Walking L.A. #37, Mt. Washington: Far from the City in Spirit, 2 miles.

Avoiding choruses of "Holly Jolly Christmas" for the 5-zillionth time, Barbara and I made an early morning escape to Mt. Washington, the rustic neighborhood founded in 1909 in the hills south of Eagle Rock and west of Highland Park. We started at the gates of the Self Realization Fellowship HQ (the grounds were closed—another hike for another day) and headed up Elyria Drive to an entrance to 35-acre Elyria Canyon Park. Part of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Elyria Canyon offers the type of serenity that only Mother Nature can provide. The 2-mile network of trails on the SW slopes of Mt. Washington are filled with coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and give home to one of the last remaining strands of SoCal Black Walnut woodlands. Silence. A squirrel munching on walnuts. Silence. Ravens grumbling on the wire. Silence. And wondrous, clear-skied views of Glendale, Burbank, Griffith Park, and our old friend the Observatory. We crunched through tangled shrubs and thorny bushes, soothed by the quiet, welcomed by an occasional hummingbird. Really, the best way to kick off the holly, jolly week-before-Christmas!