Walnut Creek Pool

Walnut Creek Park is a stunning, well manicured gem of a park. We’d discovered it on the parks website, but the experience of visiting blew any expectations we may have had out of the water, Just, wow. I’d like to spend more time just exploring that park, but we were on a mission.

Parking is easy and free, but you’ll have about a 5 minute walk to the pool through the playgrounds. There is a playground geared towards toddlers, another for bigger kids, and some picnic benches if you bring lunch or something to eat before or after the pool. It was one of the coolest playgrounds I’d ever seen:

If you have any older kids, I’d make sure and leave time to play on that playground after the pool.

Onto the pool. The kiddie pool is incredibly shallow and lacks shade, so plan accordingly. I found the water too warm to enjoy, honestly. The kiddie pool is attached to the larger pool by a ramp, and the shallow part of the larger pool is vast and much cooler. I’d recommend favoring that pool over the kiddie pool. That shallow end is as good as it gets — pristine, clean, and pretty vast as far as shallow ends go.

The restrooms are fine — they get the job done, but they’re not glamorous. There is a changing table, but it’s not in a stall so I can imagine that being stressful if it’s busy.

There’s a large shaded area off to the side to park your stroller and stuff, but it was busy when we were there and it was midweek. It was also just far enough from the pool to be slightly annoying, so you probably wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving the baby to sleep in the stroller while you wade in the kiddie pool. I know I didn’t.

Walnut Creek is now closed during the week for the season, so check it out on the weekends until it closes on Labor Day!