Anaheim Coves

Welcome to the Anaheim Coves a new point of interest next to the Santa Ana River Trail.

At over a dozen acres, the Anaheim Coves trail was completed in late 2011, as a $ 6 million dollar project with $3.7 million being funded by a River and Recreation Trail program. Other sources including the City of Anaheim, put up the rest of the money. This new trail is on the other side of the Santa Ana River and the Santa Ana River trail. To the West 1000 feet with Lincoln Avenue to the North and Ball Road to the South. You can see pictures "going North" from Ball Road to Lincoln Avenue. If you're "going South" you can see pictures from Lincoln Avenue to Ball Road.

Before over a dozen acres of land was set aside for the Anaheim Coves around 2008, which is under a property lease with the City of Anaheim and Orange County Water District. The water district had acquired the land in 1978 from a company that was using it as a gravel pit. They started collecting rain water, on the East side of the land in the 125 acre "Burris Basin" then later the basin was put into use as a groundwater recharge basin that perculates and the "Burris Basin" pump station, pumps out the water as needed. The smaller "Lincoln Basin and dirt trails" is on the sides of the Lincoln Avenue entry point, to the North and East, and the South Street entry point, and dirt path between the basins to the South.

There are some small islands in strips along the "Burris Basin", in addition to the 2.4 acre nesting island in the middle of the "Burris Basin", for nesting above the water levels, that are always changing year round. Over 1000 trees were planted around the Anaheim Coves trail, along with native plants being planted and the non- native being removed. All of this took about a year to complete but was being planned for even longer than that.

About the Anaheim Coves trail itself, is that it's open dawn until dusk. There are serveral gates throughout the 1.5 mile paved trail that are locked at night, most have ironwork welded to it. The fencing around the around the entire trail has a lot of different iron work welded to it too. There are 4 rest points along the Anaheim Coves trail that have kiosks with grass looking ironwork welded to the fence. More about the kiosks later on this page.

As far as the ironwork, 19 fence sections have cut out parts of metal welded to the fence. One of the styles is welded to 3 different fence sections which have birds flying in the center and grasses at the bottom with some smaller animals. Then there are some curving bars that are at the top and bottom of the fence. Another piece of ironwork is welded to 6 different fence sections, that show about 10 ducks in a row at the bottom of the fence. The other one shows a few types of flowers welded to the most of 7 different fence sections. At the 4 rest stops, some have kiosks, and 3 of them have grass looking ironwork welded to the fence, in addition to the other kiosks located away from the rest areas.

On the way to the Anaheim Coves trail, taking Ball Road will, take you by the Ball Basin, which isn't really in operation, but the bigger body of water you will see is the "Burris Basin". If entering the Anaheim Coves trail from the North, you will be seeing "Lincoln Basin and dirt trails" from the South. Looking North will be the Upper and Lower Five Coves Basins on the North side of Lincoln Avenue.

You can access the Northern section of the Anaheim Coves trail off of Lincoln Avenue, in the City of Anaheim. You can also get off the Santa Ana River trail at the Lincoln Avenue entry point. You will only have to go West for .2 miles (about 1000 feet) for about a minute, and there will be the entrance to Anaheim Coves trail right at the monument sign which doesn't have an address. The address should be somewhere around 3000 East Lincoln Avenue in the City of Anaheim. See the Lincoln Avenue entry point for the Anaheim Coves "here".

An unofficial entry point to the Anaheim Coves trail is at South Street . It's not official due to the terrian of a hill, although small is still steep unless, you go closer to the fence on the West side of the Anaheim Coves trail. This entry point is not ADA compliant. The street itself is blocked by a big gate so cars can't drive in. There's still enough room along the side for a bike to go through. You might be able to park on the side street facing North, if arriving by car. If biking West on South Street, you can quickly can go over the 57 freeway, as a very good alternative to Lincoln Avenue. You can also see the South Street page for the Anaheim Coves trail "here".

The other entry point to the Anaheim Coves trail is along Rio Vista Street, where it ends and turns West to Wagner Avenue, in the City of Anaheim. On the Anaheim Coves trail sign, it says the address is 962 South Rio Vista. Parking is available only on Rio Vista Street going North. You can go West on Wagner Avenue, which also has a bridge going right over the 57 freeway and on to State College Boulevard. You can see the Rio Vista page for the Anaheim Coves "here"for more information.

