Avenida Costa Azul, San Clemente, CA 92672
Hours: Monday-Sunday (6 AM-10 PM)
Restrooms? Yes. Directly behind playground
Playground Surface? Rubber with sand pit area
Parking Lot? Yes, but only 6 parking spots. Street parking is available up the street
Gated/Fenced? No
Overview
Tucked into a quiet, friendly, elevated neighborhood in the city of San Clemente, Canyon View Park offers sweeping ocean views and is very popular for local residents on early morning walks. The park is rather small but is very inviting and is especially great for families with toddlers. The first thing visitors will notice is the daisy flower structures that are the focal point of the playground. In spite of being small, the park is very quiet and peaceful. This isn’t a park families will spend a whole afternoon at, but it’s a great spot to spend an hour or so. The two major drawbacks here include the lack of lawn area and the small parking lot (only 6 spots).
Features
Flower and insect themed playground for kids ages 2-5 years old
- Daisy flower structures rise above the playground
- 2 bench swings and 1 baby (bucket) swing
- 2 race slides
- Climbing ramp with lady bugs to assist with climbing
- Bees and butterflies built into play structure and a clear bubble watcher
- small toddler table with 2 benches underneath play structure
- Spiral climber, vertical deep rung climber ladder and chain ladder climber
Other Amenities
- Covered picnic shelter, 4 picnic tables and 1 barbecue and 2 picnic tables beside the playground
- Sweeping ocean views visible from the playground
- Very small lawn area
Scout’s Story
Our recently turned 2 year old daughter, Scout, has now been in remission for a little over 2 months. At the end of last month Scout’s central line was removed from her chest and things continue to head in an upwards direction as our family regains some normalcy after watching Scout battle stage 4 cancer for the past year. We wanted to decompress a little bit as a family and decided to take a short 3 day trip to San Diego to check out some parks and museums and to just watch Scout enjoy life.
It’s hard to believe that the last time we were in San Diego was exactly four months ago and we were a lot more limited as to what we could do with Scout. Scout had just finished up her P.E.T scans at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and we were awaiting the results of the scans to inform us of our next steps in her fight.
Three months later and we find ourselves heading back to San Diego, but this time with Scout’s tumors having been removed and her cancer officially being in remission.
Scout’s Day at Canyon View
We were excited to get on the road and we arrived fairly early at Canyon View Park in San Clemente. Although the marine layer was still a little present, the views of the ocean below the playground were relaxing and calming. Despite it being July, the weather was incredibly pleasant. The park was desolate and the only people in sight were residents that were walking their dogs.
Scout was incredibly excited to see that we had stopped at a playground and was eager to stretch her little legs. She ran towards the playground, urging her mom and I to hurry behind her. I was a little surprised at how much time we ended up spending at Canyon View Park. The park is cute but rather small, however, Scout didn’t want to stop playing and repeatedly climbed up and down the playground equipment to access the slide. Before I knew it, we had been at the park for what was nearing an hour.
Our plans for the day included heading to Olympus Park before spending the afternoon at the Scripps Aquarium and the San Diego Botanic Garden, so we decided we had better continue our drive. Scout was reluctant and wanted to swing, so we reluctantly obliged her to avoid a meltdown and then headed out.
We were excited for the rest of the day and to see what our multi-night stay in San Diego had in store for us.
July 17, 2023
