Kit Carson Park

I used to run cross-​country races here in high school, so I’m always reminded of all that pain whenever I go to this park. Besides that, though, Kit Carson is not too shabby. The snake’s pretty cool, and there’s a nice frisbee golf course which I’ve never used, but always seen.

My university professor told our class about the amazing sculpture garden here. It is well hidden and hard to find. You must turn right at a driveway leading to the north side of the park. Here there is a parking lot and a sign identifying it as Kit Carson Park. Walk down the dirt road (no vehicular access/​authorized vehicles only) a little way and you will see it. But it is heavily fenced in and the biggest surprise was that it was closed! It is only open 10am-​2pm on the second Saturday of the month, weather permitting. I had driven from San Diego on a Friday afternoon to take my elderly mother so I was disappointed. Not to mention the walk would have been too much for her. Perhaps cars are allowed to drop off handicapped visitors during open hours?

I’d definitely say me and me wife and 15 month old cutie enjoyed visiting this park. Lot’s of places to explore and friendly people roaming about (many with their dogs)…Not a fan of all the gnats though, but definitely worth taking a friendly stroll with your loved ones.

I like this park because it is large, convenient, generally has plenty of parking and is perfect for a wide variety of activities including hanging out with your kids, picnics, walking dogs, nature hikes, etc. The only thing that bugs me is the same thing that bugs me about a number of other local parks — people who do not clean up after their dogs!

We came to see the wacky, mystical mosaic masterpiece, known as Queen Califa’s Magical Circle, only to be disappointed.
Yes, it was still there.
No, it was not open.
Ruined, because of the insensitive, malicious acts of others, it had to be fenced off and only open to the public once a month. Sad, bad people who show no respect.
What I didn’t realize was, the Magic Circle is part of a much bigger picture. This lovely park.
The park is huge with lots of places for kids to have an adventure. Tall bamboo jungle trails to play hide and seek, a large pond to feed and chase the ducks complete with their own little island sanctuary, lots of grassy, open spaces for having a frisbee toss or fly a kite, plenty of park benches for grandma, and shaded picnic tables for the weekender’s favorite hot dog or fried chicken dinner. The dirt trails are decent and inviting for those who have a mind to jog or otherwise work out their bicycle thighs to impress those of us of the more flabby kind.
A wonderful place to bring the family.

This is my second time coming here with my friends to frolf (frisbee golf). The game is pretty fun once you get the hang of it and the 18 holes they have make for a good game! The park is also very clean!

This place is freaking awesome! Honestly, I only go there for the Califia’s Magical Circle Garden, but it is an AMAZING park. Besides this beautiful mosaic art piece from Niki de Sainte Phalle, there is a lot going on here. The park is HUGE, there are tons of trails and hiking/​walking, there is a dog park, it’s home to local Girl Scouts council, there is a disc golf course (be careful walking around there!), plenty of picnicking places, with trees and tables and BBQs, there are some little lakes, baseball fields, soccer, tennis courts, playgrounds, they used to have a trapeze school… not sure if it is still there or not, but overall, there is everything you could want here. It’s really awesome.
The only bummer is the short hours for the Magic Circle, only on the 2^nd Saturdays from like 9 – 12. Due to the short hours, it’s PACKED, but I still love going there!
This is definitely a park with a little bit for everyone.

Not a good place for mountain biking! I had to do the same few trails over and over to get an hour and 10 minutes in.

Great park for running. Have some good trails, numerous baseball field and tennis court.

I love this park but the park ranger is a dick hole, this is the 4^th time he harass me and my friends, he basically attacked us during our diskgolf game and asked who f***ing dog is this? Which is my Daisy that was on her leash playing on the glass by herself, he then continues to badger my friend n I how danger «he is and he needs to be held at all times, while my Daisy lays next to him ratting grass
I keep reminding the ranger she’s a girl n he continues to ignorantly call her a boy and say he’s a uncontrolled animal and poodles are near and scarred, I look around frantically n I see no dogs within 100yards, that d-​nah needs to go

This park has it all. lots of trails some even lead to a hidden mosaic the size of a baseball field. mutible play grounds spread throughout. They have descent disk golf course. Skate park, roller hockey, baseball fields and more. By far best park in Escondido.

