Secret Stairs #27: Silver Lake Court, 3.2 miles, 603 steps

Another "country walk in the city" as Fletcher describes this hike in Secret Stairs. Today's trek centered around hidden Silver Lake Court, a long, wide, overgrown dirt road where the Pacific Electric Red Car trolley once ran from Edendale Station to India Street Station. Back in the back when, trolley line access was the reason eight staircases peppered this hilly neighborhood east of the Silver Lake reservoir and west of the 5. The longest and most interesting staircase, 219 steps built in a zigzag pattern, took two water breaks to climb. I know, we've done longer and steeper, but each monster climb makes its own demands. Only a few homes got our attention in this architecturally mixed neighborhood: the 1924 Bible Knowledge Museum—a Silver Lake "hidden oddity" open to the public if you're interested in Middle Eastern antiquities or a mummy predating Christ by 600 years. My favorite was a home with an old funicular railway to transport groceries, etc. up the steep hillside from the street to the house.

The weather was gorgeous, and our final stop at Silver Lake Coffee made it a lovely Sunday morning.