What a wonderful gem of a hike, and right in the middle of Los Angeles (some photos show the Hollywood sign in the background). One thing I did learn from this hike though is that I AM WAY OUT OF SHAPE!
My friend & neighbor Molly came with me, taking the congested drive from Long Beach to Los Angeles, and with such pleasant company the traffic wasn't unbearable at all. (thank you Molly, for going with me and also for being tolerant of my constant chatting - I should have taken an adderall to quiet the chatter. hehehe).
Anyway,
Runyon's main entrance is on Fuller, with another entrance to the west on N Vista.
Parking isn't always the easiest task in LA but after a short time we found a space west of N Vista. But the hike from the parking space up North Vista Street left me panting and gasping for air, and we weren't even in the canyon yet. Wow. But, being the trooper I fake being I plugged along. Once inside the gate one realizes how fortunate we are that such a vast amount of nature has been reserved for this state park (At least I believe Runyon is a state park).
We headed up the paved, developed trail on the N Vista side, me panting, and poor Molly patiently waiting as I stopped occassionally to catch my breath. With or without breath I could not be any more amazed at the beauty of this loop. I've taken many pictures (below) to show some of the sights. To be in the middle of Los Angeles and on a hiking trail with the flora comparible of some wooded outskirts regions it is amazing to see the city and streets and traffic in the background. You know what? From that altitude the traffic looks like rivers of diamonds & silver, instead of the reality of metal & glass.
We hiked up beyond the 1,200' altitude and over the canyon onto Mulhulland Dr, then back into the park and up some primitive rustic stairs (I believe they were actually there for erosion control and to protect the ridge from rain damage.). We lost the paved path at this time, but not really knowing the lay of the land who knew we entered one of the unmarked foot paths of Runyon Canyon. The path was trecherous, with rain ruts in the path and soft gravel moving under foot while climbing to the view of the peak. Simply Beautiful up there. Coming down was a bit of a different story. The beauty remained, but the path, again, was a foot path and trecherous (I have some scabbing on my hand where I needed to contol my sliding - better to slide than to fall I guess). What a workout too. My legs are tired, my hips are tired, my ass simply hurts. I AM OUT OF SHAPE! But I am really glad I went on that hike today. I love it that I believe I may have started my fitness and conditioning again, this was a great way to boost myself that much further.
Oh, and there were runners on the foot path! Wow. That is conditioning! I applaud to them. One day I hope to be fit enough to run Runyon again. I used to do it in my 30's. Today I had trouble walking it, how do they run it? Molly's husband Stefan would be one of those trail runners. He is a competitive runner so now that Molly has seen the canyon (her first visit there, ever) she'll introduce it to Stefan and he'll commando those other runners every time! :-)
OK, so on with the pictures. Thanks for reading my rambling, I hope the pictures make it worth your while.
The first three pictures are mapviews of Runyon Canyon (thanks to trails.com for the images I harvested from their website). You'll see a terrain image with the obviously visible paved paths, and in the first satellite image you get a different view. Then there is a satellite image detail with the paved path on the right and the foot path we took on the left.
I loved it that we strayed from the path. Who says we have to always stay in the lines, right? :-)
Click on any of the images to enlarge to full size (1024 x 768).
The rest of the pictures are from my digital camera.
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| Check out the rock art at the bottom of the canyon in the picture above |
Above is a better detail of the rock art
Horses!
My friend Molly
