Griffith Park: Glendale Peak and Mount Hollywood Hike

Sunset on Downtown and the Griffith Observatory from Mount Hollywood

Rating: Four stars (out of five)

When to go:
Weekends. DASH Observatory Shuttle doesn't run on weekdays or holidays.

Getting there:
From 7th Street/Main Metro. Take Metro Red Line northbound to Vermont and Sunset station and transfer to the DASH Observatory Shuttle, then get off at the Greek Theatre stop.
Fare: $1.50 for the Red Line, $0.50 for the Observatory Shuttle. Red Line runs frequently (at least once every 15 minutes), while the Observatory Shuttle runs about once every 35 minutes. Transit time: 25-55 minutes.

From UCLA/Westwood. Take Metro Local 2 eastbound from Le Conte/Westwood to Vermont and Sunset and transfer to the DASH Observatory Shuttle, then get off at the Greek Theatre stop.
Fare: $1.50 for Metro Local, $0.50 for the Observatory Shuttle. Metro Local 2 runs frequently (once every 15-20 minutes), while the Observatory Shuttle runs about once every 35 minutes. Transit time: 55-90 minutes.

Hike Overview:
3.5 miles one way (shuttle back), 1000 feet elevation gain, moderate difficulty. Hike begins at the Greek Theatre and ends at the Griffith Observatory; since both have DASH stops, you won't have to make the hike back to the Greek Theatre. Hike time: 100-150 minutes.

Nearby Attractions:
Visit the Griffith Observatory at the end of the hike.

Don't forget to bring:
Water! The trail is hot and dry and the only water source is near the end of the hike at Dante's View and at Griffith Observatory.

Details:
Griffith Park is one of the largest urban parks in the country, an over one-thousand acre tract of the Santa Monica Mountains just minutes from downtown LA and Hollywood. The park's trails lead to many panoramic views of the Los Angeles Basin, the San Gabriels, and the Hollywood sign. It's also an extremely public transit-friendly destination. If you've never hiked but would like to try getting some exercise outdoors, this is a good place to start. This particular hike has view after view on a scenic stretch of trail along Hogback Ridge from Glendale Peak to Mount Hollywood.

This hike leads from the Greek Theatre at the entrance of Griffith Park up to Glendale Peak, then along Hogback Ridge to Mount Hollywood, one of the tallest peaks in the park. The hike ends with a descent from the summit of Mount Hollywood to Griffith Observatory. Most of the trails on this hike are wide and see hundreds of hikers each weekend; only the path to the top of Glendale Peak and part of the descent from Mount Hollywood are on narrower paths.

The first part of the hike is a walk uphill on the sidewalk along Vermont Canyon Road to the trailhead for the Riverside Trail. The trail- more like a wide dirt road- branches off from the right side of the road about a three minute walk uphill from the bus stop. The Riverside Trail followed the contours of the mountain, with a few ascents and descents but mostly level as it cut along the south side of the Santa Monica Mountains. There were many views along the way towards Downtown and of the golf courses and tennis courts in Vermont Canyon. The golf course was the sole patch of green in a landscape overwhelmed by drought.

The Riverside Trail ended by climbing up to a road. At the road, we made a sharp left to stay on a trail. This trail went around the south side of Glendale Peak and came to a bridge. We took a narrow spur trail from here to the top of Glendale Peak, which is 1184 feet high. The view from the clear top of Glendale Peak was very wide: we could see Hogback Ridge and Mount Hollywood behind us, Griffith Observatory just below that, Downtown, the San Gabriels, and the Verdugo Mountains.

View up Hogback Ridge to Mount Hollywood from Glendale Peak

View into San Fernando Valley and the Verdugo Mountains from Glendale Peak

Returning to the main trail, we began the ascent up Hogback Ridge. Although the trail was quite wide, it was also quite steep at times and very exposed to the sun, making it a little more difficult than expected. There were plenty of good views to compensate though, with an increasingly better vista of Downtown and the San Gabriels.

The ridge hike ended at Dante's View, where there was a water fountain and a garden of exotic plants. We skipped the garden and continued on to a four-way intersection atop Mt. Hollywood's summit ridge. From the intersection, a grand view of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood sign on Mt. Lee opened in front of us.

View from Mount Hollywood

We made a right turn here and made the final uphill push to Mt. Hollywood's broad summit, where we had a 360-degree view of all the vistas we had seen along the way. In addition, we could see the elegant domes of the Griffith Observatory rise on the ridge in front of us. The fenced-in picnic area at the summit was quite crowded with late-afternoon hikers.

View of the San Gabriels from Mount Hollywood

From the summit, we backtracked to Dante's View and then began to descend from Mt. Hollywood. To cut time off the descent, we chose a narrower path for part of the descent rather than the broad main trail, making it from the summit to the parking lot at Griffith Observatory in less than 20 minutes. Just before reaching the observatory, we found a nice westward-facing spot and watched the sun descend into the Pacific Ocean.

We both enjoyed this hike quite a bit. While it's not in a terribly wild place, Griffith Park does have very pretty views and is very easily accessible from downtown LA. We tacked on an evening at the observatory and dinner in Los Feliz to make it a very enjoyable day of traveling by public transit.