A Hollywood Hike

About fifteen years ago, my friend Jennifer and I set off for California with a destination in mind. My bucket list item of hiking to the Hollywood sign. I had done a little research and thought we were prepared for the hike. It didn't look to be too long and knew the hike would take us to a spot just above the sign so we would be looking down at it. Before heading to L.A., we decided to make a full weekend of our trip since we were driving the distance and headed to Dana Point. We spent the first full day exploring Dana Point and catching a whale/dolphin excursion on Captain Dave's Dolphin Safari. We also spent some time exploring San Diego that day. It was a fun day and despite the low-lying fog to start the morning, it turned out to be a beautifully sunny day. The weather was perfect, and I was positive that when we got to L.A. the next morning for our hike the weather would be just right for the hike to the Hollywood sign. I was so ready, and so excited for this hike.

Sunday morning we rose early and were soon on our way to L.A. to complete the short hike. We snagged a quick breakfast and made a point to stop for some sunblock since I had suffered a pretty bad facial sunburn from the previous day's excursions on the water. With a printed map in hand, we thought we were set with the directions to get to the trailhead and start off on our hike. We zipped up the freeway from Dana Point to Los Angeles and I knew, without a doubt, that we would be at the trail in no time. I could not have been more wrong. As we neared L.A. traffic began to slow. We crept down the freeway along with hundreds of other cars. We started to spy signs for the exit we needed which, of course, was across three lanes of traffic, all at a slow creep or a dead stop. Knowing we needed to get over, Jennifer put on her I-got-this attitude and began the terrifying process of changing lanes. She put on the turn signal and waited. The second an individual in the lane next to ours showed even a moment of hesitation, she acted, zipping the car into the space in the next lane. I clenched my hands around the handle of the door and tried to breathe, terrified with each lane change that we would either slam into the car in front of us or be rammed by the car we pulled in front of. Amazingly though, we made it across all three lanes of traffic, and not even on person honked at us as we managed to cut them off at each step. We finally approached the exit of the freeway and left, unscathed. I was never more happy than I was at that moment to be away from the freeways of L.A.

We made our way up into the Hollywood hills and toward the sign. We followed the directions we'd printed from Mapquest, we only had another ten-minute drive until we should be at the trailhead. Little did we know....it wasn't a ten-minute drive. The map directions took us to a dead end, so we began to explore. We could see the sign from where we were, it was just a matter of finding the trail. So we drove up one street and down another looking for roads that would lead us up the hill. An hour later we finally found it. The parking lot and trailhead for the hike to the Hollywood sign. We were there! Excited I grabbed my bottle of water, which was now half empty, and my camera and popped out of the car. That's when it hit me, it was HOT! I'd spent the last couple hours in a nicely cooled car and had just left a place where the weather was absolutely perfect. This was not the hiking weather I had envisioned at all. Jen asked if I still wanted to do the hike. By this point, my enthusiasm had waned a little. I smiled and said I did, trying to appear much more sure about this hike than I felt. We read the informational sign at the start of the trail and that's when I realized we were about to start on a 2-mile hike. The reality of this hike began to sink in and I knew that I wouldn't be crossing off my bucket list item that day. With temperatures in the 90s, half a bottle of water, and now past lunch, hiking wasn't looking to be the best idea. Plus we had a six-hour drive just to get back to Phoenix to do after.

I finally gave in and admitted that maybe the full hike wasn't the best idea that day, but maybe we could walk up enough just to see the sign and then go grab some lunch. Jen agreed that this might be the best plan and we would just have to put the bucket list item back on the list. So we set off up the dirt trail that I realize now was probably more a service road than a trail. The first leg was a bit of a steep climb but we kept pushing up the hill. I wasn't in shape at all and hadn't hiked in a couple years. I immediately knew that we wouldn't be pushing too far up the hill before hitting a stopping point.

When we reached a good spot I looked out over the view down below. A good part of the drive to the trail involved a lot of going uphill so the view we had from just the short amount of hiking we completed was already pretty amazing. I snapped a few photos and another hiker seeing me taking pics offered to take a picture of me and Jennifer with the sign in the background. We happily accepted and I handed him my camera. He snapped several pictures of us before handing the camera back to me. I stopped for a moment and just took in my surroundings. While I knew I wouldn't actually make it all the way up to the top, I also knew that this was a pretty amazing moment. I was closer to the sign than I'd ever been and, in all, the experience driving around the neighborhood of the Hollywood sign was pretty cool. There was a mixture of high-end fancy homes and lower cost homes as we drove around the streets of the Hollywood hill. This was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. We may not have hit the goal of reaching the Hollywood sign but it was a great day. As I write this today, I can note I haven't been back to try the hike again but I am more active now than I was then, perhaps it's time I start thinking about planning another attempt at this hike. This time, I'll be more prepared and ready to do the hike up the Hollywood hill. This time, I'll be ready to cross this item off my list.