This is a sprawling dog-friendly park with an adjacent golf course and three distinct duck ponds that play host to a variety of local ducks, geese and Turkey vultures, along with some visitors like green herons, blue herons, Double-Crested cormorants, egrets, mergansers and coots. There aren’t a lot of paths (paved or otherwise) but the grassy, sometimes wild-flower laden laws are relatively level throughout.

• Easy to Locate? Yes
• Pet Friendly? Yes. Dogs MUST be on a leash.
• Easy to Walk? Yes.
• Is there a Fee? No, access to the park is free
• Are there Restrooms? Yes.
• Is there Accessible Parking? Yes. It’s the same parking lot used for the Sacramento Zoo and WPA Rock Garden
• Other Notes: The park also encompasses a smaller garden with a tribute to local agriculture.  The three duck ponds are spread out over different parts of the park: a small pond which hosts a lot of crayfish, a medium sized pond which is home to a wide variety of fish (including some silver and golden carp) and provides space for local ducks and geese to swim and feed.  In the springtime this pond also acts as a nursery to baby ducklings and goslings.  The third pond is the largest has a small island in the middle of it.

See my FLICKR account for more albums of photos taken at this location throughout the last several years.

Watch the trees for herons, egrets and vultures; and watch the edges of the pond for families of pond turtles.  In the early spring the cherry trees in bloom around this pond are gorgeous; and in the fall you can see samples of sulfur shelf fungus (also called “Chicken of the Forest”) growing on some of the eucalyptus trees surrounding the park.  Oh, and when it’s mating season for the Mallard Ducks, you can see the males circle and dance for the females!

Although the park is large, you can see the whole thing and visit all of the pond within a few hours.

How to Get to the Park

The William Land Regional Park is located at:
3800 S Land Park Dr, Sacramento, CA 95822
Phone: (916) 808-6060
Website: https://www.cityofsacramento.org/ParksandRec/Parks/Park-Directory/Land-Park/William-Land

It’s hard to miss the William Land Park once you get near it.  It takes up acreage between Land Park Drive, Sutterville Road and Freeport Blvd., and is accessible from I5 (take the Sutterville Road exit).  

• Take Interstate 5 (I5) to the Sutterville Road exit
• As you come up the off ramp, turn LEFT onto Sutterville Road
• Take Sutterville Road to the light at Land Park Drive
• Turn LEFT onto Land Park Drive

You’ll see the zoo to your left, but you’ll need to park in the parking lot on your RIGHT. [Additional parking can be found behind the Fairy Tale Town park.]