Hiked May 30, 2026. Twenty-third hike of the year.
Although not scheduled to work this night, I had to come back to the Observatory for another reason, so made the plan to hike Burbank Peak. This is one of my favorite hikes, but it's been a while since I'd done it, so I got a little disoriented on catching what I call the "Ridge Route," but I think is formally called the "Mount Chapel Trail."
The photos are out of sequence, by the way, so don't try to figure that out!
I'm pretty sure if you do the "Ridge Route" correctly, it's faster and easier than even getting to the bottom of the Hollywood Sign via the Mullholland Trail, because of all the zig-zags that one takes, as it follows a contour at the base of the Hollywood Hills.
From the Observatory, I left via the Charlie Turner Trailhead, up Mount Hollywood Trail, to the north side of Mount Hollywood, then the North Trail, up a trail that runs along a pipe, to a watertank, on the north side of Taco Peak, then around on a fire road, across Mount Hollywood Drive, then up on the Mount Chapel Trail, south of that summit. This is a sometimes-thin, sometimes-overgrown single-track trail, that eventually hits paved Mount Lee Drive. Left takes you up to the top of the sign; right would take you down, to the bottom.
Well, that was the plan. But I think in real-life, I missed a turn, wound up off trail, then just followed a use trail down to the Mulholland trail, hid Mount Lee Drive down near the bottom, and walked back up to the ridge, and continued up, from there. From the ridge, Mount Lee road then runs up the north side of Mount Lee, heading west.
Where Mount Lee Drive makes the hairpin left turn from, the north side of Mount Lee to the south side, the narrow "Wonderview Trail" continues straight, along the spine of the mountains. There's a short bit of high Class II / low Class III as you summit Cahuenga Peak, before you continue along the spine, towards Burbank Peak.
I passed a nice amount of mariposa lily on the short segment between Cahuenga Peak and Burbank Peak. Also, some healthy, green sections of California buckwheat. Then you arrive at the "Wisdom Tree." It's a very picturesque little tree, and sets a nice image against the horizon from many directions. That's it, at the top of this post, as well as the third shot from the bottom.
That's also me, in that top picture. I messaged down to my colleagues, down at Griffith Observatory, and one of them turned one of the portable lawn telescopes over to Burbank Peak as I arrived there. I waved my arms around a bit, so they could confirm it was me, then took a cell phone shot through the eyepiece, which explains the weird optical artifacts. But, there I am, from about two miles away.
From there, I returned along the narrow Wonderview trail, back to Mount Lee Drive, then turned right on the pavement, on to the top of Mount Lee. That's home to the famous Hollywood sign, of course. Took a few shots up near the top, then headed back down. Only took me about 90 minutes to walk back to the Observatory, with fewer stops than one the way back. I did stop to admire the rising moon, and get some observatory shots, again.
I think I passed this tiny snake on the way back, along the Mount Chapel trail section. Like the size of a big worm. Couldn't see the head or tail, so I could tell if it was a tiny rattle snake or a tiny gopher snake. Either way, at that size, there's no way he could get his jaw around my leg. But he was still, and I walked over him, and he seemed not to care.
I think the sacred datura was also on the way back. Pretty common out here, though I may have actually seen more mariposa lily on this hike than sacred datura.
Couple of shots from the top of the Hollywood sign. One looks right over it, overlooking Lake Hollywood. The other one is from a bit west, looking back, towards the Observatory.
And here's some mariposa lily.
The horses were from earlier, on my way out, after I missed my turn and wound up briefly on the Mulholland trail.
As for my return trip, I walked mderately quickly, though I still had time to take shots of the rising moon, and the DTLA skyline.
Only about 90 minutes, with no wrong turns, from the top of Mount Lee to the Observatory. So my general guess of about 3 to 3.5 hours, roundtrip for someone to walk between the Observatory and Mount Lee, at a fair pace, with only occasional rests. It's another 30 minutes or so to add Burbank Peak.
For myself, my Alltrails recording showed 9.5 miles, 1680 feet altitude gain, and 3:20 of moving time. So figure a bit less than four hours, depending on how long you rest along the way and take pictures and so forth.
This was my second significant walk in three days, so I was pretty tired after this, and for the next day. But I always feel good after a hike like this, so I was glad I had the time to make it.
No additional hikes since then, so I'm a little behind. Need to fit in three more hikes over the next two weekends to stay on track for 52 hikes for the year. Also still have a few to blog, though I've lost track of those now, too.
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