# Mt. Rubidoux and beyond: Inland Empire hikes that work for a group > Nine real Inland Empire hikes for a group, sorted easy to hard: from Mt. Rubidoux and the Santa Ana River Trail to Box Springs and the San Jacinto tram. By Deven, founder of AroundMe · Published 2026-08-15 · Canonical: https://aroundme.co/blogs/riverside-hikes-for-groups Ask anyone in Riverside where a group should hike and you get the same answer every time: Mt. Rubidoux. It's the right answer. It's also the doorway, not the whole house. The Inland Empire has river paths flat enough to talk the entire way, boulder canyons hidden inside the city limits, a steep local classic that makes everyone breathe hard, and a tramway that lifts you to 8,500 feet when the valley floor is baking. Nine real trails below, sorted easy to hard, so your group picks by fitness and vibe instead of guessing. Think of it as the trail half of our guide to [meeting people in Riverside](/blogs/how-to-meet-people-in-riverside). ## The best hikes in Riverside for a group, easy to hard Short answer: if your group has never done this together, start with Mt. Rubidoux and let the easy win build the habit. After that, match the trail to two honest questions: how much climbing does everyone actually want, and how much do you want to talk? ### Easy: conversation-pace trails anyone can finish These are the flat-to-gentle ones where the trail does the socializing for you. **Mt. Rubidoux** is the anchor: a paved loop of roughly three miles with about 500 feet of gain, free parking at Ryan Bonaminio Park, and a sunrise-to-sunset crowd that makes a group of six invisible in the best way. The **Santa Ana River Trail** at Martha McLean-Anza Narrows is flatter still: a paved, shaded riverside path, free, that you walk out and back for any distance you like. Up the hill in Crestline, the **Lake Gregory** loop trades heat for pine shade, an easy, mostly level two-and-a-half-mile lap around a mountain lake (paid parking, and the beach season is summer-only, so check hours). And in Loma Linda, **Hulda Crooks Park** offers a gentle 2.5-mile loop named for the local woman nicknamed Grandma Whitney, who summited Mt. Whitney twenty-three times, the last at ninety-one. Bring that story to the trailhead. Mt. Rubidoux Free Riverside Paved ~3-mile loop, ~500 ft gain, free parking at Ryan Bonaminio Park. The city's sunrise-to-sunset ritual. paved all levels iconic Santa Ana River Trail (Anza Narrows) Free Riverside Flat, paved, shaded riverside path at Martha McLean-Anza Narrows. Walk any distance out and back. flat shaded Lake Gregory Loop $ Crestline Easy ~2.5-mile lap around a pine-shaded mountain lake. Paid parking; beach season is summer-only, so check hours. shaded cooler elevation Hulda Crooks Park (Beaumont Ridge) Free Loma Linda Gentle 2.5-mile loop, ~350 ft gain. Named for Grandma Whitney herself. beginner-friendly loop ### Moderate: a little climb, a real payoff Three that trade a little sweat for something to look at. **Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park** hides 1,500 acres of boulder-strewn wilderness inside the city: moderate loops from about three and a half miles, with free parking and a small nature center off Central Avenue (little shade, so carry water). **Hidden Valley Wildlife Area** runs a roughly three-and-a-half-mile loop through Santa Ana River bottomland and low hills, with a nature center and a five-dollar cash parking fee; bring bills, and note day use closes mid-afternoon. And at **Lake Perris**, the Terri Peak trail climbs about three and a half miles to a panorama of the lake and valley: moderately challenging, open year-round, ten dollars to park. All three hand a group a natural regroup point where everyone catches their breath together. Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park Free Riverside 1,500 acres of in-city boulder country; moderate loops from ~3.5 miles. Free parking and a nature center off Central Ave. Little shade. Bring water. dirt trails moderate Hidden Valley Wildlife Area $ Riverside ~3.5-mile loop through river bottom and low hills, with a nature center. Day use closes mid-afternoon; parking is cash only. river + hills nature center Terri Peak, Lake Perris $ Perris ~3.5 miles up to a lake-and-valley panorama, a moderate climb with a clear summit to regroup at. Open year-round. climb big views ### Harder: earn-it climbs and a big-day capstone Two picks for when the group wants to work. **Two