Hollywood
I’ve never really been a fan of doing the tourist thing. Before I moved to LA I lived in NYC for 15 years and never visited the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State building. But, there are trails in the Hollywood hills, so I got it in my head to visit the sign. Of course, I had to do it my way.
I ride solo, so there’s nobody to check up on me and suggest something a bit more suitable for my chosen mode of transportation. This resulted in a very non traditional route. The ride through town was pretty boring, urban, and flat. It was about ten miles of that before the long curvy climb up Laurel Canyon to Mulholland.
Mulholland, looking north into the valley
Decending on Mulholland to the bridge across the 101
This is Burbank Peak, which has a full 360 view of LA and the Wisdom Tree, where people leave notes and items in a little chest. Seemed like a good idea to go there in the planning phase, and the sign looked right across the way. I didn’t see many bikers up there. This makes sense, because it turned out to be a pain in the ass to hike my bike up this steep trail.
Navigation kept telling me to go back down the hill and take another approach, but I wasn’t about to go all the way down just to climb back up again. So I hiked up to Burbank, over Cahuenga peak, to Mount Lee Drive, where the sign is.
DISTANCE
36.5 MI
3h 31m
RIDE TIME
ELEVATION
2625 ft
The Hollywood sign from the back, with a panoramic view of LA
Unfortunately I miscalculated the time it would take to do this ride. So this was the ONE TIME I didn’t make it back for the first meeting of work and had to call in to cancel from the side of the road. Sorry R/GA!
This adventure is another example of why I have come to love riding a gravel bike. The urge to explore some new trail or place often grabs me, and on a road or mountain bike I would be less inclined to satisfy it. Those styles are great for their purpose, but I like to ride everything, hop over a creek or two, hike up something too steep sometimes, and keep on riding after. My Revolt doesn’t get in the way too much if I find myself on something un-bikeable. So why not get lost on some new trail? I can always find a way.