Can't match the perfection of hiking during the month of May—a few clouds dappling a clear blue sky, temps in the mid- to high 60s, and Mother Nature spreading out the green, lavender, and yellow blooms from her winter rains. Barbara and I headed out to Woodland Hills east of Topanga for this new-to-us hike through a unique stretch of hills and mounds leading up to "Dirt Mulholland" in the Santa Monica Mountains. Trail reviews: great. Difficulty: moderate. View of the SF valley and San Gabriels: wow. We thought we'd find the trailhead off Wells Drive at Serrania Park, a small "pocket park" with a fenced-in playground and a wide green space for dogs and their people to romp. Nope. AllTrails guided us to the eastern border of the park where we found an unmarked, barely-a-trail dirt path on Wells. But never judge a hike by its starting point—that skinny dirt path took us on a climb up and down six hills and peaks, rising higher and higher to our destination—the "bench" at Dirt Mulholland. Each rising mound had a different personality. Some peaks had me grasping for twigs for balance and to pull me up through the rocks and gulleys, other mounds peacefully surrounded the trail with yellow mustard, sunflowers, purple sage, and lupine in bloom. Below to the west, a view of the Serrania Park open space and Woodland Hills Country Club; below to the east, huge, $5.7M+ homes behind the gates of Westchester County Estates. Ravens and hawks overhead, a bunny and skunk in the bushes, and birdsong entertained us. At the turnaround we stopped to rest on the "bench"—in quotes because this bench actually appears on a map for unknown reasons other than it faces a view so spectacular that one could sit there all day. Quick snack and then followed the trail back down, this time taking bike path detours around some of the mounds to avoid descending the steepest, rockiest parts of the trail on our bottoms. Other than two bikers and four hikers we had this hidden gem to ourselves! Spectacular.