The entry point for the Southern section for the Anaheim Coves is called the Ball Road entry point but is actually .2 miles North on Phoenix Club Drive after turning off from Ball Road. The trail itself is ADA compliant in addition to the 2 handicaped parking spaces, and 14 regular ones. In the corner of the parking lot you can find a small bike rack. In between the parking lot and the trail entrance gate, are men and womens restrooms and a drinking fountain, in between the two. The planned "ARTIC", a big hub for 10 different modes of transportation is less than 2 miles from the Ball Road entry point for the Anaheim Coves, see that page for more information.You can see the Ball Road Anaheim Coves page "here"

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You will find 6 different kiosks with information, covering a lot of different subjects as it relates to the Anaheim Coves trail and nearby Santa Ana River. One of them is called "Help from friends". It tells the area is prime habitat for a lot of birds year round. This is a resting stop for birds, since there's a big fish population in the basins around by Anaheim Coves. There is also a 2.4 acre nesting island close to the Southwestern section of "Burris Basin". The birds that have frequented the area include Great blue herons, California least terns, which are endangered, Black skimmers, American avocets, Great egrets, Black-necked stilts, and American white pelicans which have a 108" wing span. At the bottom of the squared off kiosk are pictures giving people credit for their pictures and stating the wing spans of the different birds.

Just a glimpse is another kiosk, it's name because going through the Anaheim Coves is only a small glimpse of the bird population around the Anaheim Coves that's ever changing. It goes on to say that about 190 species of birds, live here year round, or migrate, as the new native vegatation and recharge basin water attracts them there. You are cautioned to watch out for large birds of prey like an osprey or red-tailed-hawk. Some of the other smaller birds are pictured on the lower section of the kiosk, and include black phoebe, with a wing span of 11'. Another is Killdeer with a 24" wingspan. A great blue heron, has the largest wing span of 72" which is more than the rest of the birds on the bottom of the kiosk. The red-tailed hawk's wingspan is not to far behind the heron at 49". The Bushtit has a wing span of 6", along with the yellow-rumped warbler are the more smaller birds. A black phoebe's wing span is not much more at 11".

From Past and Present, talks about the changing water, over the years and the native plants, growing around the area. Non native plants in the area were changed back to native plants in 2009, by the Orange County Water District. The plantst hat once grew in the area include California fuchsia, matilija poppy, bush moneyflower, white sage and toyon. There's a 1895 photo that shows locals walking in Peters Canyon at the time (which is located in present day Irvine and Tustin areas. In the 19th century the Tongva Indians used the plants to weave baskets and made tools. The kiosk goes on to mention water conservation, with the native plants needing less water. Also the parking lot surfaces, fences and benches were made using recycled materials.

Careful Managers, is the next kiosk on the Anaheim Coves Trail. This kiosk has a picture of an old time ditch or canal that was dug and probably to control water to fields and groves. Water management was important in that day, since Anaheim received less than 20 inches of rain a year. The zanjeros is what these water managers were called. Lots of farms in the area had windmills to pump out water to the surface from shallow wells in the ground. Water management is still important today, as the "Burris Basin", "Lincoln Basin" and the Five Coves Basin, across Lincoln Avenue on the dirt trail. They all collect water year round. These recharge basins allow water to percolate into the ground, then is pumped out later as the water is needed for homes and businesses in North and Central Orange County.

The next kiosk on the Anaheim Coves Trail is Water near and far. It goes on to say that the 3200 square miles of the Santa Ana River Watershed is enough for the water needs of Southern California. Water can come a great distance from Northern California, via the California Aqueduct or the Los Angeles Aqueduct from the Northeast, or from the Colorado River Aqueduct from the East, or locally from groundwater basins in Southern California. The Orange County Water District has about 10 different pipelines around the Santa Ana River Watershed to bring in water. In addition to the pipelines, the OCWD also owns some of the Prado Dam and Seven Oaks Dam.

Anothert kiosk on the Anaheim Coves Trail is Water required. This kiosk talks about the water needs of the origional Anaheim Colony, and also water for the vineyards and orchards in the middle and later part of the 1800's. Civil engineer George Hansen, was hired by the Los Angeles Vineyard Society to find a good location with a lot of water for winemaking. The spot chosen was next to the Santa Ana River in present day Eastern Anaheim. Mostly German immigrants built ditches, canals, and flumes to transport the water about 5 miles to what is the present day downtown Anaheim. Hansen, was also one of the founders of the first 1165 acres, that would become the Anaheim Colony in 1857 and also made up the City of Anaheim when it was incorporated in 1870. By 1879 the municipal water systems began with a 5 block long wooden pipeline and a 20,000 gallon redwood tank. Miles of canals from the Santa Ana River, allowed so many vineyards to produce over a million gallons of different wines. In the 1880's disease wiped out the vineyards and after experimenting with other fruits and vegetables, the Valencia orange, was the crop of choice with thousands of acres of orange groves popping up. This area succeeded from Los Angeles County and became Orange County in 1889. Now less than 72 acres of orange groves remain in the Orange County area.

The last kiosk is Habitat Change. This kiosk goes on to describe how ranchers grazed cattle and sheep and grew alot of different types of food along the banks of the Santa Ana River. As mention before in the other kiosks and then in this one, is how engineers controlled the flow of water with flood control and water conservation in addition to canalling the water to where it was needed. With the replacement of non-native plants with native ones, is allowing some endangered species to start pollulating again or living healthier lives. Some of the bushes and trees that can be found around the area include Willows, Mule fat, Fremont cottonwood, California bay laurel, Toyon and California sycamore.

Modified 05/07/2013