Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area
Hiking as a pass time in Los Angeles can be an unexpected pleasure if you know where to look. Looking in unlikely places can sometimes really payoff, as is the case with the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. The area contains some of the best elements of what the areas trails have to offer – lakes, a stream, eucalyptus, oak and sumac and some of the best views in Los Angeles.
Kenneth Hahn resides just off of La Cienega Boulevard and is surrounded by some of LA’s less than stellar landscape. But the 308 acres within the park are well worth the drive over.
Visitors can pass the entrance kiosk and move downhill to the right of the first lake. A walkway will take you across the stream pouring down from the second lake further up. Following the pavement to the top of the hill will bring the hiker to Bowl Loop which is a path that circles a hollow that is the remains of a reservoir that once held nearly 300 million gallons of water. After having walked half of Bowl Loop, the hiker will reach Dante’s Trail, a smaller path that leads down through some cactus and through a grove of California pepper trees into a rest area.
The rest area is at place called Autumn’s Peak, a place that arguably is home to the best views in Los Angeles. The panoramic views allow the hiker to see from Westwood to Palos Verdes to Hollywood to Catalina Island and so on.
The hiker can head downhill to another rest area and take a narrower path on the right to an intersection. Turn left at the intersection to reach Randi’s Waterfall. Through two red torii gates, the hiker will find Doris’ Japanese Garden, a beautiful place with curved bridges stretching over ponds. From here the hiker can exit the garden and arrive at the kiosk where they entered. In total, the walk should take roughly an hour and thirty minutes and cover just under three miles.
To read more about hiking Kenneth Hahn, check out the article in the LA Times.