Distance: 3 Miles | Time: 1.5 Hours | Elevation Gain: 872 Ft
Sometimes we have pup-related business to attend to in West LA (such as meeting our first ever potential DogVacay hosts!) so we headed out bright and early to squeeze in our first "city hike" to get Hoku nice and tired before the meet and greet. Clearly, someone needed another hour of sleep. We parked on Lake Hollywood Drive and oggled at all the pretty houses along the walk to the end of Wonder View Drive where the asphalt became a dirt road that led us to the trailhead. The trail up was fairly rocky, rugged and steep and we passed by several groups of hikers on their way down, having hiked up in the early morning to see the sunrise from the Wisdom Tree.
Beautiful hazy views of downtown LA to the south of us as we hiked up to the Wisdom Tree.
After finishing the steepest part of the hike (743 feet of gain in 0.78 miles!), we arrived at the Wisdom Tree and luckily had it all to ourselves! We wasted no time making Hoku stand under the tree so he could soak up as much wisdom as his little 22 lb Shiba body could hold. (We have yet to see any evidence of this.)
From there, we continued eastward on the rugged path towards Cahuenga Peak, Mount Lee and the Hollywood Sign with amazing views of Glendale and Burbank to the north. The Wisdom Tree got smaller and smaller as we hiked further along the ridgeline. Can you spot it in the photo below?
We made it the Hollywood Sign! Or rather, we saw the letters "YLLOH." We are true Angelenos now, right? Across the way, we could see a bunch of cars and hikers who had hiked up along the road from Griffith Park. There were much fewer people on this Wisdom Tree back trail, which was a relief to us!
This hike exceeded all our expectations for our first "city hike"! Hard to believe that such a rugged trail exists in LA LA that's not a fire path or paved road. It was the perfect morning hike - not too long, not too difficult, and of course, beautiful views are a must. You've grown on us, LA...smog, traffic, and all!