Beth and I got the chance to go out on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to hike Secret Stairs Walk #3. There were only three staircases (four if you count our descent of the same stairs we ascended to start). We got to see flowers, some fall colors here in Los Angeles County, and lots of…
Mount Lowe Railway Trail
Beth and I took our new fat-tire eBikes up to Altadena to meet Spyros and ride Rail Trail #35 from Best Rail Trails California. The combination of a warm day and steep climbs wore on my body’s thermal regulation and also took a toll on Beth’s electric assist. Spy met us at Loma Alta Drive…
Franklin Hills East – Lyric Loop
Megan is visiting town, so Beth and I brought her along on Secret Stairs Walk #30. All of the time spent talking about life made the steeper longer stair climbs a little shorter. We caught some nice hazy views of sunset to the west and got to see lots of city lights coming on at…
Sierra Pelona
With a few days’ break between Atmospheric Rivers 11 and 12 this storm season, Beth and I headed back out in the mountainous wilderness of the Angeles National Forest. This time, we drove for just over an hour to the trailhead of Hike 3 from Trails of the Angeles, “Sierra Pelona.” The chapter on this…
Silver Lake Court
For this Friday afternoon-into-evening stairway walk from Secret Stairs, Beth and I covered Walk #27. For this one, we got to pass a couple of Easter Island mo’ai (which I now know are called mo’ai), a muddy dirt road more in-place in a rural woodsy area of the country, and a house/exhibit reportedly with a…
Eagle Rock
Beth and I planned to cover two stairway walks today from Secret Stairs: “Whitley Heights” (# 36) and “Hollywood Bowl and High Tower Loop” (#37), both of which start and end at the intersection of Highland and Franklin Avenues in Hollywood. Before driving to Hollywood though, we fortunately noticed the 2023 Academy Awards on schedule…
Santa Monica – Rustic Canyon Loop
With legs holding two days of stairs already this weekend, Beth and I drove to Santa Monica for Walk #40 from Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles, climbing the steepest stairways yet. Early in the walk, we got some directions from a couple of kind ladies out on their…
Los Feliz – Griffith Park Loop
For the second of three planned walks this weekend, we chose Walk #29 from Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles, which winds through hilly areas of the Los Feliz district and culminates at the Griffith Observatory, which we reached just at sunset. Highlights include the Ennis House (a Frank…
Pasadena – La Loma Road
Walk #1 from Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles is the Secret Stair walk closest to home, scaling the San Rafael hillside area of western Pasadena. Starting this first evening walk of stairs for Beth and me, it appeared that a number of houses chose to drain swimming pools,…
Avalon-Baxter Loop
Beth and I went on Walk #15 from Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles by ourselves today. We climbed stairs on lots of wet hillsides and enjoyed views of low snowlines in the hills and mountains to the north. We lucked out with this one partly-sunny day in between…