The Great Prickly Pear Search - Hike 01 in Baldwin Hills

So, the first hike in the book is the Baldwin Hills Walk for Health Trail, in Baldwin Hills, CA. But then, you may have already guessed that last part.

Anywho, the park, named Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, is a hidden treasure, right in the middle of what seems like smog-and-traffic-and-ghetto-hell. But seriously, it's a truly beautiful place just off La Cienega Blvd, between Slauson and Rodeo Avenues. I used to pass this park weekly on my way from home (Redondo Beach, CA) to school (USC) or to my internship (National Association of Social Workers, CA Chapter, Southern CA office, which used to be next door to the CA Automotive Museum, on the Miracle Mile on Wilshire Blvd. Great office, great area, but I digress...). Once, when I was still in grad school, I drove up through it, and I remember being surprised by its size and by how many people where there doing what appeared to be fishing in the little lake there. Back then I didn't get out of the car, just because I was driving through. This time, I parked and did some exploring.

The book says that this hike is 2 miles, that it'll take me about 1.25 hours to complete, and that the scenery will include Sagebrush, salamanders, California quail, jackrabbits, and LA city views. It also says that the park is named for the legendary Kenneth Hahn, former mayor of LA and father of a local political dynasty that includes San Pedro's own Janice Hahn, City Council member and general upwardly mobile politician (she's running for Lieutenant Governor of California presently. I hope she doesn't win, but that's just me), amongst others. Kenneth Hahn is one of my early heroes, and this place was a big deal to him, as well it should be. This place has everything! Baseball diamond, picnic tables everywhere you look, basketball court, playgrounds, wide open, grass-filled spaces, hiking trails, and a lake that's stocked with trout and catfish (limit is 5 per fisherman per day). There are restrooms and trash bins everywhere, and parking for the whole world. It's truly a park. Like, I could take my whole family here for a day and never run out of things to do.

But enough about the park. So, I arrived and drove to the middle parking lot to park. I did this mostly because I figured I could get anywhere if I parked in the middle, and because I was finishing my morning coffee and needed a restroom. So I parked near a restroom and the volleyball court (did I mention there's a volleyball court, too?), and got out. Here's the parking lot:

The book says the trailhead for the Walk for Health trail (which opened in 2003) is back by the entrance to the park. I walked back there (after setting the Endomondo app for hiking/fitness walking and pressing "GO") past two different playgrounds, a few guys picking up trash, and the basketball court, and started up what I figured was the trailhead. I thought it was the trailhead because it looked like this:

Yeah, I was wrong. The trail I was on looked like this: 

Nice, huh? Right, but about 300 yards later, that trail joined up with this one:

Woops. First mistake. No worries, though. Now I was on the right path. I hung a right and continued up this new path, and was promptly greeted by a little hill. Fine. I huffed and puffed up the hill, and then was greeted by another little hill. I passed sagebrush, pine trees, and a few other walkers, and eventually reached a little landing where I could go left towards a little pagoda that said it was called "Christine's Point", or I could go right, onto the rest of the trail. Or, I could just stay there, put my arms over my head, and try catching my breath while also catching a glimpse of a stunning view of greater Los Angeles.

I chose all three. Here's the view up to the pagoda:

Up there, amongst the birds chirping and the breeze blowing, I read about watersheds from a tiled educational, um, thing, sitting under the shade. Taggers have been there and done their thing (it's not an LA fixture if it hasn't been tagged. Even the trees were tagged in this place.), but the tiles were still readable. They talk about where the water runs down our hills and eventually finds the ocean.

Lesson Learned: Did you know that water is filtered through dirt and flora/fauna? Better your water should run down a hill and be absorbed by it and eventually find its way to stream and the Ballona wetlands than falling on the roads and sidewalks, getting polluted by horrible car-and-trash-things, and then run through the gutters to the Ballona Wetlands. I did not know this. Now I do. Thanks, Christine!

Off I went, back down the hill and to a little lookout point, where I could see, truly, the city in its entirety. It was a little overcast and smoggy this morning, but nevertheless:

There's Century City and Santa Monica in the distance, and Ladera Heights in the foreground, along with some sagebrush in the fore-foreground.

And up there is Hollywood, the Miracle Mile, a little bit of South LA, and the San Gabriel Mountains in the far back.

And this one, above, is downtown LA, and USC, my home for 6 years. South Central is in the foreground, really. Some good BBQ places, so I've heard, just down the hill from here. I'm not big into bar-b-cue, so I really wouldn't know.

Onward I trudged. I kept to the Walk for Health route, even though there was another trail marked "City View Trail" that looked interesting. I passed one sign that talked about staying hydrated, which I appreciated but did not heed. I brought nothing with me except my phone and my keys. Stupid.

Lesson Learned: Bring a backpack with water, phone, ID, and whatever else I need.

