With the hint of spring in the air last weekend, I decided to ride a bike trail I’ve had my eye on, the Metro Orange Line Bicycle Path.

After having gone through a major clean-up effort, the Orange Line Trail looks great, and rides even better.

I didn’t ride the entire trail, but entered it via the intersection of Oxnard and Van Nuys. Almost all of this part of the trail is labeled a Class I bike trail, a completely separated bi-directional right of way designated for bicycles. The trail is smooth and flat, making for a seamless ride; however, there are rips in the seams, due to the many starts and stops at each major street crossing, of which there are many.

In my ride, I encountered one major problem—signage, or a lack thereof, especially in this particular section of the bicycle path near the Los Angeles River, where the Class I trail turns into a Class II bike trail, a striped lane for one-way bike travel on a roadway.

Unfortunately, there are no directional signs of where to go to continue on the intended trail, so it’s easy to get confused. This left me with one choice, to keep riding with the hope that the Class II trail would lead back to its intended course, along the bus route.

I was right; the Class I trail restarted several blocks down the road. But no sooner did I reach the path’s end and as I resumed my trek back, the signage issue became even more of a problem.

Upon starting this trail, I thought getting lost wasn’t even a possibility or I would have taken my map. After about 20 minutes of riding, fortunately, I found my way out of what was a maze of bike paths at the time. I had no idea bike trails could be so prevalent!

After returning home, I reviewed the map, and apparently on my way back, I took the wrong fork in the bike path, which led me astray to the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area. On a different day, I would have loved to spend more time there, but on this day, I had to be somewhere in the afternoon, so getting lost wasn’t on my agenda. Indeed, when is it ever?

It’s incumbent that the LA Department of Transportation, show bicycle riders the same set of criteria and respect that they afford automobile drivers by providing proper signage.

Supply the proper information so bicycle riders know where to go to reach their intended destinations.

Safety first isn’t just a slogan to bandy about when convenient.

Here’s a slice of Los Angeles courtesy of the Metro Orange Line Bicycle Path:

This is another part of the Los Angeles River. It looks quite different here than it did closer to Griffith Park.

A wonderful family friendly painted brick mural I liked.

I encountered this bike rider both coming and going. She appeared to be at least 70 years old, and because she was riding her bike for at least 40 minutes, I’d say she’s in pretty good shape. You go girl………………..:)

As I approached this gentleman, I was trying to figure out what he was doing. Upon closer inspection, he is transporting empty bottles and cans to be sold at a local recycling center.

In Los Angeles, collecting recyclables is a mini-industry. Although it isn’t for the faint of heart, it’s green and eco-friendly.

The economics of recycling is increasing favorably, scouring garbage cans for recyclables, bagging them up, and taking them to a local recycling center is becoming popular. I’m not certain how much money one can make through this endeavor, but it’s obvious this guy is taking it very seriously.

All in all, I enjoyed the ride, and even though getting a little lost was an issue. I looked at it as an extra 20 minutes of exercise, and a worthwhile cause for advocacy.

Speaking of exercise, how are you going to enjoy the first day of spring on Saturday? If you’re going to take your bike out of mothballs, grab your camera, and share Spring into 2009.

I can’t wait to see what spring looks while you’re Travelin’ Local wherever you may live in the world.

So I packed up my bike (it fits in the back seat of my car because it’s a folding bike), and went for a bike ride.

The trail I was looking for was the Ballona Creek bicycle path,; but when I reached the National Boulevard entrance, it’s still under construction, and the completion date has been pushed back from last month to November 2009.

Therefore, to make the best of plans which were led astray, for today, I decided to take another bike path I’d seen a few days ago, while I was Travelin’ Local for my Architecture as Art, and Palm Trees, a Famous Bakery, and Mexican Food stories, from last week.

I didn’t know how long it was or where it went, but I enjoyed the ride on this bike path on a Sunny Sunday afternoon:

This is where the trail starts.

This is the Los Angeles River. I’m currently researching about its long, interesting, and fascinating history and how it’s an omnipresent and ever-present urban feature here in Los Angeles. I’ll feature the end product in a couple of weeks.

What a great way to spend a perfect Sunday—sunny and in the mid 70ºs. Many people were outside– biking, walking their dogs, jogging, or just out for a stroll.

I love the contrast between the electrical poles, in the foreground, with the towering San Gabriel mountains in the background; city versus untamed peaks.

Above my head is the 405 Freeway, a sometimes brisk and other times parking lot of an Interstate. Traffic is one of the nemeses of living in LA.

This is how I spent my Sunday afternoon Travelin’ Local and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Did you enjoy your Sunday afternoon in your neighborhood?

As its entrance is right off of Sunset Blvd, the park is easily accessible to both drivers and Metro bus users.

After parking at the park entrance, just follow the entrance road to the Temescal Canyon Trail head and that’s where the majestic canyon opens and starts. All you need to do is just go–it’s easy to find.

As always safety first! Be sure to bring along some water and a friend. Yesterday’s sojourn wasn’t firmly planned, so I hadn’t really prepared, however it wasn’t too hot (In fact, I was wearing a sweatshirt, which soon became sweaty), so water wasn’t an issue, but my shoes, which were an older pair were a menace. Due to several inches of rainfall in the past few weeks, the trail was a bit slick on the downside, and I did slip, luckily resulting in only a pair of dirty kneed jeans. I think my ego was definitely more damaged.

Although its chiming is labeled as “moderate,” I think that the Temescal Canyon Trail is a “little strenuous,” as the climb’s incline is about 1,000 feet in the first mile.

Since getting to the waterfall was my goal, the trip up seemed at times to take a while, but in reality, it’s was only about 20-25 minutes.

It felt so good to be outside hiking again—since I haven’t had too much time recently, this trail definitely got me “back in the saddle again” so to speak.

Temescal has long been a canyon that inspired nature lovers and enlightenment-seekers. During the 1920s and 1930s, the canyon hosted Chautauqua assemblies—large educational and recreational gatherings that features lectures, concerts and stage performances. The canyon was purchased by the Presbyterian Synod in 1943 and used as a retreat center until 1995 when the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy purchased the property.

After about a mile of hiking, I came upon the waterfall. As I said earlier, it was only a few short months ago that because of the drought conditions in Southern California, what was once a true waterfall had been reduced to a trickle.

Although a bit more than a trickle now—but not totally ground water satiated, it still has a ways to go before all the water is replenished at the fall; but be that as it may I could hear the waterfall before I approached it, and that made the ascent well worth the effort.

The waterfall is about ⅔ up the canyon wall, so I still had a ways to go to hit the peak and start on the trail down. About ½ a mile after the waterfall, I reach the Canyon Trail peak.

From here, you are able to see Beverly Hills and much of the Westside.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the views of the city as I started down. The last time I hiked this trail, it was fairly early in the morning on a not too clear day.

Today was the complete opposite.

So to keep things interesting, and because I took so many pictures, I’m going to save the trip down for tomorrow’s blog. So make sure that part of your online destination tomorrow is here.