Trail or Park of the Week: Applegate Park

Parks near Merced this week: the pick is Applegate Park, a free 32-acre city park at 1045 West 25th Street in Merced with a duck lagoon, playgrounds, picnic shelters, and the Applegate Park Zoo. It suits mid-November well because it is low, flat, and shaded, and the cool mornings make the easy walking and the zoo visit genuinely comfortable.

Applegate Park sits on West 25th Street in Merced, a short drive from downtown, and has been one of the city's signature parks since the Works Progress Administration built it around a duck pond in 1937. Today the pond survives as a small lake near the zoo, mature sycamores and oaks are turning gold along the water, and the whole grounds stay open daily through the fall. It is an easy trip from Atwater about 15 minutes north on Highway 99, from Turlock roughly 30 minutes up the same highway, and from Livingston about 20 minutes, with weekend foothill visitors from Catheys Valley often stopping on the way home on Highway 140. If you want the seasonal backdrop, this week's Seasonal Nature Report follows the fall color down to the valley floor, with the walnut orchards going gold and tule fog settling in on cool mornings.

Parks Near Merced: This Week's Pick

What makes Applegate Park worth a November visit is the way it packs a whole day of easy outdoor time into one flat, central location. The duck lagoon reflects the gold and amber trees overhead, mallards glide on the water, and the broad lawns, playground, and covered picnic shelters make it a natural family stop. The zoo, which opened in 1962 and houses roughly 75 mammals, birds, and reptiles, many of them rescued California natives, is a genuine attraction of its own and is open Thursday through Sunday. On a mid-November morning the park is quiet, the light is low and golden, and you can walk the full grounds in well under an hour at a family pace.

Walking at Applegate Park

Applegate Park is a park of easy flat walking rather than a named-trail destination. The City of Merced publishes no named trails, distances, or difficulty ratings here, so none are listed. The park is essentially level, with paved paths around the lagoon and across the lawns, a bike path listed among the official amenities, and no elevation gain to plan around, which makes it a genuinely low-effort outing in November weather. After a rain, the grass can stay damp for a day or two, so shoes that handle wet lawn make the walk more comfortable.

Amenities

The City of Merced facility directory lists a full set of amenities: the duck lagoon, a playground, covered picnic shelters, barbecue grills, a recreation hall, a gazebo, a bike path, a skate park, tennis courts, volleyball nets, and restrooms. The Applegate Park Zoo sits on the grounds with its own entrance near the lagoon, and the park has year-round appeal because the facilities work for a quick weekday walk or a full weekend picnic. There is no entrance fee for the park itself, and the zoo charges a small admission. In November the shorter days mean the playground and picnic areas are at their best in the middle of the day, when the sun is warmest.

Hours, Admission, and the Zoo

The park grounds are open daily, and the City of Merced does not publish a separate closing time for the grounds. The posted-hours facility is the zoo: open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and closed Monday through Wednesday, plus Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Zoo admission is $3 for ages 3 to 13, $4 for ages 14 to 59, and $2 for ages 60 and up, with children under 2 free. If the zoo is the point of your visit, plan for a Thursday through Sunday morning; if you only want the park, the grounds are open all week.

Parking and Getting There

Parking is free on the streets bordering the park, and there is a small parking lot near the zoo entrance. From Highway 99, take the 16th Street or 18th Street exits and follow the signs into the west side of Merced; from downtown, 25th Street runs directly to the park's edge. Atwater is about 15 minutes north, Turlock roughly 30 minutes, and Livingston about 20 minutes, so the park works as an easy meet-up point for friends coming from different towns. On warm weekends the spaces near the zoo fill earlier, so arriving by mid-morning makes parking easy and leaves the best of the day ahead of you.

Best Time to Go

In mid-November, go in the morning. The air is cool, the light is low and golden, the lagoon reflects the fall color at its brightest, and the zoo opens at 10 a.m. for a planned visit. Midday is the warmest window of the day, which suits the playground and the picnic shelters, and the late afternoon gets short quickly as the days shrink toward winter, so plan to wrap up while there is still daylight. Weekday mornings are the quietest visits, and because the park is on the valley floor at low elevation, it stays accessible when foothill trails are wet or cold. If the morning fog is thick, it typically lifts by late morning, and the park is open to all visitors on the same terms, with equal service to everyone.

Map and Official Links

The official City of Merced page for Applegate Park lists the current amenities and facility status, and the official Applegate Park Zoo page posts the zoo hours, admission, and animal updates. For turn-by-turn directions, use the Google Maps listing for Applegate Park. All three open in a new tab.

Past Picks

Week of November 5: Stockton Creek Preserve, the free foothill nature preserve in Mariposa with a moderate 3.3-mile oak woodland loop and two trailheads on the edge of town. Week of October 29: Merced River Trail at Briceburg, the free foothill hike on the old Yosemite Valley Railroad grade along the Wild and Scenic Merced River east of Mariposa. Week of October 22: McConnell State Recreation Area, the 74-acre Merced River park near Livingston with camping, fishing, and easy riverside walks. Week of October 15: Lake Yosemite Regional Park, the day-use lake park in Merced with an easy 3.5-mile lakeside loop and $10 day use. Week of October 8: Merced National Wildlife Refuge, the free refuge about 12 miles southwest of Merced with a 5-mile auto tour, two easy 1-mile walking loops, and sandhill cranes arriving through the fall. Each week's pick is archived here, so you can build a year-round list of parks and trails across Merced County and the nearby Sierra foothills. These public lands are open to everyone, and Monica offers equal service to all.

Enjoy the outdoors, Merced. And when you are ready to talk about your home, Monica is here: schedule a free consultation with Monica Franks, The Seller's Agent, and learn more about Monica's approach on her about page.