Finally, FINALLY! Mother Nature granted us a break from the rain to show off what a good shower can do for the flora, fauna, and air in L.A. And it was glorious. Barbara and I chose Casey Schreiber's terrific hike through the northeast corner of Griffith Park, a hike offering an inside look at the section of the park more familiar to equestrians and mountain bikers than hikers. The hike began at the Oak Canyon Trail heading south on the west side of Griffith Park Drive across from the Travel Town parking lot—our first intro to what we knew might be a sloppy hike. Clumps of mud tracked over with horse and human footprints that weren't as messy as it sounds and were surrounded by trees bursting with green leaves and hills carpeted with green grass under a sky painted blue, gray, and white. Utterly gorgeous. The Oak Canyon Trail parallels the part of Griffith Park Drive open only to bikes, hikers, and equestrians. Aside from a few packs of mountain bikers below, we were alone for most of the hike. Oak Canyon Trail led us past the Griffith Park Composting Facility at 0.8 miles—a hidden treasure that donates its yearly load of green waste to nonprofit organizations, LAUSD schools, city landscaping, and the LA Zoo. On the way to the Mineral Wells Picnic Area we passed the Toyon Canyon Restoration Project, a pretty but controversial hillside landfill landscaped with native plants. But honestly, though they were interesting, nothing could detract from the beauty of Griffith Park in the winter. Lush, green, cool, and inviting, we just let ourselves enjoy the clean fresh air. After we passed the Mineral Wells sign, we found the Condor Trail and the only real challenge on the hike—the trail quickly took us up 200 ft. in a little over 0.2 of a mile, but the slow huffer was worth the view we found at the north end. At the turn of the trail, we could see the entirety of the LA Zoo property beneath a clear view of downtown Glendale and the mountains to the NE. Unfortunately, we didn't see any animals, (well, what looked like a huge condor on a perch in a cage but too far to photo or ID) but songbirds filled whole park and serenaded us throughout the hike. My photos tried but cannot capture the depth of the breathtaking views of the Valley for the second half of this hike. Barbara, hiking ahead of me, would stop at a turn with a "wow." And every "wow" revealed something new. Below us, the 134, the LA River, the Equestrian Center, the Railroad Museum, and then out to Disney/WB/Universal in the near distance—and the view spread out from there. Just incredible. At about the 2-mile mark we picked up the Skyline Trail (another one of my favorite GP hikes) with more jaw-dropping views of the San Gabriels framing the Valley. The Skyline Trail's loops and turns led us back down to our start point at the Travel Town parking lot. A soul-cleansing trek that will remind you of how beautiful hiking LA during the winter months can be. Needed that.