hikespeak

The Santa Monica Mountains have significant parks with great hiking getaways. Often overlooked are smaller undeveloped pockets within the mountains that offer quick escapes from the stresses of Los Angeles. Longridge Park in Sherman Oaks is the latter, a 50-acre park with a 0.2-mile long use-trail. Longridge Trail has ridge-top views throughout its short run, like perspectives north across the San Fernando Valley and east toward the Griffith Park end of the range. ...Read more.

Dixie Canyon Park preserves twenty tucked-away acres in the Santa Monica Mountains on the north side of the range west of Coldwater Canyon. The park can be accessed from Sherman Oaks for a micro hike that is 0.55 miles round trip with 175 feet of elevation change. This partial loop follows a dirt single track that is narrow and sometime overgrown, finding shade from walnut trees and coast live oaks as it passes through Dixie Canyon Park. ...Read more.