Sunday Stroll - 3.5 hours, 550+ steps.

This past Sunday we did one of our favorite hikes. It took a total of 3.5 hours mostly going uphill. The reward was 550+ steps to finish off our intense hike.

The trailhead starts in the suburbs of Pacific Palisades. You trek on a paved road for a while. All the wildflowers are in bloom.

It has been a long time since L.A was so lush! I felt like I was in Ireland.

This canyon houses the "Ruins of Rustic Canyon". Once known as Murphy Ranch, it used to be a colony of sorts, supposedly a mysterious Nazi Compound...

This canyon goes all the way to the Valley. We did that hike a couple years ago and let me tell you it was 5 hours long and I needed Kentucky Fried Chicken afterwards because I burned so many calories.

This is all uphill for now, and is the hard part.

Again I marveled at how lush and green it was.

Still going up, the end is in sight.

So many beautiful wildflowers dotted the landscape.

It is pretty lonely up here. No one except for a few lone mountain bikers.

An hour and a half later...Pretty much the end of the road.

A natural sculpture

Ahhh. the view looking down the Pacific Ocean.

If you thought it was over, you are mistaken. Down to the boy scout camp we go.

We are in the canyon now and the dark is fast approaching

Some ruins of a mysterious past...

Mostly now covered in grafitti.

We did a a lot of jumping to get over the creek.

Abandonment

Pretty fields but getting a little eerie

and dark...

More ruins and grafitti

The bright colors actually make it less creepy.

Ok its a race against time to get to the steps...this is when I fullfil my running through the woods fantasies.

We made it! The steps lead us back to the paved road and back to civilization.

They sort of keep going and going...

You think its over but no, more steps.

Its a little over 550 of them.

Legs...Burn.

It is dark but the view is welcoming. Back to our cars and off to a hot dinner. I slept well that night!