The Hydration sign also told me that the Prickly Pear, which grows in abundance here, stays hydrated by holding rain water in its "pads." It had a picture of the Prickly Pear plant, which made me think, "Cactus." It also made me wonder what the difference is between a cactus plant and a Prickly Pear plant.

Lesson Learned: Answer? Nothing. A Prickly Pear IS a cactus. I had no idea.

So, with that lesson learned, and about a quarter of the route walked, I realized I hadn't seen any of this famous Prickly Pear plant as yet. I looked around, sure I had missed something. Nope. Birds, brush, trees, trail. No Prickly Pear. Hrmmm.

I pressed on and continued looking for cactus. I walked up a bit of a hill to another pagoda on a sort of landing called "Autumn's Peak." It looked like this:

No tiled info block here, but a nice lookout point, nonetheless. I could see the Palos Verdes Peninsula, or, home, and I could also see the majority of the park. Here's the view from the top:

See? Trees, brush, no cactus. But the trees are pretty.

This is another view, turned slightly to the left (south). In the smoggy distance is the PV Peninsula. In the foreground is La Cienega Blvd. The traffic going north was horrendous.

I took this shot of the rest of the park but also so you could see the oil fields in the distance. This park, too, was once an oil field. The book says a local conservancy group is working on grabbing some more acreage from some neighboring oil fields that they oil people are no longer using. I hope that happens. The oil fields are super ugly, and lately every time someone mentions oil, my stomach turns and I yearn for a day when we'll all have turbines and solar panels on our roofs and electric outlets on our cars. But I digress...

I kept on the trail and soon hit another pagoda, this one titled, "Michael and Emilia's Inspiration Point." Here's the pagoda:

For the life of me, I can't figure out what Michael or Emilia found so inspirational at this point. Maybe each other? But this particular view was not my favorite. I'll share it with you. Maybe you can find more inspiration than I did. Here:

I mean, it's fine. You can see the rest of the park, the parking lots, the trees...the oil fields...the power lines...what's not to like? I guess? I don't know. Maybe it's nicer than other places I've visited, sure, but asphalt and power lines and oil pumps don't inspire me to do much except punch people in the face. So, I moved on....

And found some Prickly Pear! At last! It literally cascaded down the hillside, but I had to walk to the other side of the hill to finally see it.

It's over there. On the hillside. Wear the shadows of the trees are. See it?

Yeah, neither could I, really, so I took this next picture, too.

Better? Not really, but a little. Just hang on, I'll find more.

But before I do, I've moved significantly along in my trail journey, and I'd like to show you what the park looks like now that I have:

This is a nice view of some Eucalyptus trees that are evidently part of the section of the park entitled "Olympic Forest." Now, this "forest" is supposed to be a cluster of trees that were planted in honor of each of the countries who participated in the 1984 Olympic games (held right here in our fair city). For the life of me, I could find no grove of trees, no labels, no signs, nothing. It's not that I don't believe Laura, the book author, who told me about this famed forest. I just think maybe it's changed a bit since she was last here? Maybe? Or, maybe someone tagged all the trees and the county people yanked them out? I don't know, man, but I didn't see any forest.

But I DID see me some more Prickly Pear! I was so excited it was so close to me, I busted out the new "FX Camera" app on my phone and took this with the "toy camera" part of the app:

You can sort of see the little red fruit on one of the plants toward the center/bottom of the picture. And, I like the color in this one! Here's another one, taken with the fisheye thingy on the phone:

I thought that was sort of fun.

I took a little moment at this point to get all obsess-y about the new FX Camera. There was a change in the trail here, too. It got skinnier. More Prickly Pear, skinny trail, some people (everyone was nice except a Mexican man who was dressed in jeans, a red and white checked, long-sleeved collar-shirt, and a cowboy hat with a red bandana, and cowboy boots. He didn't say hi. But then again, he was jogging. I couldn't make that up if I tried.)

Anywho, I was playing with the phone and took this "Polandroid":

There were a ton of bugs right in here. I mean, tons. I felt like a horse, stamping to get them off my legs and shaking my ponytail to get them away from my face. The trail was still pretty, though, and now it bent to the right to lead me somewhere new....

You know, like the end of the trail. It actually finished under a big power line and dumped me out onto a paved trail that looked like it was attached to some sort of country club/golf course/random park place. It was completely different from what I'd been walking through, and even though there were people all over walking through it, it scared me with its manicured-ness.

So I turned around.

The book said it was sort of a one-way deal. Go to the end, then turn around. Laura recommends going back the way you came. I, however, am not a fan of the walk-back-the-way-you-came method of hiking. It's boring. So, I found one of the other little trails I'd seen earlier, and took one that lead in a downward direction. It was significantly less up-kept than the one I'd been on. And while I was sure I'd slide down half of it at some point, my Reeboks held their ground. Even when the trail looked like this:

OK, this picture doesn't make it look remotely as treacherous as it felt. You'll just have to trust me. But I made it down, right smack into what was supposed to be The Olympic Forest. I swear. I looked. There were a few Eucalyptus. (Eucalypti?) That's it. And some trash.

