Week 314: Griffith Park Five Points
December 01, 2024AllTrails Beacon Hill Fern Canyon Loop, 3.81 miles.
Week 314: AllTrails Griffith Park Beacon Hill Fern Canyon Loop, 3.81 miles. On December 16, 1896, Col. Griffith J. Griffith bequeathed 3.016 acres (@5 sq. mi.) of his Rancho Los Feliz estate as a Christmas gift to the people of Los Angeles as "a resort for the plain people." For the last 128 years, Angeleno hikers have continued to enjoy Griffith Park's gift-that-keeps-on-giving—81 trails on a 53-mile-network of hiking trails, fire roads, and bridle paths. Barbara and I have hiked many of them and today we tackled this new-to-us trail on the NW side of the park. We started from the Merry-Go-Round parking lot and found the Fern Canyon trailhead on the road in from Griffith Park Rd. This hike involves three trails: Fern Canyon Trail to Coolidge Trail (at the Five Points) to Beacon Trails. Five Points is an intersection of five trails with stunning views from DTLA to the Verdugos, the San Gabriels, Glendale, Eagle Rock, and Burbank, not to mention Mother Nature's glorious spread of flora down the canyons and up the mountains from the trails. A good workout with some challenging elevations, but not a gasper. AllTrails lists it as "easy," but that's relative to how much hiking you do. Great views, well-maintained trails. The only wildlife we spotted were two coyotes on the fenced off driving range at the back end of the hike. Beautiful and invigorating, this hike was the perfect exercise for "Leftover Weekend!"
Happy Holidays from Col. Griffith! (and Barbara and Rochelle).
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