I had another epic few days in Los Angeles. As like nearly all my visits to town, this one was a whirlwind event filled few days.
I was invited by LA City Councilman Tom LaBonge on a hike of Mt. Hollywood to honor the London summer olympics as well as the closing of summer. This is a great hike – 1.5 miles to the summit nearly all up hill. The day was hot, the day was clear – I sweated as I climbed with fellow travelers @michelleyam and @latravelwriter – but we had stellar views of Griffith Observatory below us, much of the LA basin and downtown as we hiked.
Upon reaching the summit we were soon serenaded by Amazing Grace and other tunes being played on a bagpipe. We watched the sun slowly sink to the west – a perfect way to end another summer in southern California.
The next day the Endeavor buzzed much of Los Angeles – my aunt and uncle were in town from Alaska so we headed back to Griffith Observatory and fortunately arrived just before the big “rush”. I was surprised to see Mr. LaBonge frantically directing traffic near the main parking lot below Griffith Observatory – now that is called dedication!
The anticipation of seeing the Endeavor fly through at an elevation of around 2000 feet had seemingly brought much of LA directly to Griffith Observatory. Massive crowds flooded the parking lot, all side streets were packed with vehicles, the overflow grass lots were full and traffic was amazingly backed up both ways on Los Feliz Blvd – all the way across the 5 into Glendale. It was nuts!
People were lined several deep around the edges of the actual observatory – people had fashioned homemade “endeavor” paper planes – and souvenir Endeavors were flying around the edges on string. The Endeavor landed at LAX later in the day; our friend was on the plane that landed right before the Endeavor. The pilot of the plane he was on pulled over and all the passengers watched this historic event.
Here are a few photos:
This couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve been to LA a couple of times and a I have a three day stopover in December and was thinking about doing this hike. How long did it take you and where is the starting point?
Hi Kelly – thanks for reaching out. As a side, I wasn’t familiar with your blog – so I just added it to our travel blogs on under our Travel Resources part of the site.
If there aren’t too many people at Griffith Park – you can drive all the way up to the parking lot right next to the observatory. At the far end of the parking lot – (furthest from the observatory itself) is the trail-head. The hike to the top is nearly all uphill – we walked very slow – I think it took us about an hour to the top – but if you walk faster you can certainly get there quicker. Great views on a clear day – awesome hike! If you need any other hiking or other sightseeing etc recommendations for what to see while you are in town for 3 days, let me know 🙂
~ Dave
Great views! But I could do without so many people. I love walking and running but have never hiked. How does 1.5 miles feel when doing it at an elevation?
Hi Thomas – it depends on the elevation. Anything generally above 10,000 feet without acclimatizing to the elevation first will often leave you a bit breathless and if you are susceptible to altitude sickness -then higher: headache, nauseousness etc. However, this hike to the top of Mt. Hollywood is not that high 🙂
Hiking Mt. Hollywood it looks like a great venture to fill some time.