Murphy Ranch Park

This was a pretty nice trail. It has a nice forest feeling. There is shade all throughout the trail. The view at the top is remarkable. You can see down town LA. The place is not crowded at all. Very relaxed environment. You can hear the bird chirping and if you are lucky, you will also see some pretty interesting animals. Pretty happy we tried this place out.

Great to get a good leg day workout in, a lot of walking uphill and a lot of really great photo opportunities! Me and my friends love to hike here

Pretty park, lots of trees, good place to ride bikes as well. Can’t wait to come back to discover the entire trail.

Great hike within 2 miles of my house… took my 2 pugs along with the wife for a morning hike and it was not crowded at all. Numerous trails to pick from, we stuck with the middle path since it was our first time there and didn’t want to get lost. The hike had various terrains and was a great escape from the cities nearby. We spent a good 2.5 hours there and our dogs were spent afterwards. IMO this is one of the best dog friendly hikes in the local area without having to go too far. I’ll be back with the wife only next time to explore the other routes.

I was looking for something to do that cost zero dollars. This trail seem pretty chill base on the other reviews. So, I grab the camera and away I went. Parking area is kinda weird. There’s no lines so you just kinda make due with parking as decently as possible. The trail looks around back. That part is kinda steep coming down.

Nice hike, great for anyone experienced or not, it’s not too long or too short the view from the top is great on a clear day you can see DTLA … Not any snakes from what I’ve seen not too steep either

Great for toddlers. Trails that loop and lots of vegetation. Not too much dog poop.

The location has enough parking for everyone.
The environment was nice and inhabited with lots of animals.
The trails were short and some of them were looped which was nice.
Definitely worth going if biking or jogging or taking your pet because it’s not too extreme.

A nice little woodsy, mostly shaded trail neatly tucked away in the elite area of Whittier, known as Friendly Hills… not too far from La Serna High School where most of us considered sending our kids to (at least I did) since it’s a very good area…
Small parking area that’s accommodating & residential street parking across the way. There’s also a nice little picnic area between parking & before the trail.
There’s more entrances to it, so far I’ve stumbled onto two, one being on a residential street named Seranata Dr. & Las Cumbres where the entrance is.
It’s about close to 2 miles round trip, since its about a total of 3 mini trails, one of which is about 1.50 miles (saw it on a Whittier link) However, for it being short term, you do get some mini ass kicking inclines. Great to do when you don’t have much time for a longer hike.
Note for those interested only on the stroll aspect of it: Just follow the trail that goes right down the middle and avoid the inclines. There are some low inclines you can or might be able to handle, but honestly if it looks high or difficult to you, don’t attempt, you can turn back and just walk in circles or to your liking.
People are always friendly and courteous.
One time we stumbled onto some hipsters filming… maybe from one of the nearby colleges, who knows, be aware that they are filming & are a tad bit oblivious to the hikers who frequent there.
I like this little mini trail in plush area of Whittier.
I can imagine couples (especially from La Serna) making it «Inspiration Point»…If you must ask what that is, than I’m just really too old.

I was thoroughly impressed with the hiking trails here and the use of the space. It is such a hidden gem, located between prominent and beautiful houses on the hills. It’s hard to see just how expansive the park is from the parking lot, but once you start walking, the trail keeps winding and more trails keep appearing. I appreciate the trash cans throughout because they not only told me I was going the right way but they help to keep the trail clean. What I enjoyed the most however was the array of trees, from eucalyptus to pine and oak that really made me feel that I had left the city and had gone on a short jaunt in the woods.

Nice place to go plenty of parking lots of trees and if you go far enough it takes you by a goat farm and hacienda heights not too many views from this place but good place to work out people here are nice and friendly neighborhood is good houses are nice! Safe place for a hike!

It’s been years since I’ve visited this park and hiking trail. I use to bring my pug here for hikes and it’s conveniently located to my home in Friendly Hills.
The trail winds thru mature eucalyptus trees, palms and plush greenery. You may run into various critters on or around the trail BC I frequently see coyotes, raccoons, squirrels and possums in my back yard. I’ve even seen some of my stray cats being carried off by the coyotes!
Enjoy and have fun.

