Trails Less Traveled

With so many popular places to hike in Los Angeles, where do you go to escape the crowds? How about to those same popular places… Here are three ways to get off the beaten path in some of LA's busiest hiking hot spots.

Week: 02.04.2015
Regions: Southern CA

Solitary Solstice

Solstice Canyon Hike in Malibu

Malibu's Solstice Canyon often teems with visitors, and for good reason: its leafy ravine leads to a year-round waterfall and the captivating ruins of a home lost to a 1982 wildfire. See the sights but lose the crowds on a 3.2-mile out-and-back hike. Five hundred feet above the c
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New Year, New Zealand

2015 New Zealand Vacation

Question: What's a closer flight—Italy, Australia, or New Zealand? Answer: New Zealand! You're just an overnight flight away from waking up in Middle-earth, minus the Orcs. With so much diversity in one country, every day is a different journey in New Zealand. Size Matters: New Z
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Hero's Welcome

Hike Route C Runyon Canyon Park

If you're looking for solitude at Runyon Canyon Park, you're in the wrong place. With a central location, knock-out views of Los Angeles, off-leash hiking areas for dogs, and trails to tone the thighs, the park is popular. But if you're more into a workout and less into the crowd
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Undercover Wilacre

Wilacre Parks Less Traveled Trails

Wilacre Park's Betty B. Dearing Trail is almost always packed. But there's an unnamed path paralleling it that feels near empty in comparison. Instead of battling the masses at the Laurel Canyon trailhead, park for free at Tree People, an environmental nonprofit off Mulholland Dr
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Trending Stories NorCal

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  1. Taking the Stage: Tyler Ranch

    Hike the recently opened Tyler Ranch Staging Area in Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park, with 18 miles of new trails. This 6.5-mile loop up Sunol Peak is a challenge and rewards with exceptional views of seasonal iridescent hills.

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  2. A woman stands at Dante's View in Death Valley, looking out to Telescope Peak and Manly Lake, Badwater Basin below.

    Sunset Hike (and Manly Lake Vista!) at Dante's View

    It’s one of the world’s best places to watch a sunset. Dante’s View is a 5,476-foot vantage of the whole southern basin of Death Valley from the top of the Black Mountains. On clear days you get views of both the highest and lowest points in the contiguous U.S. 

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  3. Swing into Spring

    Swing into this 7.1-mile hike in the hills of Half Moon Bay! It’s got gorgeous views, fields of spring wildflowers, and a hidden rustic tree swing.

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  4. The Carson Show

    Carson Falls is ready for primetime. This three-tiered, 100-foot stunner is hidden back in a canyon outside of Fairfax and reached on a 3.25-mile (round-trip) hike.

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  1. Lava Lava

    Once a land of volcanic activity, Mojave National Preserve shares plenty about its past via a quick yet adventurous hike to the Lava Tube in the Cima Dome Volcanic Field.

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  2. Kelso Dunes

    The hike to the top of Kelso Dunes in the Mojave National Preserve is only 3 miles (out and back), but you’ll feel like you’ve hiked much farther by the time you’re done.

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  3. William Kenyon Overlook

    Some of the best vistas of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park are easily accessible via a short and sweet 1.25-mile (round-trip) hike just off the CA-78. Enter your next favorite desert viewpoint: the William Kenyon Overlook.

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  4. Beaudry Bountiful

    There are no cars allowed on Beaudry Loop, but this 6-mile hike takes you on a wild ride. You’ll be climbing 1,500 feet up the southern Verdugos along a chaparral-lined trail with gorgeous mountain and urban vistas every step of the way.

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