With the millions of colored lights dancing in the night, the Festival attracted as many as half a million visitors each year.

However, this year, because DWP’s work on its major water line that connects the Ivanhoe Reservoir in Silverlake, to the the North Hollywood Pumping Station, this year’s Light Festival of Lights was not able to be scheduled.

Even though I’ve only lived in the LA for three years, I’ve been to the Festival twice.

In that vein, and to bring back a few memories, here’s a video of last year’s DWP Light Festival:

In the spirit of “Buy Nothing Day,” I went hiking on Black Friday. I did wake up early–not for the Early Bird Specials– my plan was to go to Griffith Park for a hike to the Hollywood Sign. Although I’ve been there before—and wrote about it extensively– Griffith Park never fails to amaze and mesmerize me.

This morning, the views, although not perfect, were much better than the last time I was here.

Although for many who live in major metropolitan cities throughout the world, not having visited a city’s landmarks, popular places, and attractions would seem odd.

In Los Angeles, though, we’re always doing what’s interesting for us and what we deem our passion. And in that, unfortunately, we do miss many of the great things that define Los Angeles. During my hike I briefly spoke with a fellow hiker–who was among the other 40 or so people hiking—who has lived in LA for over 10 years. Despite living here for over a decade, this was his first visit to Griffith Park. I’d hiked to the Hollywood Sign before, but obviously never took this particular route.

Park Ranger Ernie Ybarra led us on a vigorous; and mostly single-file trail hike of 5 miles in length. Done 2x, or in other parlance–up and down–the hike was ten miles long.

Although 10 miles doesn’t seem like a lot, it is. Especially when you’re going up an incline of 1,400 feet, which this scenic pathway does. I’ve already highlighted several of the amazing vistas on the trails to the Hollywood Sign, today I wanted to feature the Griffith Park Visitor’s Center, where today’s hike started.

Griffith Park is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. Its land mass consists of over 4,000 acres, and included within that is more than 50 miles of hiking and equestrian trails.

The entrance to Griffith Park’s Visitor’s Center greets you with an earnest festoon of artistic representations of the Park’s important, extensive, and culturally rich history:

Griffith Park–like many of our early land acquisitions–was essentially gifts, by early Los Angeles philanthropists; but sometimes I really think that they were visionaries.

In this particular case, Griffith Park is eponymous with the generous donation of over 3,000 acres by Colonel Griffith J. Griffith in 1896. According to Ranger Ybarra, it took the city of Los Angeles 6 years to accept the donation because they thought it was too far away from the city– 6 miles!

To truly understand just how valuable this land is, and to help you gleam the now laughable notion that Griffith Park was “too far” from City Hall, or should I say “how far” today’s current Metro Los Angeles is from Griffith Park, below is a map of Los Angeles County. Within the map, I’ve marked the approximate location of Griffith Park:

You can clearly see just how “far” Griffith Park is from downtown, but you can also see that Griffith Park is in the center of it all.

Ranger Ybarra told us he would be conducting more hikes during December; however I was unable to find a list, but if you’re interested in more information please email Ranger Ernie Ybarra at ernie.ybarra at lacity [dot] org.

It’s my pleasure to take this opportunity to thank Ranger Ybarra for the being a fantastic tour guide. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and look forward to the next hike. If you’re interested in the route we took and a few more pictures, below is the GPS of our hike:

Griffith Park

Griffith Park has plenty of opportunities for hiking, horseback riding, concerts, and a myriad of other things to do and places to go within its very own confines.

While Travelin’ Local, I hope you find time to make sure this holiday weekend to try and visit some of the places and areas of interest that we have here in the great city of Los Angeles.

Often times, when I find myself hiking, I’m not always so sure where the trail will go or what I’ll see. The only information I had on this trail, was what the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation site told me:

Special Features: HIKING TRAIL

HOLLYWOOD SIGN

PARKING

TUNNEL/CAVE

As soon as I saw the words “HOLLYWOOD SIGN” and “TUNNEL/CAVE,”

Needless to say I was “All In!” Although I’ve hiked to the Hollywood Sign before, I never tire of seeing it, and as soon as I read the words tunnel and cave, the deal was sealed thrice over.

After grabbing my camera, my water bottle, and my determination, off I went.

Who knew I was going to find public art at the start of my hike. Judging by the looks of it, this patch of concrete is meant as some kind of water run-off system. Someone took their time in spray painting this big green guy.

This shot gives you an idea of what the trail looks like. With wide walkways, many hikers brought their friendly dogs out to get a bit of exercise with their masters. As you can see, I was on the way up, which didn’t surprise me.

What did surprise me is that this trail connects to the same trail I had previously taken to view the Hollywood sign. This time, however, I didn’t turn left when I approached the fire road. I went the other way trending right; I was headed toward the direction which I hoped would take me to Shangri-La—the place where I could actually touch the Hollywood Sign. Little did I know that as the trail goes up, it keeps going up and up, and then some.

Close to the top, the northern views were spectacular. Above is the world famous Forest Lawn Cemetery, where recently, Michael Jackson was buried.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect at the top of this mountain because I had never walked it before. Not armed with enough information to know what was at the top of this mountain hike, I did know that it had a steep inclined and was a long walk–it took 1.25 hours to reach my final destination.

If you haven’t guessed it already, at the top, I found myself at the Hollywood Sign, but in reverse. Yes, that’s the back of the Hollywood Sign’s letters. As I stood there, trying to snap a picture between the fence that prevent visitors from getting any closer, I thought about the people who have climbed the ladder only to jump to their deaths. What was going through their minds? We’ll never know.

If you’re thinking about trying to get around the fence, I’d think again. This gate with all of its camera security is the conclusion to this trail. I didn’t count the cameras, but just in this picture alone, you can see several pointing in all directions.

In case you didn’t know, that’s the Hollywood Reservoir. I can hardly wait to go back on a clear day.

After over two hours of hiking and with the trail behind me, I felt tired but good. Even though I didn’t know where the trail would lead, I left happy knowing a question I’ve had was answered.

To give you a photographic idea of the distance and elevation traversed, I took this shot less than half way up. I’m not sure why it says what it says, but you can clearly see the tower at the mountain’s top– which is the end– in the background.

As for the tunnel and cave mentioned above, I didn’t find it, which leads me to believe either I took a wrong turn, or I took the wrong trail, or both. This of course means that, in the pursuit of journalistic excellence, I’ll be going back. I’m sure that my staff won’t mind. J

This hike also allowed me to try out one of my new gadgets and toys. After searching long and hard for a GPS unit that did what I wanted it to do for Travelin’ Local’s mapping purposes, I finally found the right one to buy, after going through a few lemons:

Hollywood Sign and Bronson Canyon

This is a visual reproduction of my hike, and when you click a particular link, you’ll see a new photo. I’ll still be using Google maps, but I’ll also include some maps on this software as I keep on Travelin’ Local to bring you the best of what Los Angeles and environs has to offer.

For a true LA insider’s look at the Hollywood Hills, try the Hollywood/Highland Travelin’ Local Walking Tour. It’s 3 miles of total LA uniqueness.

[Update] Access for parking for this hike can be found at 3200 Canyon Dr, Los Angeles, California 90068. The lot is small, but if you get there early, you should have no trouble. Happy hiking.