Hiking to the Hollywood Sign

I've lived in LA for 5 years now, but today was my first time hiking up to the Hollywood sign!  My boyfriend's mom is in town from Denver this weekend, and I guess you always tend to do more touristy things when you have visitors no matter what city you live in. 

This hike was a lot longer than I thought it would be.  Up and down took us about 3 hours.  But it was a nice day and we were able to enjoy the view along the way.  I can't believe some douche thought it would be a good idea to build luxury houses up there and ruin the view of the Hollywood sign.  Thank God Hef (heart him) came up with the last million dollars to buy the land back to give to the city and saved the sign!  You would think the sign would be a historic landmark that can't be touched.  It's really as famous and recognizable of a landmark as any in the world! 

I was surprised that there weren't too many hikers out today.  It was a really nice day, in the mid 80s in Hollywood.  I know Runyon Canyon (another hike in the Hollywood Hills) is always packed no matter what.  You'd literally be lined up to go up these steep narrow uphill parts.  But hey I'm not complaining.  We got the whole thing to ourselves pretty much.  The hike itself though long, was not all that tough.  Maybe the past few months of my regular uphill running has trained me to be better at combating those hills.  However, my calves and feet are a little bit sore.  There were some people on horses too which would be kind of fun as well.  Though my last horse back riding experience in Costa Rica has kind of scarred me - I think I got a stupid horse because it kept walking on the very edge of the trails and walking into fences, trees and brushes.  Ugh, I got so many scratches on my legs from that ride.

They fenced off the sign so you can't actually go touch it or anything.  And I guess there's also motion sensors and helicopters patrolling the area.  If you hopped over the fence, you'd be in big trouble.  The view up there was great, but today was a little foggy or smoggy?

Hey Ho

A water dam?  Never knew this existed until today

The thing that kind of sucks about this hike though, is that you never get to see the sign straight on because the roads are so curvy.  Maybe there was another trail that had a more frontal view of it, but we couldn't find it.  Oh well!  

This was taken at probably the best view of the sign along the way.  I played with it a little to give it an old Hollywood effect.  Sort've.  

Finally I can now say that I've been up close and personal to the Hollywood sign!  Glad I did it today!