Even on a cloudy morning, flora, fauna, and stellar views surrounded Barbara and me on this new-to-us trail in the west central heart of Griffith Park. Our goal: the Tiffany & Co. Foundation Overlook, 1.4 miles up the West Trail from the trailhead across the street from the Fern Dell Drive parking lot. The Tiffany & Co. Foundation (separate from the jeweler) supports preservation and conservation, including investments in iconic places in urban parks. They positioned this overlook for a "magnificent view" of Cahuenga Peak, the highest summit in Griffith Park. Though the morning was too cloudy for us to get a clear view of the peak, we caught glimpses of the Berlin Forest, the Griffith Observatory, and Mt. Hollywood. Simple to follow, the shadeless trail is a moderate 574 ft climb and by the number of fellow hikers and dogs we met along the way, one of the most popular hikes in the park. If you're in the mood, it's a simple side trip to either the observatory or Mt. Hollywood. The trail surrounded us with flowers and we stopped a few times to ID some we didn't know, chatted with a man creating "rock messages" in three different languages at the side of the trail, and were treated with a sighting of a baby hawk peering from the family nest high up in a tree—probably wondering when the folks would be back with brunch. Excellent in gray or shine, hiking Griffith Park never disappoints!

   

   

   

   

   

Springtime at the ocean! A marine layer veiled our view of the Pacific, but the clear blue sky and pink/yellow/green landscape surrounded, enveloped, and awed us along this three-trail hike in Palos Verdes' Portuguese Bend Reserve, a 1400 acre protected home for rare and protected wildlife. Barbara and I first hiked the preserve on one of Charles Fleming's Secret Walks in 2017 and returned today to follow a different route through this magical place. The Palos Verdes Peninsula was originally an island in the Channel Island archipelago and the peninsula's cultural history dates back 50,000 years, most familiarly with the Tongva tribe. Flash forward through the Spanish and Mexican occupation to the American cattle ranches in the late 19th century. Fortunately, Mother Nature added a caveat that kept this area from being hijacked by developers: it's subject to landslides and geographically unstable for building. Migrating birds use the preserve, the largest area of vegetation remaining in Palos Verdes, as a winter habitat for food and rest, and the area is a valuable scientific and ecological site. The gated entry to the Burma Road trailhead is adjacent to Del Cerro Park in Rancho Palos Verdes. The views are jaw dropping from the start at every angle. We followed the Burma Road Trail SE and picked up the Peacock Flats Trail to begin our counterclockwise loop heading down, surrounded by daisies and yellow mustard often so tall it felt like we were hiking through a tunnel. At the bottom of Peacock, now deep in the valley, we intersected with the Burma Trail and followed it E to the Ishibashi Trail. Worth a mention—James "Kat" and his wife Annie Ishibashi arrived in the US from Japan in 1910, leased 5 acres from the Bixby Cattle Ranch for $50/year and went on to build a family produce business that lasted almost a century. One of the only Japanese families who came back to the peninsula after internment, the Ishibashi family is a true peninsula success story. Barbara and I hiked up, and I do mean UP, the Ishibashi Trail to the upper Burma Trail to close our loop and return to our starting point. Great hike, and because it's so pretty it's very popular—tons of hikers, happy dogs on leash, lizards and black beetles, one fuzzy black caterpillar, and more than a few mountain bikers wheeling down the skinny trails. But, boy, the place is gorgeous. The parking is ridiculous and monitored, so we recommend planning ahead or committing to an extra half mile to the trailhead. But...so pretty and with so many trail options, and totally worth the trip.

       

   

   

   

In 1924 Mulholland Drive opened at Cahuenga Pass, moving E–W across the top of the Santa Monica Mountains with Hollywood to the S and the SF Valley to the N, and the road soon became one of the best known streets in the US. However, few know that a few miles west of the 405 at the intersection of Encino Hills Drive, LA's iconic street becomes "Dirt Mulholland" for about 8 miles, an unpaved road closed to motor vehicles. I didn't know, and when Barbara and I studied the map of this hike I said, "Today's trail is the center of Mulholland Drive?" She assured me that this Mulholland was "Dirt Mulholland." Greenbriar is a popular trail and we hit heavy traffic, but in the form of dog walkers and they're happy companions, and we spent a lot of time jumping out of the path of speeding mountain cyclists. We didn't care. The day was gorgeous, the mountains and canyons were covered in green and mustard-plant yellow, and the trail was easy enough for us to make it more of a "conversational" hike than a "watch-your-feet" adventure. An LA City Open Space with 36 miles of trails through open grassland, the CA Dept. of Parks & Rec calls Topanga State Park  "the world's largest woodland within the boundaries of a major city." Spring was absolutely the right time for this particular hike—not one spot of shade in the three+ miles we covered. Our starting point, the trailhead at Greenbriar Drive south of Tampa Avenue in Tarzana, connected us to Dirt Mulholland. We followed Mulholland east to the Rita Walters Trail named for the trailblazing teacher, civil rights advocate, and the first black woman elected to the LA City Council (1991–2001.) The Walters Trail curved down for about a quarter mile to our turnaround point, a Topanga State Park trailhead at the border of the Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park (another section of Topanga State Park for another day.) Time for snacks before we tackled the climb back up to Dirt Mulholland and the walk back. An easy hike for a pretty Spring day. 

   

   

The first weekend of April and Mother Nature pulled out all the stops to make mountain hiking irresistible. Barbara and I chose this trail at random and discovered a new-to-us treasure located in the north central portion of the Santa Monicas on Stunt Road off Mulholland. We entered on a trail bordering Cold Creek, one of SoCal's "most pristine free-flowing creeks" and designated a Significant Ecological Area, and followed it to the Stunt Ranch Reserve. The Reserve is stewarded by the TreePeople Land Trust, protecting an ecosystem with a number of species designated "threatened" on the endangered list. Trekking the muddy, rocky trail above and beside the creek we were serenaded by constant birdsong. After four rock-to-rock jumps over the creek to stay on path, we had mastered our creek-hopping game by the time we reached the trail leading us around the Stunt Ranch Reserve. Stunt Ranch was named for the family that homesteaded the property in 1885, after thousands of years of Chumash who had lived off this land without having to grow a thing. As we circled the Reserve, eleven informative signs posted by the Santa Monica Audubon Society indicated coastal sage scrub, riparian, grassland, and chaparral areas and bird species to watch for. We heard but didn't see any birds, and fortunately the endangered lizard, snake, rat, and bat residents ignored us. Once around the Reserve loop, we picked up the creek-bordering trail and returned to our starting point. A spectacular hike, easy to find, and filled with beauty and adventure!