mesa & go south to the beach, maybe go under Coast Highway & continue north to HB along the bike trail if you need more miles. Make sure you cross the wooden bridge just north of Victoria/Hamilton to continue to PCH - you need to be on the west bank of the river if you're going all the way to the beach.

That whole homeless situation is very fluid right now - lots of media coverage and lawsuits flying around, so things can change day by day.
==========================================================================================
this, for sure. you really don't want to be accidentally caught up in the situation that is on the front page daily right now. nothing on the SART is currently normal.
peggy

I used to be runDisney's west coast course director and we had two courses that utilized the SART, in my 3 years in that job I watched that trail go from pretty decent to nightmarish. It got to the point that we rerouted the courses to completely avoid it which is a damn shame. as the trail is very useful.

I never minded running that portion of the trail in broad daylight, but once the light started to disappear, you wouldn't catch me on those trails at all in that area and i'm a tall male, but I didn't feel safe at all.

I worked on the trail many times in the night before it got completely out of control setting up for races and what not, there were many times my hair would stand on my neck under some of those underpasses. 90-95% of those homeless people are fantastic people who just have fallen on bad times. That 5-10% though...they aren't your friends. For example, we hired security to stand at the underpasses in the final few races we utilized the trail and one year before the event started we even had security call police as a man was near one of the underpasses wantonly brandishing a gun.

Take that for what you will...

---

The Home of Advanced Running
Advanced Running Instagram Page
My narcisstic training log

Used to ride that pretty regularly early in the AM on Saturdays. On the way from Yorba Park to the beach most the encampments were quiet, however as they were waking up on the way back it started to get interesting. From what I have seen lately along with feedback from my friend who I used to ride it with, I would not go near there at all until the situation is resolved. Not worth the risk and plenty of other options - especially for running.

---

"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

damn.

---

Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Hope that wasn't you:

https://www.ocregister.com/...rail-friday-morning/
——————————————————-
Almost all the people living on the river trail have bikes. This wasn’t a recreational cyclist, it was two people from the homeless camp. Police say they are getting very little help with the investigation.

---

Train safe & smart
Bob

There's another trail, that starts near Newport Back Bay, and heads inland towards Irvine, ending at Portola. Much safer and cleaner. It has a few names (Peters Canyon Trail, Mountain to Sea).

---

--------------------------------------------
TEAM F3 Undurance

Since you are local, anywhere else between NB and LB where it is safe to run/ride for extended stretches away from traffic (besides at the Beach)?
———————————-
The one Multisportsdad posted is much safer but not as consistent as the SART and takes a bit of navigating to get out to the end.
The SGRT is longer then the SART but you still need to keep your guard up but not the big camps like the SART. You can also connect the SGRT to coyote creek trail.

I’ve been off my bike for several months but I should get to get back riding soon. I’ll check the SART, hoping for some improvement.

---

Train safe & smart
Bob