Secret Stairs #39: Santa Monica—Bluffs and Beach Walk, 3.5 miles, 384-450 steps.

Southern California at her picture-postcard best. Below is a snapshot I took facing north from 1909's Santa Monica Pier, overlooking the breadth of our hike. We began at the pier's historic 1915 merry-go-round, one of the world's last wooden carousels. Remember the carousel Paul Newman worked at in the beginning of The Sting?—THAT carousel. Down the steps to the bike path, we walked along the beach, and then up and across curved overpasses above Pacific Coast Highway that led to staircases rising up the bluffs to Santa Monica's Palisade Park on Ocean Avenue. The fourth photo is a southern view of the pier from the park. Hiking from the top of the bluffs down to the beach and back up four times, not our most challenging trek but the view kept us breathless. Toughest staircase: the 167 weathered and crooked wooden stairs at Montana Avenue. We added a mile or so through doubling back and pier wandering, and subtracted 100-ish stairs closed for construction at the California Incline. We'll be back.

"California Dreamin'" on a chilly, sunlit morning.