Idyllwild Nature Center

If you park within the gate, expect them to promptly close by 4pm/​check times. If you park before the gate entry, then no worries. It is a short trek to their nature center building. Admission was $ 4/​adult and $ 3/​child. This includes walking around the grounds, nature exhibit, trails, and picnic areas if I recall correctly. We arrived just an hour or so before their gate closed and took a short tour of of their gift shop, nature center where my son met their rosy boa constricter. Paid our admission and we walked to their observation point, just a short hike behind the building. It was cooler than I expected and while a hike warmed us up, it did start off pretty brisk and chilly. There were even patches of snow when we walked around the shops and restaurants just below the nature center. The nature center is less than a 5 minute drive from the shops and restaurants. Great spot to bring my son and easy trails to hike. My son loved climbing on the rocks and checking out the views below the best. Look forward to returning for our next adventure soon.

I enjoyed this place a lot. Had Family with kids and it rocked.

They have multiple hiking trails that you can hike. From easy to advanced trails. You can even take your dogs out here and ride your horses on the trails. My family loved seeing the different animals and the different paw prints in the snow and trying to figure out which prints belonged to which animal. We even saw some fish in a part of the trails.

From the entrance drive the short distant to the headquarters with lots of parking, picnic tables and restrooms. We went into the headquarters museum and paid the ranger the daily use fee, $ 4 adults, a bargain. In front are a few helpful items for purchase that will help with identification of wildlife and trees. Excellent dioramas are in the headquarters, each with easily identified information on the well done exhibits. A great little area is set aside for the kids, clearly intended as a teaching area. Our mid-​week visit in October with few visitors left the range plenty of time to talk with us. She was the supervising ranger for all of Riverside County’s parks and centers. We were impressed with her friendly approach to what must be a sometimes difficult job. She encouraged us to take the short loop trail just outside the headquarters, gave us a little map that had 10 stops with a description of what we were seeing. The loop walk was interesting and easy, not getting much out of sight of the buildings. The ten stops were very helpful in identification of the various kinds of trees, pines, cedar, fir, etc. In front of the headquarters is a large public restroom that is well taken care of and clean. My wife said next time we should bring a lunch picnic and relax for a quiet break from out otherwise busy agenda. Highly recommend this stop with a very modest daily use fee as a contribution to the wonderful center and exhibits.

The Idyllwild Nature center is a wonderful family friendly museum and trail system. I’ve been coming here annually for many years because it’s a good place to tucker out the kids before the long drive home from Idyllwild (family owns a cabin in the area).
When you arrive parking is down the small road. You buy the parking pass from inside the Nature Center building. Seeing your paying for your visit here at the nature center, you might as well check out actual center/​museum. This is probably mandatory if you’re with children as it seems to be more focus for them.
The Nature Center property also the best beginner trails in the area. Younger kids, and people with medical issues can thoroughly enjoy the flat looped nature trail. For the more adventurous, the hillside and steep trails are my recommendations. It’s actually not a bad hike for any skill level.
Note that there is a fee for day use in the park. I’ve never seen anyone enforce parking, so it may be the honor system.
Adults — $ 4
Children 12 and under — $ 3
Children under 2 — Free
Dogs — $ 1
An annual pass is available for those that live up in the area or visit the area a lot.

Phenomenal! This center is the best nature center for kids! Short of being able to touch live animals, it has everything! There is a cute little library area with pillows for kids to read about what they have seen or will see. Numerous terrariums have live spiders, snakes and lizards to observe. There are 2 enormous window displays at the back with larger preserved animals fixed in their typical habitat with labels to easily identify them. It also has it’s share of trinkets and tchotchkes to take home for family. The trails leading from here are fantastic as well. A small brochure outlines a dozen or so points to stop at along the shortest circuit which is great for 5 y. o kids and up. We climbed on enormous boulders of granite and took in some incredible vistas of pine forest. The boys had a marvelous time fencing with fallen branches of manzanita. It was also especially convenient that dogs were allowed on leash on these trails, since we had 2 with us.
After you visit this center, be sure to head up to Humber Park — what a great place for sledding and hiking! Amazing views of Taquitz!

First of all, this place is more oriented towards families with younger children. That’s an important distinction. If you’re looking for breathtaking views and rigorous exercise, you’re looking in the wrong spot. Google some trailheads or stop off at the ranger station for some awesome people and helpful information.
Anyway, the nature center has a lot of fun stuff! There’s a small, simple museum with lots of critters, stuffed and live (I got to pet a snake!), and there’s a little gift shop with more than reasonable prices, like the geode keychain for three bucks. The nature trails are very short and very mild. The shortest loop wasn’t even a mile and the incline was less than minor. It’s perfect for taking a toddler in a backpack or a preschooler by the hand and you can aim for the longer loops for older children. The trails were well-​maintained with lots of benches to sit and ponder.
It’s super cheap, only $ 3 per adult, $ 2 per child, and $ 1 per dog (yes, that means they are very dog friendly). I was expecting worse and would gladly pay more to keep the place running. Overall, I really liked the place. It was cute and quaint and perfect for our group due to one excited 4 year old.

First visit here on 8÷9÷14 for Butterfly Daze. It was a small hands on exhibit, but it was pretty cool. And did not cost much. Small museum wasn’t too bad either. Restrooms were clean, at first (messy, gross people were allowed into this place too… Lol). Nice to be able to explore the surrounding wilderness, as there were trails. Didn’t realize there were table or I would’ve brought a lunch… :/

Worth checking out.

We took our 3 y.o. son here on a quiet weekday, and we were happy with the cute little nature center and the easy trails. The $ 8 fee for the 3 of us seemed a bit high, but the staff at the center were very friendly, showing us the resident gopher snake and other animals, both alive and stuffed. It was nice to find a place in the area where our son could attempt doing a few trails on his own.

Love the Nature Loop Trail, the Pioneer Town events, and the Third Annual Lemon Lily Festival.
Next year, we bring the dogs, rent a cabin.

This is a beautiful area and that’s why I’m giving it three stars. Otherwise, I had many frustrations. First of all, the girl at the desk gave me a horrible map, which is useless. Then she tells me to stay away from the Summit trail, which is the most scenic and the only trail which is clearly marked. We were going to take the HIllside Loop, and took the awful map and her advice on how to get there and off we went, only to get lost and end up on the highway. Nothing was marked !!! I’ve never seen a place to hike with absolutely no trail markings. The dogs enjoyed walking around in small circles, so I guess that was the positive.

Before I talk about the Idyllwild Nature Center, can I please have a word with you parents who bring their kids to places like this?
PLEASE TEACH YOUR LOUD-​MOUTHED KIDS TO SHUT THE HELL UP WHEN THEY’RE IN THE WOODS! TEACH THEM TO LOOK, LISTEN, AND LEARN. TEACH THEM TO BE AWE OF THE WONDERS OF NATURE. BUT PLEASE SHUT THEM THE HELL UP!!! THEY’RE SCARING AWAY ALL THE %$&#ing WILDLIFE!!!
There. Sorry. Anyhow …
The Idyllwild Nature Center is pretty nice — at least for Idyllwild. They have lots of parking, decent restrooms, the obligatory museum-​like displays and stuffed birds and animals, and a few trails to wander around in the woods.
Since there just aren’t many places to go in Idyllwild that aren’t paved, in someone’s yard, or inside a touristy shop, this is about as good as it gets close to town. Otherwise, hit the State Park trails a few miles north of town.