Trees Trail** up Box Springs Mountain is Riverside's local proving ground: barely two and a half miles, but nearly a thousand feet of steep, shade-free climbing to the ridge behind the landmark hillside letters. It's free, it's honest, and it turns a group into a team by the top. The capstone is a full day: ride the **Palm Springs Aerial Tramway** (about $37, and still in Riverside County) up to 8,500 feet, where the alpine air alone is worth it when the valley is over 100 degrees. From the Mountain Station you choose your effort: an easy 1.5-mile Desert View loop, a moderate 4.5-mile Round Valley meander, or the strenuous 11-mile round trip to San Jacinto Peak (grab the free self-issued wilderness permit at the ranger station for the longer ones). One trailhead, three difficulty levels, so a mixed-fitness group can split and reunite. Two Trees Trail (Box Springs Mountain) Free Riverside ~2.5 miles but nearly 1,000 ft of steep, shade-free climb to the ridge behind the landmark hillside letters. Free. steep no shade San Jacinto via the Palm Springs Tramway $$ Riverside County Tram to 8,500 ft, then pick your effort: easy 1.5-mi Desert View, moderate 4.5-mi Round Valley, or the strenuous 11-mi San Jacinto Peak. Free wilderness permit for the long ones. alpine beat the heat capstone ## What makes a trail good for a group? Short answer: room to talk, a shape that keeps everyone together, and a reason to stop. Width does most of the work, because a trail that forces single file ends the conversation at the trailhead. After that it's shape (a loop or an obvious turnaround, so a slower hiker is never stranded), a regroup-and-reward point where the fast half waits without anyone feeling bad, a pace the slowest person can genuinely hold, and parking that fits a few cars arriving separately. Check shade and water against the season, too: half this list is sun-exposed, and an Inland Empire summer is not the time to discover that at mile two. What makes a trail good for a group - Wide enough to walk two or three abreast: conversation, not single file - A loop or clear turnaround, so no one gets stranded or left behind - A natural regroup-and-reward point: a summit, lake, or overlook to reassemble at - A pace the slowest person in the group can genuinely hold - Parking that fits a few cars arriving separately - Shade and water that match the season, check before an Inland Empire summer hike ## How do you host a group hike without becoming a tour guide? Short answer: pick a forgiving trail, fix a standing day, name the exact meeting point, and say the pace out loud. No permit, no whistle, no clipboard. The whole job is one message that tells people precisely where to stand and what they're in for, on a day that repeats. If you want the deeper playbook (where hiking groups actually live, how to vet one, and how to start your own), we wrote the full guide to finding a hiking group. Host a group hike in the Inland Empire - 1 Pick a forgiving trail Start from the easy tier, Mt. Rubidoux or the river path, so fitness never becomes the reason someone skips. - 2 Set a standing day and time A repeating Saturday sunrise beats a perfect one-off; the same faces turn a hike into friends. - 3 Name the exact meeting point Not the trail: the parking lot. Ryan Bonaminio Park, the Central Ave lot, the specific trailhead. Precision kills no-shows. - 4 Say the pace and mileage out loud Post the distance and the climb ahead of time so nobody arrives over- or under-matched. - 5 Build in a regroup, end at coffee Wait at the top together, then land at coffee. The after is where numbers get swapped. ## What's actually hard about hiking with a group? Not the hiking. Getting the same few people to the same trailhead, again and again, until they stop being strangers is the hard part, and not one of these nine trails does any of it for you. So AroundMe starts where the trail list stops. Instead of hoping the strangers at the Rubidoux trailhead turn into friends, we match you into a small group of four to six verified people around a shared plan at a real meeting point, on a rhythm that repeats. Hiking groups are part of what we're building toward, because nothing turns strangers into regulars faster than a hill everyone climbed together. Until we reach you, the list above works on its own: pick the easy one, bring one friend, and go this Saturday. At UCR? [Join with your ucr.edu email](/join). Not at UCR? [Join the waitlist](/waitlist).