Monday, October 10, 2011

Hiking Elyria Canyon


So the girl and I were shopping in Glendale and, being the best girl out there, told me I should go find a hike while she finished up the shopping at the Galleria. There isn't much around Glendale unless you count my "hometown" mountains, the Verdugos so I scoured the internet quickly for a little jaunt and stumbled across Elyria Park in Eagle Rock/Glendale.

The canyon is in this twisty hilly section of Glendale and you really have to watch where you are going or you will miss the turnoff to the park.

Once you are there you start on this little kayak trail that winds it way from 500 feet to about 650 feet.


However, what is really cool about this little trail is that eventually you pop up in the middle of the canyon


 and you have some great views to Griffith Park, the Verdugos and the rest of the northern mountain ranges.



Of course, some of the sights are of wealth, not mountains.


What must come up must come down


and eventually the trail winds its way down to a cool little farmhouse (in the middle of the canyon ?!?).


There was rusted-out farm equipment and really interesting little dodads in the middle of LA.I had really no idea to expect this but it totally made sense someone settled here decades ago, the ground was relatively flat and there was an old stream that ran by the house. Still, to see this in LA was a little mind blowing.

The trail was supposed to loop back but damned if I could find my way to the loop. So I doubled back and then made my way through a side trail to loop back to the street. DON'T take this side trail unless you want to get up close and personal if people's dogs and backyards. A weird end to a weird trail.

Overall, I am sure the hardcore hikers will pass this one up but if you are in Glendale and want to hike around for an hour instead of the mall, it really is a quirky little trail.

Check out the trail map: http://www.lamountains.com/maps/elyria.pdf

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