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. Serene Las Gallinas

    A serene stroll alongside marshland, passing ponds and grasses frilled in seasonal wildflowers, with Mount Tam a beacon in the background … how nice. As part of the esteemed Bay Trail, San Rafael’s Las Gallinas Valley Birding Loop and Wildlife Ponds comprises about 3.5 miles of wide-open trail.

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  2. Paint Brushy

    This time of year you’ll have good reason to head for the hills—the electric-green rolling hills of Brushy Peak Regional Preserve in Livermore. This 4.5-mile loop hike is like stepping into a plein air painting.

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  3. Sponsored

    2025 POST Wildflower Walks

    Get flower empowered! POST’s complimentary 2025 Wildflower Walks guide blooms with the best places to see a variety of florals across the Peninsula and South Bay this spring.

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  4. All right, Almaden!

    Take a trip through time on this 5-mile loop in Almaden Quicksilver County Park. Explore the ruins of an old cinnabar mine and enjoy the first hints of wildflower season.

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Trending Stories SoCal

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  1. Sponsored

    Weekend in Reno Tahoe

    Weekend plans? Reno Tahoe! Just a few hours by car or a short flight away, Reno Tahoe springs to the moment with great ways to combine adventure and relaxation in its beautiful mountains-meets-desert setting.

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  2. Hiker walking along the North Bluff Trail on Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park

    Purely Wild

    Channel Islands National Park lives up to its nickname as “North America’s Galapagos.” This less-traveled national park is an undeveloped and isolated series of five dramatic and distinct islands reached by boat. Hike the largest of the islands, Santa Cruz.

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  3. Woman hiking the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon

    Truly Grand Day Hike

    One of the best spring day hikes in the Grand Canyon? See layer upon layer of the park’s grandeur—including the river—on this 3-mile (one-way) journey to Skeleton Point via the South Kaibab Trail.

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  4. A woman stands amid an array of yellow and purple flowers at Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles

    Petal Paradise

    Tulips, lilacs, and daffodils—flower power is in full bloom at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge. Sprawling across 150 acres surrounded by mountains, the gardens are putting on their best show right now.

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