Hike 26/52: A Cove in your Backyard

Date: July 2nd
Neighborhood: Lake Nacimento
Difficulty: 5 out of 5 (on a bike)
Weather: Hot
Distance: 2 miles (out and back)

This was a tough bike ride. We found a path behind the lake house and decided to go as far as we can and discovered another way to get to the lake.

What made the ride tough was riding up the hill — it was up, up, up. I confess, I gave up and walked up the hill almost all the way back to the house. It did not make things easier having a trailer with the puppies. That’s easily an additional 50 lbs.

Also, watch out for red ants!

And also, don’t drink mimosas before riding a bicycle in the heat. 

Hike 25/52 – Exploring around the Lake House

Date: July 1st
Neighborhood: Lake Nacimento
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Weather: Hot
Distance: 1 miles (out and back)

During the 4th of July weekend, we stayed at our friend’s parent’s lake house in Paso Robles. It’s nice…and it’s in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception unless you have an extender.

I decided to spend the afternoon to walk around their property and walk as far as I can along the dirt road until I say a sign to stop. It does not take me very far going down the dirt road.

Of course the puppies came along!

The vacation house was very nice and well…enormous. It made me think, “would I ever have a vacation house myself?” Most likely not. Why would I go to the same vacation home every long holiday weekend. If I needed to be home, I’d stay home for a stay-cation. For travel, I’d like to think AirBnB gives me access to vacation homes all around the world. Ideally, I’d like to spend my long holidays elsewhere to try out a different scenery, a different pace of life temporarily. What I love about AirBnB is that I get a small piece of “day-in-the-life” elsewhere that I would never get in a hotel full of concierge services and contintental breakfast.

Would you consider getting a vacation home yourself?

Hike 24/52: To North Hollywood via the Tujunga Wash

Date: June 24th
Neighborhood: Panorama City, Van Nuys, Valley Glen,  North Hollywood
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Weather: Sunny, breezy
Distance: 11.3 miles (I am only counting bike miles here)

Saturday morning was the day I decided to bike my morning barre class (8.2 miles). For a while, I’ve been meaning to bike for my weekend errands. Hopefully this challenge will help me build that habit and be willing to bike longer than a mile. I also need to buy a bike pannier.

I started this trip from home and biked all the way to North Hollywood. I took the Tujunga Wash path to cut out all the intersections to get to Valley Glen. It’s a nice ride,  I wish I took more pictures. I can’t believe I woke up this early to ride my bike.

I do have to say though, the experience of riding is different from walking the same paths.  For examples in this picture above,  I did not anticipate this part to be a rough ride. I didn’t see cracks or the raises on the path. Unlike walking, you really feel it when you ride over these cracks and raises I thought I was going to fall off my bike or I ruined my tires.

After barre class, I took the bus to Van Nuys. It was starting to get hot.  From there,  I biked the rest of the way home (3.1 miles)

Will this be my new Saturday morning ritual? Biking around for errands? I jokingly told my husband, I am taking some lifestyle tips from the Netherlands and a lot of it is inadvertent:

• We have a house by a river (err…wash)
• Eating ice cream
• Taking public transit
• Working to live

Hike 23/52 Porter Ranch Trails #3

Date: June 11th
Neighborhood: Porter Ranch
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Weather: Cloudy, breezy, overall perfect June gloom weather
Distance: 2.2 miles

 

Hike 22/52 Biking Portland

Date: May 30th
Neighborhood: All over Portland
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Weather: Misty
Distance: About 12 miles

For a few dollars, you can rent a bike for a day to explore Portland. You can bike a few miles to get to the next neighborhood, drop it off at the nearest bike share pod, borrow again when you choose, and repeat.

I learned Portland is a fairly small city compared to Los Angeles — in fact smaller than San Fernando Valley. Portland has 145 square miles, Los Angeles has 503 square miles, and San Fernando Valley has 260 square miles — wow it takes up more than half of Los Angeles! Due to Portland’s fairly smaller size, its sights were more compact which makes it definitely more bikeable.

Also, it made me think I should bike a little bit more at home. If it’s within a 5 mile radius, I should bike there. I’ll let you know how that experiment goes.

Anyways on to biking…

Hike 21/52 Vital Link Trail

Date: April 23rd

Neighborhood: Burbank

Difficulty: 3 out of 5 (it’s that incline!)

Weather: Sunny, hot

Distance: 4.13 miles (out and back)

Address: 1701 Wildwood Canyon Dr Burbank, CA 91501

Hike 20/52 Stough Canyon

Abandoned children’s camp at the top of Stough Canyon

Date: April 10th

Neighborhood: Burbank

Difficulty: 1 out of 5

Weather: Sunny, warm

Distance: 1.82 miles (out and back)

Address: 2300 E Walnut Ave, Burbank, CA 91504

Hike 19/52 Mt. Lukens

Date: April 1st

Neighborhood: La Crescenta

Difficulty: 5 out of 5

Weather: Sunny, warm

Distance: 14.57 miles (loop)

Address: 3429 Markridge Rd, Glendale, CA 91214

Hike 17/52 Mandeville Canyon Trail

Date: March 25th

Neighborhood: Brentwood

Difficulty: 2 out of 5

Weather: Cool and cloudy

Distance: 7.0 miles (out and back)

Address: 2652 Westridge Rd Los Angeles, CA 90049

When I first arrived to the trailhead, I thought this neighborhood looks familiar. When I was on the trail, it became even more familiar with the two options to either take the fire road or the road with all the hills — you’ll finish at the same place. I’ve been on this trail a couple years back with friends and we never got to the end with the nike missile towers. I remembered it was a unusually hot day in January and we gave up halfway.

This time, I am happy to say I finished this trail. I confess I chose the fire road because I still felt out of shape to climb up and down those hills. The weather was gorgeous and they allow dogs to go on the trail off-leash. Next time, I will certainly come back.

Hike 17/52 Temescal Canyon Loop

Date: March 25th

Neighborhood: Pacific Palisades

Difficulty: 3

Weather: Cool and Sunny

Distance: 5.16 miles (loop)

Address: 15900 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Hike 16/52 Parker Mesa Overlook via Los Liones Trail

Date: March 24th

Neighborhood: Pacific Palisades

Difficulty: 3

Weather: Cool and Sunny

Distance: 7.04 miles (out and back)

This hike is beautiful and reminiscent of my time in Amalfi Coast about a year ago. It’s wonderful to know I can find a piece of Italy in Los Angeles. This automatically makes its way to my top hike spots in LA!

 
 

Hike 15/52 Porter Ranch/Limekiln Canyon Trail

This is the second time at Porter Ranch trails. I still can’t believe I can find this sort of serenity in the valley.

Date: March 19th

Neighborhood: Porter Ranch

Difficulty: 3

Weather: Cloudy, cool

Distance: 3.97 miles (out and back)