After months of dodging the heat by hiking the beaches, Barbara and I were glad to get back to dusty crooked thistle-lined trails. The Wild Mustard Loop is a new-to-us hike at familiar Ernest E. Debs Regional Park, the  282-acre great escape to nature in Montecito Hills NE of Dodger Stadium between Highland Park and South Pasadena. From the trailhead for Valley View Trail at Ernest Debs Park Road we hiked up narrow, dusty Valley View Trail paralleling familiar, paved Summit Ridge Trail.  About a third of a mile up we connected with Summit Ridge to connect to Oak Grove Trail the third of the five trails we hiked in a loop around the highest points of the park. On the east Valley View and Oak Grove Trails fenced-in baby tree sprouts marked by flags dotted hillsides burned by an 8-acre fire this past August. Clouds and fog greyed out distant views although we did catch a foggy look at the San Gabriels to the N and DTLA to the S. When we finished the upper loop, we followed Summit Ridge to Debs Lake for the turtles! So many turtles. Floating in the lake,  underwater in the rushes, and nearly a dozen gathered on a log, apparently THE place to be on Sunday morning if you're a turtle. After circling the lake, chatting with friendly hikers and petting the hiking dogs, we took Lake View Trail down to the end of the road and the parking lot. We capped a great hike with a visit to Silver Lake Coffee on Glendale Blvd to say goodbye to one of our favorite Sunday morning post hiking discoveries, closing at the end of this month after twenty years. We stop for mochas after every hike and 300+ stops later, Silver Lake Coffee remains our favorite. Happy trails Silver Lake Coffee, we will miss you.  

   

   

   

Barbara and I initiated our weekly hikes with Charles Fleming's Secret Stairs book, so today's new-to-us Redondo Stair hike brought back the cardio joy of gasping up a long flight of stairs. One of the most entertaining beach hikes of the summer, the string of 8 staircases and 5 ramps offered a two-story view along the stretch of beach running from the Redondo Beach Pier to Torrance Beach. No staircase was the same. The "downstairs" energy at beach level contrasted with the casual strollers along the "upstairs" Esplanade and stretch along condo row. Surfers, bikers, volleyball players, and dog walkers, old and young, enjoying a Labor Day weekend dip in the ocean or a stroll on the beach path. The day was glorious, the beach was jammed, and variety kept this hike interesting. Interspersed between the 8 staircases were a series of ramps for bicyclers, wheelchairs, and anyone not up to a rigorous climb up 50 to 90 stairs. Easy to follow—we parked in the lot at the SW corner of Redondo Beach's Veterans Park and started down the first staircase we found. With the Redondo Beach Pier to our right, we walked South on the beach path to the next stairway, climbed up, came down, and so on until we hit Torrance Beach. Redondo Beach, incorporated in 1892, was the 1907 home of Hawaiian George Freeth, California's first modern surfer. Though today's waves were meh by mid-morning, the beach was hopping. Loved this hike!

   

   

   

   

   

   

Another beach? Another beach! It's too damn hot to hike anywhere else. This morning Barbara and I drove down to Torrance for a north-to-south, in and out hike at the lower end of the string of beaches below Santa Monica: Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo...then Torrance. New to us, Torrance Beach turned out to be the best of the bunch for a long walk at the beach because it had so much to offer. We started from the parking lot on Paseo de la Playa, trekked down to the smooth clean sand, and headed south for the first third of the hike. A few surfers floated offshore, a kayaker paddled toward shore, and a crowd formed around a shoreline fisherman pulling back as his line pulled in the water. Apparently a good place to fish because on the way back we met a couple holding up two large fish and a baby shark. (🎶) At one mile in, just past Rat Beach ("Right After Torrance), we followed the dirt ramp trail adjacent to the Palos Verdes Beach Club up to the top of the bluffs for the second third of the hike: a looky-loo walk past the mansions bordering Paseo del Mar. (Homes on top of the bluffs on oceanside ran around $11.5M) Past the end of the homes, we stopped to look down at the ocean and caught an entertaining display of a pod of dolphins jumping out of the water near a boat out in the ocean while sea gulls dive-bombed for fish into the water from above. We reached the last third of the hike at 1.6 miles: a trail down to Bluff Cove. We hiked Bluff Cove to the end of the peninsula almost exactly two years ago, and it still is one of the most beautiful, iconic views of California's Palos Verdes Peninsula. This time we only followed the trail down the bluff for about a quarter mile, then sat for a snack before turning back to retrace our path. Loved this beach and hike because of its old-timey "beach" feel at one end and jaw-dropping views at the other. Can't get that combo much up the coast. 

   

   

   

Unless we have a very specific area in mind, Barbara and I choose our hiking locations by whim. We look for a trail or area we haven't hiked, check the maps, pick one, and go. Every new hike is an adventure but some, like this week's, are pure serendipity. We half-expected an urban hike when we parked in the lot of the Palisades Recreation Center. As we followed the trail bordering the baseball field, we overshot the "secret door" leading to the canyon. Backtracked, found it. Found riparian wonderland. Behind the door, 52 stairs led us down into a beautiful 46-acre passive park with seating areas, trails, information boards, and romping areas for Fido. New and so pretty—fresh tree plantings dot the sides of the canyon. A meadow of native riparian plants stretches down a mile and the Pacific at Will Rogers Beach comes into view.  Someday soon, plans include a beach access trail leading all the way down. The beach at the bottom of the canyon across PCH is the historically significant former site of the "Long Wharf", aka Port Los Angeles, built by Southern Pacific in 1897—the first port of Los Angeles. We walked along the side of the meadow, and then couldn't resist following the trail a bit farther for a glimpse at the ocean and beach below. Surfers, hikers, bikers, and the Will Rogers Lifeguard Station; and the Santa Monica skyline in the distant south. The care and forethought put into the landscaping, planning, native plants, along with the trails and ocean views made this hike and George Wolfberg Park a treasure. Go now for a "I remember when" memory of a park that is sure to become a Palisades favorite.