Trail Mix : With Scarcity of Scenic Routes, Valley Joggers Must Settle for Less and Take It in Stride

Looking for the perfect jogging trail to go with the perfect jogging outfit and the perfect tan? You know the place: pristine natural conditions without carbon-monoxide fumes, views that don’t include condos, freeways and utility poles, beauty that gets you high even before your endorphins kick in.

Well, then you’re in for bad news if you live in the San Fernando Valley. “A scenic jogging trail in the Valley? I don’t know about that,” says Pat Connelly, coach of the Basin Blues Running Club and one of the area’s leading authorities on jogging.

Connelly could think of only one take-your-breath-away place: O’Melveny Park in Granada Hills. The rest of the Valley is practically a jogging wasteland.

Connelly and other local joggers were asked for a list of scenic routes in the Valley. They mentioned such places as Balboa Park and Lake Hollywood, Paramount Ranch (which is in Agoura Hills, just outside the Valley), Porter Ranch Park in Northridge, the Chatsworth Reservoir, North Hollywood Park, Box Canyon in Chatsworth, Pierce College and even the Encino Reservoir, where joggers--and other trespassers--have to jump a fence to gain entrance.

But even the best of their recommendations, Balboa Park and Lake Hollywood, have major flaws. The others are either too close to freeways, overrun with brush or just not pretty enough. A scenic route has to be scenic all the time, not just for a few paces before the traffic comes back into sight. And it has to be convenient, not someplace you backpack to.

Balboa Park made almost everyone’s list. The 3.5-mile jogging path starts on Burbank Boulevard, just east of Balboa Boulevard, and circles an 18-hole golf course. For more than half a mile, the course parallels Burbank Boulevard, a virtual raceway with a constant stream of speeding cars that destroy the bucolic ambiance.

When the dirt path curves north into the park, the view doesn’t improve. Although the golf course remains on the jogger’s left, its trees and lush fairways are obscured by a tall chain-link fence. On the right is Sepulveda Basin, a parched stretch of land that is often an eyesore.

The jog around Balboa Park used to be more scenic, but the Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks Department erected the fence about a year ago to keep natural enemies--joggers and golfers--apart.

Of all the reputed scenic routes in the Valley, Lake Hollywood has the potential to be the best, but it also needs cosmetic surgery. Up the hill from Barham Boulevard in the Hollywood Hills, the lake, an 8-acre reservoir containing 2.5 billion gallons of sparkling blue-green water, is ringed by giant pine and secluded coves.

Unlike some reservoirs, the 183-foot-deep lake is off limits to fishermen and swimmers. As a result, the shoreline has retained its natural state, but a barbed-wire fence surrounds the 3.2-mile jogging path and obstructs the view, providing only occasional clear glimpses of the lake.

But a breathtaking, albeit brief, quarter-mile stretch makes up for the deficiencies. Less than a mile into the route, at the south end of the lake, Mulholland Dam provides a spectacular panorama of West Los Angeles and an intimate view of the Hollywood sign. Joggers can run across the top of the dam and then say farewell to the scenic part of the route for the rest of their run.

Inconsistency is not a problem at O’Melveny Park. Tucked away in the Santa Susana Mountains just above Granada Hills, the 672-acre park is almost as unspoiled as when the Chumash Indians roamed its hills centuries ago.

There are 11 miles of dirt roads in the park. Serious joggers can run to the top of Mission Point, elevation 2,770 feet, but for joggers who don’t care for primitive cross-country trails, the City actually has improved on nature and given them the perfect jogging path.

After parking in a shady lot, the trail passes by an old white barn, through an orchard of grapefruit trees and into a small canyon flanked by a creek, majestic eucalyptus trees and stone fences. The floor of the canyon is a grassy meadow, and looping around the meadow for nearly a half-mile is a dirt bridal path, curbed on both sides.

Another popular path follows a dry creek bed north for about a mile. But, like most of the trails in the park, this one does not loop--joggers have to retrace their steps. Another drawback: In the summer, the mountains get hot, so joggers are advised to bring water.

“O’Melveny has the most beautiful scenery of any park in the city,” says Don Mullally, a Recreation and Parks Department senior gardener. “If you can find a prettier park, I’d like to know where.”

And so would a lot of joggers.