Skip to main content

Go Take A Hike: Trekking Griffith Park With The Sierra Club

Support Provided By
CC_GriffithHike1
The Sierra Club leads free group hikes in L.A.'s Griffith Park three nights a week. | Photo: Elson Trinidad

In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.
                                                                                  - John Muir

Los Angeles' Griffith Park is many things to many people: An observatory to gaze at the stars; An amphitheater where one can enjoy music under the stars; Riding horses, both real and wooden; Riding miniature-sized trains and climbing on actual-sized ones; Perusing giraffes in the zoo or playing a few rounds of golf. All of which comprises what the park's late 19th-century namesake benefactor, Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith, intended when he donated over 3,000 acres to the city of Los Angeles for recreation purposes.

Having grown up just a few miles away, the park has been part of my life since I was an infant. I had pretty much done all of the activities listed above. I thought I knew Griffith Park, yet there was much more left to discover.

One of the biggest attractions of Griffith Park is the 53 miles of hiking trails that the park, on the far eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, offers, a natural, relatively-untouched isthmus of chaparral wilderness surrounded by urbanity.

Since my young adult years, I've only enjoyed but two of those 53 miles, hiking on the very wide, fire-road path from the observatory's parking lot to the top of Mt. Hollywood, rewarded with simultaneous views of the L.A. basin and the San Fernando Valley, the sight of yellow-and-black swallowtail butterflies skimming over the brush, and the nerdy reward of spotting the city's elevation marker, which reads "1619" feet above sea level.

I had done this hike ceremoniously during holidays or on my birthday, thinking it was the ultimate trek in the park.

But there was still -- as the catchphrase goes -- infinitely more.

CC_GriffithHike2
Hikers convene at the Merry-Go-Round parking lot before their Griffith Park group hikes. | Photo: Elson Trinidad

Seeking both exercise and proximity to nature, I recently started joining the Griffith Park Evening Hikes offered by the Sierra Club's Angeles Chapter and Griffith Park Section. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, hikers convene at the north side of the parking lot above the Crystal Springs Merry-Go-Round and split off at about 7 p.m. into groups which go on 2-hour hikes in the park according to skill level (determined by speed and terrain), led by an experienced Sierra Club hike leader.

According to Griffith Park Section chairman Felix Martinez, a 13-year veteran hike leader, described affectionately as the "zen master" by some of the hikers, the Sierra Club has been offering these free group hikes for the past 60-70 years.

I had joined these group hikes quite by accident: Originally intending to join a separate hiking party that met nearby but inadvertently missing them by a few minutes, I went along with the Sierra Club hike with the intent to hike anyway. The result was a 6-mile, breath-catching, heart-racing, sweat-inducing workout that led our group through seemingly obscure footpaths barely more than a foot long, climbing at times up steep angles that required improvised footing, walking carefully along virtually-steep cliffsides, finally reaching Mt. Chapel, in between Mt. Hollywood and the Hollywood-sign-bearing Mt. Lee. That hike kicked my butt, and I loved it.

Subsequent hikes were decidedly not as strenuous, but just as rewarding: Hiking up to the sandstone promontory of Bee Rock, which overlooks the Old Zoo area, with the lights of Glendale shining in the distance below -- bearing true to its nickname as "The Jewel City."

I spotted native golden monkeyflowers in bloom and passed by some of the charred remains of the 2007 Griffith Park wildfire, which incidentally, flared up six years ago to that day. Our group even spotted a stray dog, which barked uncontrollably, until one of us in our group, who happened to run a dog day care center, got it to settle down and eventually find its way back to its owner.

Each hike becomes a learning opportunity among the hikers. On that particular hike, hike leader Emmy Goldknopf taught the hikers how to spot owls perched on trees.

"See the end of the branches? Look for a blob at the top. That's an owl," she said, with hikers staring at the silhouettes of bare tree branches against the purple dusk sky. A tell-tale "Hoo!" call in the distance confirmed it so, to the delight of the group.

CC_GriffithHike3
Hikers enjoy a view of the cities of Glendale and Burbank, with the Verdugo Mountains in the distance. | Photo: Elson Trinidad

On my most recent hike, led by Martinez, a group of around 20 was led up to the Dupoi Rocks, which overlooked the Griffith Park Boys Camp at the center of the park. We crossed a rickety wooden bridge that spanned a dormant waterfall and scaled a steep column of moss-dotted rocks to reach the promontory above. This was not just hiking, I thought. I simultaneously feared and welcomed the challenge.

The hikers, most of whom range in age from their 30s to their 70s, and represent all walks of life, have myriad reasons for joining the evening groups hikes.

Eugenia Mendez, a fashion designer from Santa Clarita, has been joining the Sierra Club hikes for around a decade, twice a week.

"It's so beautiful here, it's good exercise, compared to the gym. The views are spectacular," she said.

CC_GriffithHike4
Native sticky monkeyflowers bloom along the hiking trail in L.A.'s Griffith Park. | Photo: Elson Trinidad

Anthony Rubio, a heavy equipment operator who lives in nearby Glendale, has only been doing the Griffith Park hikes for the past month and a half, which he found out about via Meetup.com.

"I'm 48, and just stopped smoking, I've been wanting to get back into shape," he said.

Rubio volunteered as the group's "sweeper," a person who hikes at the end of the pack and makes sure people don't get left behind. Hikers who decide to split from the group for whatever reason usually notify the sweeper.

"This is my backyard," added Rubio, who also grew up nearby in Atwater Village and had memories of visiting the park during his youth. "I get to see my backyard in a whole new way."

CC_GriffithHike5
The Sierra Club's group hikers scale a column of rock in L.A.'s Griffith Park. | Photo: Elson Trinidad

What ultimately brings people back time and time again is the social atmosphere

"The best thing is the camaraderie, safety and the social aspect, just the things you learn from the people you walk with," said Gabriela Sosa, an interpreter, producer and actor who lives in nearby Los Feliz. "I just met someone who is a botanist and learned more about the flora in the park that I've walked by a million times."

Just then it hit me, we were all within Los Angeles' largest public space, taking full advantage of Col. Griffith's 116-year old natural wonderland, located right in our own backyard. A uniquely Southern Californian activity that can't be equalled in most cities around the world. Every step leads to discovery, even for the experienced. Mr. Muir was right, you really do get more than what you came looking for. And best of all, it's free.

Support Provided By
Read More
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
A Black woman with long, black brains wears a black Chicago Bulls windbreaker jacket with red and white stripes as she stands at the top of a short staircase in a housing complex and rests her left hand on the metal railing. She smiles slightly while looking directly at the camera.

Los Angeles County Is Testing AI's Ability To Prevent Homelessness

In order to prevent people from becoming homeless before it happens, Los Angeles County officials are using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing. They would then step in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more so they don't become unhoused.
blue themed graphic including electric vehicles are charging stations, wind turbines and trees, 2023 in reference to year

A Look Back at Climate Solutions In 2023

The U.S. may have a long way to go in its decarbonization goals, but these stories show signs of progress in climate solutions.