Park: Runyon Canyon Park
Address: 2000 North Fuller Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046
Directions: Take the 101 Freeway, and exit on Highland. Cross the bridge, make a right, which will result the freeway being right next to you. You will see the entrance to Mulholland Drive to your left, so it's a sharp turn. The entrance to the park will be about 2-3 miles away. On your way to the park, there is a chance to stop by on a Hollywood Bowl lookout.
Parking is minimal at about 12 cars designated to the park, but there are tons of street and road side parking. On a given moment, you can see about a couple of hundred cars here. Which makes this park people/dog crowd busy on weekends.
The park is about 3 miles round trip, and offers 800-1200 elevation gain depending on which trails you take. It can be easy (Mulholland starting route, lower level which is what we took) to hard (Fuller starting route, to higher level).
There are two entrances to the Mulholland side of the park, and we took the higher, steeper one; so that it will condition us for the rest of the hike. The two other car entrances are lower at the Fuller and Vista streets, where you can apparently also buy water and snacks, and free yoga classes are in that area as well.
The 360' views of this place is amazing; and I love it that:
1. As opposed to fully designated off-leash dog parks: Bryan and I don't need to bring the chuck-it to give Tico his due exercise for the day.
2. As opposed to other hiking spots, Tico can roam around here freely without leash for most of the time
So it's the best of both worlds for B and myself, especially today, since we are both nursing our hangover from a night out with Bea, her roommate Raymond, and their friends the night before. If you've ever used chuck-it's to entice your dog to chase a ball, you know that it takes a toll on your arms to toss a ball 30 feet away a couple of hundred times in one hour. Add to that a large, 90 pound dog who is ready to jump on you whenever you don't toss the ball in time, cue in other dogs who want to join in the fun, hitting your knees whenever they run in your way, jumping on you to see if you've got food, a free hug, or you face needs cleaning up - - - it's not pretty. And we're wusses when each part of our body is hurting.
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| There's a makeshift recycled bag box next to this sign |
Runyon Canyon Park is a great dog-friendly park, but do pay attention to the signs all over the place. There are designated off-leash and on-leash areas of the hike, because some of the paved roads are also used for the local residents to get in and out of their homes. We kept Tico within our eyesight and no farther than 10 feet away from us, because there's also rattlesnakes, steep cliffsides, thorny bushes and cacti, untended dog poop, uneven dirt roads, and hundreds of dogs and hikers/joggers/kids on this park. The lower Mulholland entrance has a water fountain, so be sure you fill up before you enter the park. Bring a poop bag, and trash cans are aplenty at every 100 feet or so. It still is an unofficial off-leash park, unless you are confident that you can call your dog at a whim's notice when a car does come around.
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| Water fountain at lower Mulholland entrance |
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| We turned left/lower level from this power line |
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| Free water! |
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| This horse was feeding a goat hay on our way back |
Along the way, we came across a couple of dogs with their doggie backpacks. We had one for Tico during his first year, because I would make him walk around our old neighborhood in Huntington Beach after work. One of our neighbors asked me what I had in the pack; "was it water bottles? Weights?" to which I shamefully admitted: "2 cans of tomato sauces on each side of the pack" because they were pretty heavy enough to wear Tico out.
There's many types of people that grace this beautiful park, but the main demographics are the pretty people in their 20's and 30's, some are dressed to the nines with their designer labels sunglasses and their blinged-up gym clothes and shoes, but the rest are like us common folk. You'll see celebrities here, since it is, after all, in Hollywood. We didn't see one because we weren't paying attention and they all look alike to me anyway. There's also young families of three with the baby strapped up to their chests, which I thought was really cute. There's definitely a lot of fit people today, and it's a recommendable place to get your daily workout. If you come here every day or all the time, I would think it won't take too long for you to get a Matthew McConnaughey (sp?) physique.
We also came across a horse who later was feeding his "brother" goat hay. That was an adorable sight to see. We also enjoyed seeing the beautiful houses down the hill, there were two houses that are practically next to each other - - one was painted in purple, the other in green. So I'm assuming the purple one was for Joker, and the green - his ex's. We are in Hollywood, after all.
You can see the Hollywood sign from every angle on this hike, and to its right is the Griffth Observatory. At the beginning of this hike, the Sunset Strip is just right below you, and to the far distance is Downtown LA.
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| Cactus! Cactuses! Cacti! |
We stopped at this summit, where the tall wooden bench is at, and another bench is to the right, we found a spot next to the second bench to rest and enjoy the scenery, and tested our knowledge of LA geography. On this side, we can see the Wilshire Boulevard, the Wilshire Corridor, Century City, and Westwood Village. Some people say you can also spot the Catalina Island and Santa Monica Pier from here, but maybe at the higher level, because we didn't. We enjoyed this spot it's a perfect place to rest, sit down, and join the others who are contemplating on life.
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| I contemplate on water |
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| I contemplate on doggie snax |
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| I contemplate on chew toys and plush beds |
"I'm the king of the world" is a famous quote from the 1997 movie "Titanic". Our night out last night with Raymond's local college buddies reminded us how it's like to be in your early 20's, and all you want to do besides working and studying hard is to party and drink whenever possible. Kudos to them, but being in our thirties, Bryan and I are admitted homebodies. But to be young and have the rest of the world at your feet. The possibilities are endless, and; like today's hike, you are offered with so much choices when it come to different paths and trails to take in life. At 38, I have taken countless trail adventures, and have always had wondered the what-ifs. But all in all, I have enjoyed the trail ride and adventures. And I look forward to more adventures with my two boys - - and possibly a fourth family member along the way.
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