So, I crossed over to the grass in the park, and walked over to my car, where I ditched my hoodie. Then I walked over to the bridges-and-grass part of the park that leads to the lake. Here's a Polandroid from the first brook-bridge:

Man made, sure, but pretty nonetheless. I walked along the brook, past people who bid me good morning and who introduced me to their dogs, and I took this one along the way with the ToyCam app:

Then I stopped on the second bridge to take a few of the lake. Here it is, in all its splendor:

OK, it's not huge or anything, but it was hosting a few ducks, and some cranes, too. I'm fascinated by cranes, and I watched one of them not even flinch as a fisherman walked, pole in hand, about 2 feet near it on his way to another part of the lake. I mean, it didn't flinch. Neither did the fishing guy. I couldn't believe it. If only I'd had the camcorder on!

The crane is under the trees, pretty far back there. It didn't look this far while I was standing there. If there hadn't been so much glare from the morning sun, maybe I'd have seen what a crap photo this was and tried again. But I didn't.

I did, however, take one more of the ducks. It's as crappy as the one of the crane. Oh well. That's the fishing guy in the lower righthand corner. And then in the background, out on a rock in the middle of the lake, is a man and his son, fishing. They were really cute. The kid couldn't have been more than 3, but was probably closer to 2. Father and son fishing. Cool. The one time my dad tried to take us fishing, we were on a pier in Santa Barbara. We cast our lines, with worms on hooks, into the ocean...and then promptly got them all tangled up with each other's, had a big fight about whose fault it was, watched as my dad got steaming mad while he tried to "expertly" untangle the lines, tried not to look embarrassed or to laugh at my dad, who really, really doesn't like to be embarrassed, and then left. Half hour. That was it. Fishing with Dad.

Anywho, that was the journey through the Kenneth Hahn State Park place. According to Endomondo, and despite the book saying the hike was only 1.25 miles, I walked 4.16 miles at an average speed of 4.29mph, for a total of 58.13 minutes. And, according to the same app, I burned 601 calories on my journey. Woot!

This is a great park, and I'd love to bring my 10-year-old nephew back to see if we can grab a few fish out of the lake. Maybe I will some day. I also didn't see any salamanders, like the book said I would, but then again, I didn't look nearly as hard for them as I did for the Prickly Pear. My nephew, who is a Lizard King, may be able to scurry some up when he and I come back. So there, there's my purpose for returning to this treasure-in-the-city: Fishing and salamander hunting with the nephew. I'll put that on my To Do list....

Next week? Hike #02 in the book: Debs Park City View and Walnut Forest Trails. Will I see actual walnuts? (Or an actual forest?) Stay tuned....

In the Beginning, There was a Book

So, hello. This is the first of what I hope will be many posts. About hiking. Or, rather, it'll be about walking on dirt paths in and around the greater Los Angeles area.

Three years ago, my mom bought me a great book about hikes in LA. She bought it for me because we'd taken a trip that year to O'ahu, Hawaii, and I'd done a bunch of hiking there and hadn't stopped talking about it since. When Christmas rolled around, *poof!* There was the book in my stocking. The book is called, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles, by Laura Randall.  Look! My first link in my first blog! Okay, moving on.... I have the 1st edition, which doesn't look at all like the 2nd edition, but whatever. The places are still there.

[Lesson Learned: If I talk enough about something, eventually my mom may do my favorite thing: buy me a book about it.]

So, I decided, finally, after 3 years of putting things off and finding reasons not to go hiking, to get into a routine and get out the book. And, after thinking about this for three years, I decided to make my foray into local hiking a much bigger deal than it really is...and to blog about it.

[Lesson Learned: When you get an idea, get off your butt and just do it. Now.]

So, here's the plan: Start at the beginning of the book, and work my way to the end. I'm a full-time swim coach, and I have Multiple Sclerosis, which means my schedule is whacked, and I need sleep and lots of recovery time. I coach a few mornings a week, so I decided that each Thursday, after morning practice (during which I coach adults, which involves no physical activity whatsoever on my part), I'll go on the next hike in the book.

But there are 60 hikes, you say! One measly hike a week will take more than a year to complete! Well, right you are, dear reader, so I'll do my best to take my trusty book along with me whenever I go to a swim meet or whenever I have a day off, and I'll pledge to get in a hike on those days, too. Whenever my schedule allows me to take an extra hike a week, so be it. But each Thursday, come hell or high water, I'll do a hike from the book.

I'll write about each hike here, take pictures on my trusty phone, log time spent, miles logged, and calories burnt using Endomondo, an app on said trusty phone, and I'll also log any lessons learned, so you don't have to make the same mistakes I do, should you try to replicate any of my little journeys about town.

So, here we go. Onward and upward, to hike #01, in Baldwin Hills....