I found this park on Google maps after exhausting all the hiking places around my neighborhood. This park happens to be in a very affluent neighborhood in Whittier called the Friendly Hills; there were some MTV Cribs type luxury homes here that really made our jaws drop!
The trails here are pretty easy for the most part. I planned to spend good couple hours here so I got to hike on pretty much every trail in this park. For a neighborhood park, this park has good variety of trails. But the real gem of this park is the trail on the left side of this park and not the wide middle trail. It takes you up into the hills covered with flowers and takes you down to the creeks and back up. The hike on the narrow trail along the creek and below a broken tree in the gully was my favorite part of this park. This was definitely more of a «nature» hike than the main trail and it was really beautiful.
There is this one steep area in this park that one should be aware of. It’s up on the right side of the park as you come down hugging the fence on a narrow trail. If you don’t have hiking shoes, I would not try hiking down the steep trails here; go back and find another way down.
It seems like this park is very couples-​who-​want-​to-​make-​out friendly. It was very awkward running into them and having to hike right past them on the narrow trails. I do admit, there are some very secluded areas in this park if you’re looking for some privacy, haha.
I’m not sure if I’d come here again, but if I want to hike with a beginner and/​or make out in nature, I suppose this would be the right place to visit.

Good park w/​an adequate amount of space… the trails are linear and it’s not THAT dog friendly in my opinion.
Typically in my experience dog aggression is minimized greatly when the land is large enough or open enough where the paths don’t cross. SO pretty much, nothing that would mark territory.
In the 3 times I’ve been here Toby has always had run in w/​dogs that bark at and go after him like crazy.
The paths are not wide enough to keep the doggies happy I guess!
Aside from the dog situation the park is refreshing. It gives you an escape from the hustle and bustle of Colima and Whittier Blvd. You really feel like you’re in the woods up here.
However, I actually enjoy walking the neighborhoods more than the park because you get more interaction w/​people and the dogs leave each other alone.
Murphy Ranch is cool, it’s a nice touch for the neighborhood and definitely has an appeal… but when you get into it you realize that Friendly Hills’ neighborhood is adequate enough where you really don’t need to walk the park for any more of an enriching experience.

Today, I brought my two dogs here for a hike, at the advice of the other writers on this site. It begins with a pretty little picnic area and a map, which is somewhat difficult to understand. There is also a couple of warning signs regarding the rattlesnakes and mountain lions in the area, although I saw neither. We took the middle trail up and reached the top, where there is a paved road, in about half in an hour, with a few stops in between to take pictures and let the dogs have a sniff around. The only wildlife we saw were some squirrels, butterflies, birds, and what seemed to be hawks near the top. It was a nice and quick exercise route and the trail was well kept and scenic. I will definitely be going back, while I will also try some of the other hikes in the area mentioned here on this site. Thank you all for your input!

This is an awesome little park — great for walking the dogs and for getting some exercise yourself! It is nestled up in the Friendly Hills area and is usually not to crowded. There a couple different little trails you can take and the incline/​decline isn’t too tough. Beautiful place for a picnic and hike… nice place to spend a Sunday afternoon with a loved one.
Also, if you like mud this place is really fun to go to after a solid rain — don’t expect to leave clean though! Just let loose, don’t be afraid to fall here and there — trust me, it’s really fun!

Murphy Ranch Park is a wilderness kind of park in Friendly Hills in eastern Whittier. If you’re not in the area, it’s not really worth the drive, but if you live in or are visiting Friendly Hills and are getting tired of the nouveau riche crowding out the families in what used to be a solidly middle-​class suburb, you can catch a break from the Hummers and festering Starbuckses and enjoy some nature.
From the parking lot, just follow the trail up. It’s never a terribly difficult hike, and when you get high enough, you might run across some horses and sheep. If you’re expecting a full-​on forest, you’re in the wrong part of the state. But if you like pretending you’re miles away from freeways and cellphones and kids who get Porsches for their sixteenth birthdays, this is the place for you.
And for you real-​crime buffs out there, a murdered woman was found in a car in this park’s parking lot. She was killed by someone she knew. The police followed a trail of blood from her car to another location miles away. Spooky, but unlikely to happen to you.