A terrific feature of hiking Griffith Park is the way so many of the park's 67 trails intertwine to offer new routes to familiar places. Today Barbara and I selected a new route for a return to Beacon Hill, the eastern-most point of the 40-mile-long Santa Monica Mountains. Before LAX opened in 1928, the Grand Central Airport in nearby Glendale was the aviation center for LA's flying set. Its famous terminal, now a National Historic Landmark, still stands on Air Way—once a runway—on the Disney Grand Central Creative Campus. The runway ran NE to SW, and to warn pilots of the mountain range rising in the SW, a luminous beacon was constructed at the 994 foot mountaintop elevation that became known as Beacon Hill—our destination. The hike is supposed to begin at Griffith Park's 1937 Merry Go Round, but as we turned off Crystal Springs Drive into the parking lot we faced a dual traffic jam of runners for a 10K and cars for the monthly "Cars and Coffee LA." Too crowded to make our way to the carousel, we parked & hiked straight for the Lower Beacon Trailhead off the lot road. Lower Beacon took us to the Fern Canyon Trailhead and we were off. This hike was beautiful from start to finish. Simple to navigate—Fern Canyon Trail took us to the "5 Points" intersection where we picked up the Upper Beacon Trail and headed for the top. On the trail, green mountainsides covered with white flowers framed a panoramic view of the San Fernando Valley. As we followed Upper Beacon, the view expanded E to Glendale. Near the top, Silver Lake and DTLA came into view on our right. When we reached the peak, only remnants of the former beacon were a few metal scraps, but clear winter sky allowed a breathtaking 270-degree view. A break for snacks then we retraced our steps back down. This hike is a steady climb, but the only real challenge is the final quarter-mile up to the top—tricky but not a gasper. An utterly beautiful hike, completed just before the clouds and sprinkles set in.