Just a great park with so much to offer — from playgrounds to sports fields to side walks it’s really a great place if you have kids or pets. There’s also disc golf course! Just so much to do & it’s all free

I have never seen a park with so much ground let alone so many things to do! Well kept and fun for everyone!

Great day for softball!

I’m pretty impressed with Kit Carson park all around. It continually gets upgraded and it has a lot of space with pretty good facilities.
I’ve been coming to the park since I was a little kid, and I’ve used it for both its baseball and soccer facilities. I used to feed ducks at the Pond (now known as «Eagle Scout Lake»), I built my Eagle project there, and I’ve been frisbee golfing my fair share of times. I’ve camped at the amphitheater for scouting events, I’ve used the park for my weekly runs, and I’ve helped repair the skate park ramps. This place has it all!
There is plenty of parking, plenty of shade, and plenty of attractions. The Queen Califia’s Magical Circle seems to always be a work in progress (under construction/​repair, etc), but it’s still pretty cool. There’s a small orange orchard nearby, and streams that run through a couple areas of the park.
It’s super convenient to get to, but still plenty of space for everything to go on!

I don’t come here often enough.
This park is huge; baseball fields, duckpond, playgrounds, remiss courts, a hiking trail, and queen kahlifas mosaic garden.
There are numerous places to park and plenty of things to keep you and/​or your little ones busy and entertained.
There are some areas of the park that I wouldn’t go to alone though.

This is a huge park. It has everything that you want. I thought it was a school as I drove by since it was close to San Pasqual. There are a lot of sporting events happening at the park. I would advice people who are not going there for games to not park near the baseball field that parking lot is packed. Go to the other one with the Frisbee golf.
There’s a lot of things to do at this park, and it seems like they are adding more to it. I went on their hiking trails while i was there, it was pretty small. Not much to do nor to look at while hiking, was a little disappointed in it. It’s nice to run around the park if you are into running.
I could not check out Queen Califia’s Magical Circle Garden because it was close for repairs. That was one of my reason for going to the park. There’s nothing that interest me much in this park other than the amount of things that are available and many activities for everyone to enjoy. Good place to kill some time if you have nothing better to do.

One of the nicest places in Escondido.
Green grass, nice play sets, hiking trails, bike paths, large outdoor artwork displays, sports facilities, and a secret tile garden. Escondido finally has something they can be proud of.
If you live in Escondido there’s no doubt that you’ve been here for birthday parties or organized sporting activities. Tourists on the other hand probably only come here for Queen Califia’s Magical Garden.
The usefulness of this park is only truly revealed the more times you visit and explore around. Wanna try something really cool? Just west of the sports center is a duck habitat. Around this area is a bamboo forest where you get lost in the various paths that people have made over the years. See pictures of the entrance.
Negatives —
Frisbee golf park. While there are no homeless that live in Kit Carson Park, some of the people that play amateur Frisbee are not that far off. I was left shaking my head when I saw a group of nonathletic disc players toting around a large cooler and a 1980’s ghetto blaster. I find it rather annoying that these dics hurlers take up so much of the park.

The first non food review I’ve done.. The bottom line is if like disc golf, hockey, skate park, baseball, basketball, tennis, taking a walk, checking out art structures, BBQing, or many many other things, yeah come check out this park!
And yes I will be disc golfing… fore!

Meh.
We came. We saw. We left underwhelmed. Sundays are not a good day to go here. Super busy and the lake is being drained. So as you can imagine there is a certain smell in the air. Half the place is closed due to vandalism and the other half is overrun by strange smelling food from all the parties being hosted here.
There are no clear signs so finding the actual arboretum was a bust. I wasn’t a happy camper. Which explains why the check in after this was for frozen yogurt. Lol.
I just didn’t get it. But hey, I’ll try until I find out what everyone is raving about. Then I’ll eat some humble pie and update this review. Until then, I am left feeling disappointed.
Maybe we will go when it’s less busy and smelly. Maybe that’ll help. Since moving to the US, I have been so impressed by the awesome parks, but this one left me cold.