Visiting Mentryville Park And Hiking Pico Canyon Trail

Mentryville Park is an oil boom ghost town situated in the Santa Clarita Woodlands. It is the perfect place to visit for history buffs and nature lovers.

Here you can walk around and see old wooden buildings that still remain after the town was disassembled and abandoned in the 1930s, once the oil industry slowed down.

This location is also the starting point for the Pico Canyon Trail, which leads to Pico Well Number 4. This was the first commercially successful oil well in California, so you can visit two unique historical attractions at the same spot!

This guide covers what you can expect to see at Mentryville Park and tips for hiking the Pico Canyon Trail to Pico No. 4 oil well.

Mentryville Park Location & Parking

Parking for the Mentryville and Pico Canyon Trail is located in a designated visitor lot within Mentryville Park. This dirt lot is very spacious and can accommodate many vehicles.

It costs $5 to park in this lot, which you can pay upon arrival. The parking lot has a pay machine, but it was down during our visit. Iron ranger envelopes were located next to the pay machine that we used to pay in cash for parking.

If you don’t want to pay this fee, there is a free parking area 0.5 miles down the road where Pico Canyon Road splits with Pico Canyon Service Road. But this will add an extra 1-mile walk round trip.

About Mentryville Park

Mentryville Park is a historic ghost town that was the base for oil operations in the Pico Canyon from 1880 to 1930. This town was later disassembled, and now only a few wooden buildings remain. During your visit, you can stop by and see an old school, a mansion, a barn, and a house that was built for a movie set.

Here are a few of the wooden buildings that still remain within Mentryville Park:

Felton School

Felton School was built in 1885 to accommodate the 100 families that lived within Pico Canyon during oil operations. The school was open until 1932, educating kids up to 8^th grade.

The school had wooden desks, a library, pot-bellied coal stoves, and interior lighting. Mentryville was one of the first villages to have light fixtures powered by natural gas.

Pico Cottage

Built in 1880, this mansion was the home of Charles Alexander Mentry, who drilled Pico Number 4, the first commercially successful oil well in the western US.

Along with Charles Mentry, Pico Cottage housed oil field superintendents, foremen, and their families.

Mentryville Barn

The Mentryville Barn and chicken coop were built in the 1890s. This building was used to house chickens and other livestock. Horses and mules were used for pulling equipment, oil wagons, and drinking water.

Movie Façade House

This building was added later on for filming the movie ‘Return To Green Acres’ in 1980. Over the years, Mentryville Park has been the backdrop for many films and TV shows.

Pico Canyon Trail Highlights

After exploring Mentryville Park, I recommend hiking to Pico Well No. 4. This hike is fairly short, easy, and takes less than 2 hours to complete.

Here are a few quick Pico Canyon Trail highlights before I go into more details:

Length: 2.8 miles round trip to Pico No 4. oil well
Elevation Gain: 300 feet
Time Needed: 2 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Dogs allowed?: Yes, this trail is dog-friendly
AllTrails Route: Mentryville: Pico Canyon Trail (we hiked the first 2.8 out of the 6.9 miles of this route)

Our Experience Hiking Pico Canyon Trail

The Pico Canyon Trail travels along a wide paved road that starts next to the Felton School. The hike extends for 7 miles, but we only hiked 3 miles of it up to Pico No 4 and back.

This hike is fairly straightforward. There is a large map at the Mentryville Park entrance where you can take a photo of the local trails. We also used the AllTrails hiking app to keep track of the route.

Pico Canyon Service Road is used by hikers and bikers, so you’ll need to keep an eye out for incoming bikers. This hike is also very dog-friendly, so many people bring their four-legged friends along.

The road is paved all the way to Pico No. 4 oil well. The road follows a creek the entire time, although it was completely dry in the winter.

Dry creek along Pico Canyon Road in December.

Some shade is provided from trees that grow within the canyon, including Coast Live Oak, California Sycamore, and Fremont Cottonwood. We hiked this trail in December, and some fall colors were remaining even this late in the year.

In the spring, you might see lots of beautiful wildflowers in this canyon, including poppies, lupines, sugar bush, and sticky monkeyflower.

We use the **Osprey Poco Child Carrier Backpack** to carry our 1-year-old.

Along the trail, we passed Johnson Park with picnic tables, a dance floor, and a horseshoe tossing pit.

While this park is abandoned now and not used anymore, it used to serve as the old company picnic and recreational area.

In about 1.4 miles, we reached Pico No. 4 oil well. This is a historic oil well that was the first operational commercial oil well in California.

It was spudded in 1876 and drilled to 300 feet with an initial flow of 30 barrels of oil per day.

Later, this well was deepened to 600 feet by using the first steam rig operated in California. From this operation, it produced 150 barrels a day until 1990. It was the longest-operating oil well in the world.

From the success of this oil well, the Pacific Coast Oil Company was formed, which later became the Standard Oil Company of California. Pico No. 4 well was registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Pico No. 4 oil well at Mentryville Park.

My husband and I enjoy history, so it was neat learning more about this location and how the oil boom started in California.

After finishing up the hike, I recommend heading to Newhall town in Santa Clarita. Newhall has a very charming old town with lots of great restaurants.

Lunch at The Old Town Junction in Newhall, Santa Clarita.

We dined at The Old Town Junction along Main Street. Their patio had plenty of space for our baby and our dog. Everything at this restaurant was so delicious, and it was truly one of the best meals we’ve ever had!

Visitor Tips

Pico Canyon Trail is a great hiking option for families with kids and dogs.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind for your visit:

Mentryville Park is located within the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Zone Park. This area is open to visitors from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.
Bring $5 cash for parking fees that you can pay upon arrival.
Mentryville Park and Pico Canyon Trail allow dogs on a leash. There are trash cans at the beginning of the hike for waste disposal.
Pico Canyon is home to a variety of wild animals that live in this wilderness. Although animal sightings are rare, you may encounter mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, mule deer, and birds.
During the hot, dry seasons, be sure to keep an eye out for rattlesnakes along the road and in bushy areas.
Bring plenty of water for the hike for yourself and for your dog.
Watch out for poison oak. Don’t go off the trail to avoid getting poison oak on your skin and clothes.

Mentryville ghost town is a wonderful destination to visit for those who enjoy history and outdoor recreational opportunities. It offers a unique insight into what started the California petroleum industry and what still remains after the oil slowed down in the Pico Canyon.

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This post is written by Laura. Hi, I’m a California local and the founder of the California Wanderland travel blog. I currently live in Ventura County and help 50,000 readers a month discover things to do in Central California! Read more about me here.

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