One hobby that I never thought I would discover and develop while in LA is hiking.  When most people think of LA they imagine the beach, downtown, Hollywood, and other LA landmarks.  While all of these iconic places are part of what makes LA so unique, we also are blessed to be surrounded by several wonderful mountain ranges!

I grew up hiking with my family in Colorado, but I never thoroughly enjoyed it.  Colorado is known for it’s mountains and for hiking, but I could not appreciate it at all.   I was always the child dragging my feet and wondering when we would get to the top so that we could start the hike back down.  I’m sure my dad felt like he was pulling teeth to get my siblings and I to go on even a short afternoon hike.

Since coming to LA three years ago now, I have discovered that hiking can be fun and that I do actually enjoy it!  I have been on tons of hikes in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and Santa Monica.  Whenever I go on club retreats to the mountains, I take every opportunity I can to go hiking.  One of the great things about hiking in LA is that no matter where you go (on the west side anyways) the top always has an incredible view of the Pacific Ocean!

Last Saturday, I organized a hike with a group of friends who are around for the summer.  We hiked near Pacific Palisades on a trail called Los Liones.  You know you are hiking in LA when there is a real parking lot at the trail head! We met some friendly people at the bottom of the trail who took a picture for our group then told us that they were taking an alternative route and would race us to the top.  We ended up winning!

The hike was 7.3 miles there and back.  We began at 8:45am and got to enjoy an overcast but warm day.  We had a view of the ocean throughout the entire hike! It was awesome!

I am looking forward to doing a couple more hikes in LA this summer!  More importantly though, I am looking forward to the end of summer when my friends and I are going to Colorado to my grandparents cabin for a whole week of hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  If you had told me that I would be going to Colorado to voluntarily hike for 5 days when I was ten, I would not have believed you.  I would believe you even less if you told me it had been my idea!

Thanks to all my LA hikes and my upcoming Colorado trip, I finally got my own pair of hiking boots!

Hannah