Mount Hollywood: Hiking goes Hollywood

What you'll be seeing

 Mount Hollywood

The red carpet of hikes

Requires little to no prep!

What you'll need:

• Water- 1 Liter
• Trail Shoes
• A buddy!   

Found on the East side of the Santa Monica Mountain Range. The geographic divider between the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Glendale. A nice reminder that nature can exist beside millions of people. I call it nature because it consists of more dirt than asphalt, more native fauna than county planted palms, and enough critters to still call it wildlife. Yes, this hike just qualifies as such. It is hike. Not a daring one, you can make it one if you'd like.

Stolen from Google Maps.

Getting to Griffith Park is a fairly simple ordeal. Just west of the 5 Fwy and south of the 101, you'll find the park. There are numerous signs pointing to the Zoo, golf course, and park facilities. Just follow them. You should end up on Los Feliz. The main road that runs along the park.

Personally, I was looking for the Mount Hollywood Trail. I'm not really sure if this was THE trail because there were no markings that determined which trail was which. However, which ever way you chose led up to the same overlook and peak. Follow the above map and you should see a couple trail heads.

We took off from the parking lot after making a turn towards the "Merry Go Round" sign off of Los Feliz. For the life of us, there was nothing noting which street we were on. If you keep going north, you'll run into the LA Zoo. Not that it's a particularly bad thing, you've gone too far. Turn around and head up the hill!

Once you get onto the trail you'll notice it's hard to miss the direction it's headed. It's wide enough to drive up. Then you notice it was once paved over with asphalt. Hmm. Don't worry this still qualifies as a hike and not a walk.

Nicole adjusting to the outdoors

Now, about maybe a mile up the trail, we noticed a ladder. A well put together utility ladder. I don't know who it was intended to be used by, but we did. This climb was very worth it. Just have a little bit more confidence than you do fear, and you should be just fine.

One way ladder!

Once to the top, you're standing under a high voltage power line structure. You know it's high voltage from the nice "hmmmmm" that it gives off. I'm sure it's also giving off some super power giving radiation as well. So try not to sleep under the thing. Unless you want some funky lookin' offspring.

Anywho, we marched on up the narrow clear cut trail. It was fairly steep and full of loose dirt so watch your step. Keep climbing up and you'll reach the large trail again. You'll emerge from the climb looking up at a bridge. It's a pretty cool sight.

ZAP! ZAP!

Climb up there for ShortCut #2

We got a little curious and ventured up to the base of the bridge. Well almost the base of the bridge. Seeing the most direct path up this mountain, we took it. This was shortcut #2. We scrambled up the little dirt path until we reached a thin yellow utility rope that was tied to a steel pipe jutting from the ground. I don't know why I trusted this rope that could of been frayed up top but hey it worked. We pulled ourselves directly under the bridge.


What a view. Immediately we understood the crowds that would come through to take pictures of the panoramic views. Amazing. You could see Los Angeles, Santa Monica, the Pacific Ocean and onward. What a perfect Sunset.


We stuck around for a while, just admiring our beautiful city. It always looks better when looking in.


Took some pics, chit chatted with the fellow hikers, and hiked back down in the dark. If you're careful, you can easily go back through the two shortcuts we took. Just mind your footing, and they won't have to name the trail after you!

This is a fairly easy trail with some exploring between turns. Half a liter of water should do, one liter should be more than enough. So bring it!

Obligatory Handstand Pic

See yah guys out there!

JoshW

Beach Side BBQ? Fire Pit? Sycamore Canyon

 Sycamore Canyon

Ever wonder where you could BBQ on the beach in Southern California without getting ticketed? Drive 10minutes north of Zuma Beach on the PCH and you'll find yourself at Sycamore Canyon. As the name implies, it's a beach covered with sycamore trees, you can't miss it. Once you find it, you can either park inside for a small fee until sunset or park along the PCH and walk a little into the lot. Find yourself a table and fire pit and set up for the day. Remember to bring your own wood and charcoal! Improvising with beach wood is a sure fire way to smoke out the park and meet a few park rangers.
This beach, like all others in LA county and Ventura County, "closes" at sunset. Meaning the park rangers can tell you to leave once the sun has set. Although I don't advise you to gamble with your night, we've never been told to leave before 10pm. Also, remember how you parked your car along the PCH? Did you notice the parking sign? NO PARKING 10PM-5AM. Two parking tickets ($68) later, they mean serious business. Unfortunately, there's really no way around this.
I'm not a big fan of all the regulation of our coast but that's for another entry...
Well, I hope you're curious and check out Sycamore Canyon sometime. Beautiful sunsets, great bbq, and a roaring fire will keep this as one of our local spots!
See yah there!
-JoshW