Hilltop Park

I really, really wanted to drive out of Long Beach and go on a "real hike" like I did last weekend with Mia. Sadly, the day after we did the Hollywood hike, my car got rear ended and now looks like this.

So now I'm waiting to get the okay from the other girl's insurance so I can take my car to the shop to get fixed. It's technically "drivable", but it's making a weird sound, so I'm playing it safe and staying off the freeway.

Today was a lovely and sunny Tuesday that we had off from school for some odd scheduling reason. These enthusiastic reviews on yelp made me want to check out Hilltop Park in Signal Hill. Many of the reviews raved about the view from the hill and one commenter said you could even see the Huntington Beach pier from the top. I don't know about that but Jared and I could definitely see the Queen Mary!

A small part on my digital camera broke today and I had to use my ipod touch to take photos, so these pictures totally don't do the view justice. Some of the reviews on yelp led me to believe that there was a hiking trail here, but it's sidewalk and you can just start at the top or bottom and work your way up or down, like this lady.

There's a small parking lot by the park and lots of street parking. Hilltop Park is quite the popular spot. There were couples cuddling, families playing and even one girl working out with weights.

For a quarter, you could look into a telescope and get an extra nice view, sadly we had no change on us.

The park also had these sort of frames that told you a bit about the direction you were facing.

Jared and had some some other uses for the frames.

I really liked Hilltop Park for the view, but it's really not a hike. I'll definitely be coming back. I'm sure the view is beautiful at night with all the lights. I read about a legitimate six mile hike in Signal Hill, but that just wasn't happening today.

Rating (for the view):

Rating (for the hike): One star.

The Hollywood Sign Hike

So I finally made the effort to drive out of Long Beach for this week's hike. My friend Mia and I took off on Friday morning for Los Angeles to take on the Hollywood sign hike. 

Mia and I at the beginning of the hike.

It was so worth the extra time and gas money it took to get there. Sure you can see the city from this hike, but in a nice far off hey-look-at-that-beautiful-view sort of way. And you definitely couldn't hear any traffic noises, so that was a huge plus.

We followed these directions and we found the parking lot and the trail alright. It was a little scary though because a cop who was patrolling the parking lot came by and warned us to put any of our valuables in our trunk. Apparently people like to come to this parking lot specifically to smash car windows and steal stuff while the car owner is off hiking. Thankfully my car was untouched when we got back.

The trail head.

This hike takes you right up and behind the famous Hollywood sign. It's about three miles round trip. Although it isn't a very long hike distance wise, plan on taking more time than you think you'll need for this one. It's a super steep trail so that slows you down quite a bit. But it's definitely a hike and not a walk, which is nice. Feel the burn!

Oh and it gets hot up on that hill. Really hot. Like over 80 degrees when it's practically November. So don't forget to bring your sunscreen and water on this hike. And a snack. Mia and I totally spaced on trail snacks, so we were super ravenous by the time we got home.

Mia and I at the top!

The main downside to this trail is that horses are allowed, so be sure to dodge all the horse poop. I'd say it took us about an hour to get up the trail and about 20 to 30 minutes to get down. It would've taken us less time to get up the trail, but we got lost. When you come to a fork in the trail where it's paved be sure to go right and not left. If you left it will take you to a residential area instead of up to the top. I was so sore after this hike that just walking up a single flight of stairs to my apartment hurt.

View from the top.

I really liked this hike and I'll definitely be going back. 

Rating:

Trail Fail at River's Mouth: Long Beach

I thought it couldn't get much worse than the trail at the Willow Street Estuary with porta-potties and abandoned shopping carts.

Well never say never. Because it turns out that a crappy trail is better than no trail.

Either the River's Mouth: Long Beach trail simply doesn't exist or I'm too stupid to find it. Now on my own, I can be pretty directionally challenged. But I came armed with my GPS and I actually looked up directions to the trail prior to leaving the house.

I followed these directions and parked on Golden by Chavez Park. I thought there might be a sign or a fairly obvious trail head. Nope. Nada. Just a nice park filled with families barbecuing and kids playing soccer.

I combed all over the park searching for the trail and got pretty excited when I saw this.

A trail head? Could it be?

But it just led to a hill with a cool bench and a view of the community center.

I also enjoyed some artwork by the 710 freeway.

I think this is a sign that I need to check out some actual hiking trails outside of Long Beach. Maybe it's time to head south to Orange County?

Dominguez Gap Walking Trail

I've been ferociously sick all weekend and I'm just now recovering, so I chose a walking trail to make things easy this week.

I followed these directions to the trail, and parked on Oregon Avenue like I was supposed to, but I saw no trail.

Then I started back on Del Amo Boulevard the way I had came and I saw the trail head. 

I couldn't bribe anyone enough to join me, so I went solo on this week, ginger ale in hand to aid my recovery.

The Dominguez Gap trail is open to walkers, bikers, and people riding horses. The downside of this is dodging horse poop on you walk.

Eww.

The Dominguez Gap is in North Long Beach where two side-channel wetlands parallel the Los Angeles River from just upstream of the 405 Freeway to upstream of Compton Creek. The beginning of the trail is dirt, but the rest is paved. I enjoyed some nice scenery.

But the trail was kind of ruined for me because I could always see and hear the cars driving by on Del Amo at every part of the trail. Little things like the fence around the river, the caution tape, and random trash on the trail kind of killed the magic too.

Why would you have a carton of eggs on a trail anyway?

I guess I got my hopes up after I saw these lovely pictures of the Dominguez Gap. This trail is just under two miles and since it's pretty much all flat, it's good for beginners. It also makes a great bike path for kids.

Parking was easy and the trail was pretty nice for being so close to a freeway, I just wish I hadn't been able to hear and see every car that went by.

Rating:

El Dorado Nature Center

Out of the goodness of my heart, (And out my reluctance to part with my hard earned dollars in order to get to a far away trail) I decided to give the trails of Long Beach one more chance. And I'm so glad I did.

My friend Evan, a Long Beach native, told me I should check out El Dorado Nature Center because it makes you feel "like you're not even in Long Beach anymore." After last week's failure of a trail, that sounded good to me.

The nature center is located at 7550 E Spring St. in Long Beach, CA. If you drive, like we did, then it's $5 for parking. But it's free if you walk or bike there. (And they have bike racks right by the trail head.)

The nature center's website described it as "a little bit of nature in the middle of the city," and it's fitting. The center is over a 100 acres and offers two miles of dirt trails and 1/4 mile of a paved trail.

We were adventurous and chose the 2 mile trail, but before we started we got a glimpse of the cutest part of the nature center.

Turtles!

There were so many adorable little turtles, they even had their own sun roof.

They were so still that at first we thought they were turtle statues.

Turtles make excellent models. They all started swimming towards me when I was taking photos. Squirrels, however must think I'm the paparazzi because they wanted nothing to do with me. Ducks fall somewhere in the middle.

Just a friendly reminder.

All the wildlife really made this trail extra enjoyable. The gorgeous views didn't hurt either.

That's Jared. I don't creep on other hikers with my camera, I swear.

I thought the entire trail trail was completely flat, so I got really excited when we came across this.

A hill! Yay!

It wasn't a super gnarly hill, but I welcomed the incline that upgraded our walk to an actual hike. The trail also featured lots of benches to sit down in case you needed a rest.

These rules made sense, but this one didn't.

I only jogged once, when I was trying to catch a photos of some ducks. (Who promptly started swimming in the other direction when they saw me.) Luckily the jogging police didn't catch me.

Overall, we really likes this trail. And there was only one point where we could see and hear the city that surrounded us. We will definitely come back.

Happy Hikers

Rating: