Since moving to Burbank, we thought we’d give Griffith Park a try. It’s practically our backyard. The first time we went was last Sunday in the late afternoon where we did a short hike from Mineral Wells to Amir’s Garden. I liked it so much I wanted to come back and spend the whole weekend exploring more of the trails. I woke up early at 5 am on Saturday. I wanted to check out the southern end of the park and I knew accessing the trails from this end would be much more crowded. The parking was already starting to fill up when we arrived around 6:30 am. We hiked up the Riverside trail to the Hogback Trail to Glendale Peak and then the Mt. Hollywood Summit. The Hogback Trail was a nice workout! I really enjoyed this hike. It took a little getting used the being around so many people, but since it was a city hike, I knew that was to be expected. We had great views of DTLA and the hills were beginning to bloom with all kinds of flowers. This is going to be a great go-to place for us for hiking, especially when we aren’t able to make it up into the forest or even on a weeknight after work. After the hike today, we both agreed we wanted to come back and do some more exploring tomorrow.
My favorite part of the hike to Josephine Peak are the spectacular views. It’s a steady 4 mile climb to the peak, and today we had a nice, clear day since it had just rained. As we travelled up the fire road from Clear Creek Station just off Angeles Crest Highway, we could smell the eucalyptus trees and the yerba santa. It was even more fragrant today since it had just rained. I’m not quite sure how the eucalyptus trees got here since they’re not native, but they sure do smell nice. As we continued hiking up the trail, I started to get some great photo ops. Strawberry Peak looked quite impressive and we could see a dusting of snow covering the mountaineer’s route. We also had a nice, clear view of DTLA. The views went out all the way to the ocean. To the north, the high country was covered in fresh snow; Waterman, Baden-Powell, Twin Peaks, etc. As we neared the summit of Josephine, we crossed over a bit of snow ourselves. When we arrived at the peak, the views were even more incredible. The last time we were here we were shrouded in clouds so we didn’t get the 360 degree views that we had today. I took advantage and snapped away with my camera. It was absolutely lovely. After spending some time at the summit and greeting a few fellow hikers who’d come to enjoy the day as well, we decided it was time to begin our descent. The clouds started to roll in as we hiked back down the mountain, but we didn’t see any rain. It was an absolutely perfect day.
