DeForest Park

"This is a weirdly shaped park. You might think this is small but, if you walk it completely, you will see this is a long park with a hidden gem. The park is near the LA River with a few footpaths to walk on the riverbed. On the north side of the park, there is a parking lot, a restroom, pickleball courts, a pair of baseball field, and if you keep walking south you will find a fence of natural reserve (similar to a small swamp grass land) with a disabled walking paths. I did see bunnies, so don't know what other animals could be in there. Some wheelchairs may have a hard time on different walk paths and your dogs are also welcomed, if leashed and you pick up after them. Since it is close to the riverbed, you can find transients camping near and it may get flooded with heavy rain, there is a small lake (pond) with a wooden bridge that crosses the small river, that can show up with the rain. This is a nice park with a nice walk path (if you can continue into the fenced area). The big area is nice for kids to run and play but you should have adult supervision with kids in the natural reserve, although it is peaceful and gorgeous."

"This park has so much potential but needs a lot of cleanup. The small river is FILTHY there’s homeless people and if you walk the trail there’s more homeless people under the bridge with loose dogs. One that almost attacked a horse we saw today. I really hope the city can clean this up"

"The park clean and the nature trail was nice for the most part. The only suspect thing was once the sun began to set…strange people were in and out of the nature trail. Playground area was nice as well."

"Overall a great park. There is a nice little dog walk/ jogging trail on the north side of the park, as well as a playground and exercise equipment. There are also pickleball courts and other sport fields and a paved path that runs all the way from one end to the other for running or roller blades or what have you. There is also a nature preserve area that you can take a walk through, but the path is a little rough. It's worth mentioning the southern part of the nature preserve (where the path goes under a bridge) has, at the time of this review, been taken over by the tents of unhoused people. Not a huge deal since you can just cut through one of the small paths to complete your circuit so you don't have to walk through their camp. Honestly better than other parks I've been to where the tents are in the playground or right in the middle of the common areas of the park."

"Nice place to visit some nice cool areas you can sit. Interesting to go up the stairs and see the waterway. But the marshland has a lot of trash and really should be cleaned up, that way maybe more birds and animals will come to visit there."