Los Banos in Late Fall, When the Marsh Trails Close and the Cranes Arrive

On Saturday, October 24, the regular duck season opens in California's Balance of State zone. It runs through January 31. The next evening, the Chamber of Commerce holds its Trunk or Treat on 6th Street downtown. Those two dates start a stretch of about ten weeks with a clear pattern. Out on the wetlands, many more birds arrive while a lot of the walking access closes. In town, most of the season's big gatherings land on the same few downtown blocks.

If you don't hunt, late fall in Los Banos means two kinds of outings. You drive the refuge's gravel loops, and you walk 6th Street.

The marsh is mostly closed to walkers by now

Most of the wetland access near town is already shut. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says Los Banos Wildlife Area is normally closed to the public from September 15 until the second Monday of February. The department suggests calling the area at (209) 826-0463 to check whether it's open. The state bought the property in 1929, and it was the first of a series of state refuges set up for wintering waterfowl. It has grown from 3,000 acres to about 6,200 acres of lakes, sloughs and managed marsh. So the first of California's state waterfowl refuges, right outside town, is normally closed to the public from mid-September until the second Monday of February, which covers the regular duck season.

The Salt Slough unit follows the same schedule. CDFW counts it as part of North Grasslands Wildlife Area, which is also normally closed from September 15 through the second Monday of February.

San Luis National Wildlife Refuge has also lost its best walking trail for the season. The refuge's April 2026 auto tour and nature trail brochure describes the Chester Marsh Nature Trail this way:

"open to visitors from February 15 to September 15; closed during the waterfowl hunting season."

That one-mile loop has a quarter-mile spur out to the San Joaquin River and the remains of an iron truss bridge built in 1884. Travelers on the old Merced to Los Banos stage route crossed the river there on their way to Chester, a town that no longer exists. The trail reopens February 15.

Here's what stays open through the whole season:

• Waterfowl Auto Tour Route, San Luis NWR. 8.5 miles on all-weather compacted gravel, open year-round, starting at the visitor center's main entrance.
• Tule Elk Auto Tour Route, San Luis NWR. A five-mile drive around an enclosure of nearly 800 acres, also open year-round.
• San Luis Complex Visitor Center. 7376 S. Wolfsen Road. The April 2026 brochure lists it as open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed on holidays. The refuge's own web page gives different hours on different parts of the page, so call ahead before a weekday trip.

From now until February, if you want to see the wetlands without a hunting permit, you'll mostly be seeing them through a car window.

What the drive looks like as the season builds

The timing works in favor of the auto tour. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publishes a month-by-month Nature's Calendar for San Luis NWR, and it shows the biggest arrivals happening after the trails close.

According to the calendar, sandhill cranes start coming back in mid-September. By Thanksgiving, more than 15,000 of them are in the Grasslands. That's a huge jump in about ten weeks, and most of it happens after Chester Marsh has already closed. November also brings Ross' geese, white-fronted geese and large numbers of ducks. In December, swans may show up in small numbers, and the calendar recommends watching for eagles, falcons and ferruginous hawks. The brochure's description of the Waterfowl Auto Tour Route matches. It says large flocks of geese and sandhill cranes can often be seen in winter, tundra swans are usually visible then, and the variety of raptors grows as peregrine falcons and bald eagles move in.

The elk route is the exception. On the same calendar, the tule elk rut and bugling peak in August. A September 2025 column in The Westside Express said the rut usually runs through September or into early-to-mid October. By late October the bugling is mostly finished. The herd is still there, but in November the busier drive is the 8.5-mile waterfowl loop.

So the season is lopsided. The fewer trails there are to walk, the more there is to see from the gravel.

Downtown picks up the walking

As the marsh closes to walkers, downtown fills its calendar. The City of Los Banos October 2026 newsletter lists the season's community events. Three of the five are on 6th Street, and the other two are a short drive away at city facilities.

Breakfast with Santa tickets went on sale October 5. The city notes that all programs are subject to change.

The 6th Street events now have a landmark to gather near. The city's Fall/Winter 2026–27 recreation guide describes the new Downtown Gateway arch, built by the Community & Economic Development Department. It stands at 6th Street, can be seen from Highway 152, and serves as the main entrance to the historic downtown.

Halloween Fest is at AG Sports Complex, which got Los Banos' first permanent pickleball courts this summer. The Los Banos Enterprise reported the July grand opening, and the city guide describes nine courts.

Where the two calendars meet

Line the refuge calendar up with the downtown calendar and you get a few natural pairings. Each one is a morning on the gravel and an afternoon or evening downtown.

1. October 24 and 25. Duck season opens Saturday. Chester Marsh is already closed, but the Waterfowl Auto Tour Route is open, and October is one of the two times of year the refuge calendar lists as having the greatest variety of birds. Sunday evening brings Trunk or Treat on 6th Street from 5 to 9.
2. November 7. Scaup season opens that day under the state's 2026–27 rules. The Veterans Day Parade starts downtown at 11 a.m., which leaves time for an early drive on the waterfowl loop while November's geese are arriving.
3. The weekend after Thanksgiving. The refuge calendar puts more than 15,000 cranes in the Grasslands by Thanksgiving. The visitor center is closed on holidays, but the auto tour routes are open year-round.
4. December 5. A daytime drive to look for the first swans and the winter raptors, then the Christmas Parade and the Henry Miller Plaza tree lighting, which run from 5 to 10 p.m.

The refuge sits on Wolfsen Road and the parades run along 6th Street, close enough to fit both into the same Saturday.

A few things to check before you go

There's a gap in the official information this year. The FWS events page for San Luis NWR doesn't list any fall 2026 tours or events, and the only specific item it mentions is from the 2025–26 season at Merced NWR. If guided walks are added, they would most likely show up on that page. Until then, the auto tours are the way to visit on your own.

The water outlook should be steady. At a regional meeting in March 2026, CDFW reported a full Level 2 water supply for the wildlife areas and expected flooding to be similar to the previous year. The same presentation said Los Banos Wildlife Area's new entrance road had recently been finished, though that road won't be open to most visitors until February. Looking ahead, the city's fall guide lists a spring 2027 grand opening for Shaunessy Park, plus shade structures planned at Skylark Park and Neighborhood Park during fiscal year 2026–27.

Here are the details to keep handy: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily at the visitor center according to the April brochure, (209) 826-0463 for Los Banos Wildlife Area, and February 15 for the Chester Marsh trail to reopen.

Martin grew up in Merced County, and he knows these seasons the same way you do, from the Grasslands to the parade route on 6th Street. If you have questions about your home or your street this fall, in English or Spanish, Martin Villanueva is glad to talk it through. Schedule a free consultation, and if you're heading out to the refuge first, enjoy the cranes.