An accidental hike in Griffith Park leaves a confirmed city girl wanting more

My first hike happened by accident.

It was forced upon me, sort of.

It was the Sunday when the eclipse of the super blood moon took place. My husband and I planned to take our daughter to see it at Griffith Observatory, where live classical music would be played.

I thought it seemed like a great idea, but, of course, so did hundreds of other Angelenos.

I actually don’t live in the city of L.A. I live in Upland, what could be considered the West Coast equivalent of New Jersey in proximity to New York. Not too far, but far enough that it’s complicated to travel.

During the week I commute to work in downtown L.A. by bus or train and it works out fine.

During the weekend, there aren’t as many trains and buses running, so my family mapped out an alternative route that would end with us taking the train to the Red Line’s Vermont/Sunset station. From there, we’d take the Dash bus to the observatory.

Well, that was the plan anyway.

But when we got in line outside the station, there were so many people waiting for the bus that it didn’t seem like we would get there in time.

So my husband called his stepfather, who drives a taxi, and he drove us to Los Feliz Boulevard. He couldn’t get us any farther because once he got to the corner of Serrano Avenue and Los Feliz the traffic cop wouldn’t let him through. And the traffic lining up on Fern Dell Drive wasn’t moving.

That’s when we realized we were going to have to walk.

I didn’t think we could do it. I thought my 5-year old would start crying. My husband just shrugged and said that was the only way if we wanted to get there.

I checked the map app on my phone. It would be 1.4 miles to the observatory. It didn’t seem so far-fetched, so we started walking through Ferndell Nature Museum on a broken concrete path, which then turned into a dirt path. It was around 6:30 p.m. when we started our “hike.” The sun was still out. I knew there would be a lot of people, but I was surprised to see just how many. We took a few breaks for water and snacks. My husband had packed plenty of cheese crackers, granola bars, almonds, dried cranberries and sweetened hibiscus flowers (as long as my daughter has snacks and water, she will not complain much), so it worked out on that front.

We were on a path surrounded by sycamore trees when the sun started to set, and I wondered how much longer it would take to get there. We saw a deer. It was getting dark, but we were still able to see its silhouette.

On one corner of the trail, someone had left a stroller. Further up, a mom with two kids carried one on her back.

“I commend you,” my husband said, and she smiled.

After about 45 minutes, we came to a junction where several trails joined. We were high enough to see the city lights and then the moon, which was starting to cover up. To the west, orange and pink sunset hues were fading.

When we finally reached the top, my husband, asked, exasperated: “OK, can we go stand in line for the bus now?”

“Can’t we hear at least one song?” I asked, while my daughter asked: “Can I sit down?”

So we sat on the crowded observatory lawn. A lady offered a space on her blanket to our daughter.

After the song ended, we got in line for the bus down and waited and waited. When the bus finally came, we were still tens of people away from getting in.

We decided to walk back down.

On the way back, my husband carried my daughter until we made it to the paved walkway out of Griffith Park. A young woman wearing cool skeleton leggings took a photo of us with the moon in the background, but the flash messed up the shot.

I still can’t believe we did it. I’m so proud of my daughter for not throwing a fit. (My husband kind of did, because he doesn’t like big crowds.) But maybe the next time we take a hike we can do it somewhere a little less crowded.

Yes, I said next time. I never really understood the fascination with hiking until I did it myself. I’m more of a work-out-at-the-gym-with-the-AC-blasting person. I grew up in Mexico City, so I’m used to trekking in concrete jungles. I think nature is cool, nature is fine in its own area, I don’t need to interact. But L.A. has a way of making you interact.

There are places like Griffith Park, where nature is right there, just waiting for us to get off our phones and out of traffic and get a little dirty.

Going up was hard. But the view was certainly something, and doing it together as a family made it really special for me.

I’m nowhere near buying hiking shoes and trekking the Appalachian Trail or anything like that. But I think a nice one-mile hike might be in the works for me.

Next time I will plan for it.

denise.florez@latimes.com

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Where to hike in L.A.

Ready to hit the dirt? Here are some sites to explore on hiking in and around Los Angeles:

Santa Monica Mountains: www.nps.gov/samo/index.htm

Los Angeles County hiking trails: trails.lacounty.gov/

Hiking with kids: trails.lacounty.gov/KidsAndTrails

Also, check our L.A. Walks articles and maps at latimes.com/lawalks.

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