Stan’s Obligatory Blog

I took a peek into the hummingbird nest in the back yard again today. I wanted to see if the baby hummingbirds were still there. I saw one baby hummingbird, and it’s getting quite large.

And again, my camera rocks. I took the picture from up on the garage roof, using the full 12x zoom with manual focus and the camera mounted on a tripod for stability.

Route slip

The Sunday ride for this week was my route up to the Hollywood sign, coming back by way of Toluca Lake and La Cañada. The time change had some of us a little sleepy starting out, but it turned into a perfect spring day.

We rode out through Eagle Rock and down to the L.A. river, crossing over into Silver Lake. Then we went across the Shakespeare Bridge and down Franklin Ave. At Beachwood, we turned right up the hill and headed for the sign. Just after the Hollywoodland gate, we turned left, and that was where the real climbing began. The road up the hill there is very steep and rough. At the top, we went right on Mulholland to get to the dead end right below the sign. There are large signs telling us that hiking up to the sign is prohibited. But there is an obviously well-worn trail that begins right behind those signs. We stopped to take in the view and take some pictures. Then we headed back down Mulholland, down to the Lake Hollywood reservoir. From there, there was another steep climb up and over the hill to get to Barham Blvd. Then down into Burbank, and our snack stop at Priscilla’s.

Coming home, we rode straight across Glendale and then up Verdugo to Hospital Hill. Then down the other side through La Cañada and back into Pasadena. Finally, we took Mendocino back across Altadena and then back to the park. The actual route was about 44 miles, and I rode out to Sierra Madre and back again, just to enjoy the sunshine some more.

50 miles.
cycling