Challenger Park, Simi Valley

Challenger Park is a 141.55-acre open-space park located in southern portion of Simi Valley, California in the Simi Hills. The park is owned and maintained by the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District. Challenger Park is used for mountain hiking, mountain biking, jogging, and horseback riding but with a focus on the preservation of wildlife habitat. The scenery lining the trails includes extensive oak woodlands, chaparral, and coastal sage scrub. The terrain varies greatly with rolling green hills and steep mountainous hills and canyons. The park offers miles of trails connecting to Long Canyon, Oak Canyon, Trough Canyon, Lone Oak Canyon, and other adjoining open-space nature areas in the southern section of the Simi Valley. There is a fairly easy hike to Thousand Oaks, CA via Long Canyon trails. To get to Oak Canyon, Old Windmill Park and Coyote Hills Park, you must cross Long Canyon Road. Fences run along the Long Canyon Road with dirt paths. There are also lights at the signals with push buttons for hikers, and raised buttons for equestrians. Adjacent to Challenger Park is also Bridle Trails, a private hiking area. There are scenic views of the City of Simi Valley from the park and it is a native habitat for numerous species of animals, including mule deer, mountain lions, coyotes, rattlesnakes, crawdads, California king-snakes, grey foxes, bobcats, as well as red-tailed hawks, barn owls, and numerous other raptors. ()