When I moved to SoCal from Northern California I was really worried that I was going to miss nature. I love USC, but every now and then it’s nice to get out of the city this well. So this summer I made it my goal to do some hiking and I was amazed at the fantastic hikes that Southern California has to offer!
I go hiking every Sunday with a mix of USC people and other interns from my job at Boeing (I’ll blog about that soon 🙂 ). We started off with an easy hike and just did the Hike to the Hollywood Sign. It’s not my favorite, but I feel like it’s a must-do for anyone in Southern California.
After that we did Sandstone Peak in Malibu. It was about a six mile hike, but had ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS views the whole way. Because it’s close to the ocean, there was also a nice breeze so it never got too hot.
Sandstone Peak! Mountains and the ocean? Only in SoCal!
After the hike we drove up the PCH and went to this giant sand dune that Steve recommended. It was very difficult to climb and I seriously debated just stopping about halfway up, but the view from the top was worth it.
Looking out at the ocean from the top of the sand dune!
The next week was my personal favorite hike so far: The Bridge to Nowhere. Now, I was pretty tired before we even started this hike because I had done the Mud Run at Camp Pendleton the morning before (more about that later). This hike was ten miles long and involved crossing the river multiple times but was absolutely fantastic. First of all, I love water on hikes, so the fact that the entirety of this hike is along a river was a big plus for me. For the first couple miles there were people camping, fishing, and even panning for gold, but after that it was pretty quiet and I loved that. The hike ends at a bridge that, well, goes nowhere. You can bungee jump off the bridge and it looked like a lot of fun so I may have to do that soon!
Crossing the river!
In the next hiking post: Sturtevant Falls, Hermit Falls, and Escondido Falls!
