Rancho Santa Margarita Skate Park

s: Mark Ankenbauer p: Eric Meyers

Last week we went to visit our good friends at Sole Technology, the sneaker scientists behind Etnies, es, and Emerica. We picked up some fresh gear and decided to go test it out, thankfully we had just picked up Skullcandy’s handy little app that tells you all about local skateparks.

The app got us within a mile of the park, so it needs a little work, but thanks to a local scooterer we found our way. Stranded out in the Orange County desert is the Rancho Santa Margarita park, alone with only a baseball field as a neighbor, this concrete park is definitely worth the journey.

Especially if you like ledges. There are enough ledges here to keep Mike Mo busy for days. Little ones, big ones, and curved ones literally litter the park. There’s also six two-sets, so it’s like a training ground with room for all sorts of sprouting stair set specialists.

s: Mark Ankenbauer p: Eric Meyers

The park doesn’t have the greatest layout of all time, it was clearly built during that in-between era where towns realized they needed to provide a place for kids to skate, but hadn’t figured out they need to hire special companies to build them. Lack of foresight aside, its a fun street park with a few huge features and several smaller ones. Being that its in the desert, its a good thing they at least installed a nice canopy so you can cool off.

There’s also a snakerun into a pool, another kidney pool, and a weird little mini-bowl if you’re into that sort of thing. Bit of local knowledge though, the park is just beyond the outfield fence of the aforementioned baseball field, so be wary of the long ball.

The park is located at the Canada Vista Park, 24328 Antonio Parkway, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA

p: Eric Meyers