While wandering the Internet for trail information on Wilacre Park, the same phrase popped up over and over again. For some reason this hike, among all the hikes I have traveled in Los Angeles, is considered an ‘Urban Hike.’      It seemed strange that this particular hike received this title more than any other. [...]

        The first thing to do after any hike is to find out why it received that specific name. [My favorite is Mount Disappointment.] On this particular hike, my imagination conjured fabulously absurd reasons why this canyon was named after the devil. This must be the place where Lucifer stopped on his [...]

Title: Hiking Mount Disappointment was disappointing because it wasn’t a disappointment. …no, that’s not right. Hiking Mount Disappointment was sadly not a disappointment at all. …hmmm. With a name like disappointment, it has to be good. …no, that’s horrible. If you want disappointment, don’t hike Mount Disappointment. Ok, that’s enough dreadful titles, on with the [...]

     If -like me- you’ve ever felt the need to look down on the intersection of the 210 and the 5 freeways, then O’Melveny Park is your place.      That’s a horrible opening line to describe this hike, and an insult to the beauty of this hike. It gives the impression that a freeway is [...]

     There was no water falling when I visited the Rubio Canyon Falls, which serves me right for visiting a waterfall in the August desert that is Los Angeles. But, as I found out later, mother nature has reopened this waterfall after human beings closed it down for 6 years.      After hiking the Mt. [...]

     In the San Gabriel Mountains north of Azusa is the famous Bridge to Nowhere hike [link]. Above this is the lesser known Tunnels to Nowhere hike [link].      Unlike the Bridge hike which follows the valley, this is cut into the edge of the mountain. Walking along this trail in late May, the normal [...]

     A night of heavy drinking is horrible training for mountain climbing.      We knew we were going hiking the next day, so the problem was not sipping Guinness in the pub.  Or the three locals we met.  Or the shots of whiskey we bought each other.  But that moment of decision, the moment when the pub [...]