Friday June 19th, 2015: Los Liones Trail

Hi friends! We’re back with another catch-up post. This one’s only like a week late which is almost like being on time which is practically early. [ETA: this was true when this blog post was first begun. It is now no longer true because we are trash.]

We’ve apparently shaken off that whole June Gloom thing we were telling you about because it has gotten hella hot in Los Angeles lately. Such are the trials and tribulations of living here. Of course there are also some advantages, and one of those advantages is microclimates. For example, even if it’s one trillion degrees inland, where we live [and we’re pretty sure that’s an accurate estimate of the weather lately], all you have to do is travel a few miles towards the coast and you’ll get not only a significant drop in temperature but an ocean breeze as well.

That being the case, we went westward ho this week to the Los Liones trail in the Pacific Palisades, which was only about a mile from the coast. And we brought Alejandra with us!

SOmeone was not given the memo that we were doing cute hair today

We went a bit later in the day due to scheduling, so getting out west wasn’t the most fun [if you’re unaware, there really aren’t any convenient routes through that part of town, like, ever, but especially during afternoon rush hour]. It’s better than trying to get OUT of West LA at that time of day, though.

Los Liones is easy to find; the trailhead is at the end of a street by a church, and there’s plenty of street parking. The trail itself has a gate with a sign and everything.

This may be anticlimactic after making you all wait so long for this post, but we don’t actually have all that much to say about this trail? Except that it was good. In addition to being in the path of that nice cooling ocean breeze, much of the trail was shaded by trees. There were also lots of little clearings and alcoves off to the side of the trail, some of which we stopped to explore.

Look we never claimed to be great explorers

The trail is also on the skinny side, so there’s no option but to walk single file the whole way. Often when we came across someone coming in the opposite direction, or we wanted to let a group behind us pass so we could take our time a little, we would have to duck off to the side. It worked pretty well with three people but any more and a) you wouldn’t be able to carry on a group conversation and b) you would probably start to look like the seven dwarfs heading off to work in the mines, which isn’t inherently a bad thing but is a choice you shouldn’t make lightly.

Unless you’re this one

Being able to carry on a group conversation was especially important for us on this hike because we needed to talk about Alejandra’s Big Week. First she got engaged, then right before our hike she got a new commercial agent! We’re so happy for her! In an only-a-little-bitter kind of way! But mostly happiness!

This is always okay regardless

Envy doesn’t look good on anyone Alli

Also the meeting with the new agent is why Alejandra’s hair looked all cute. Allison’s looked all cute because we stopped in one of those little shaded clearings we mentioned so she could put an audition on tape. Alejandra was the cameraman and Shannon was Allison’s dad and it was no The Unburned but we are artists no matter what.

At one point we did find an even thinner but still pretty defined trail that led off to the side. We followed it for a bit out of curiosity, but the flora was too thick to be able to see how far it went, and at that point we had already spotted a snake that Allison was 95% sure was a baby rattlesnake, so tramping off into the more heavily wooded areas seemed unwise.

Shannon’s not upset about it aT ALL

Anyway, this whole time the trail had been climbing in elevation, but very steadily. At one point we could see the trail head and our cars and realized how high we had climbed, basically without even noticing. That was a pretty nice change from when Allison and Shannon turned their legs into jelly climbing Runyon the previous week.

Finally we emerged at an overlook with a steady breeze and a great view of the coast. There was a bench too, but there was another group or two that had reached the summit around the same time as us, and the bench was occupied by them and their selfie stick. We suppose if you can’t bring those to Disney anymore, you’ll have to start utilizing them in other places to make sure you get your money’s worth.

We don’t need benches anyway because we’re so strong [actually this was supposed to be a sexy pose but this is the best Shannon can do so]

It was mostly clear that day, which was nice for the view, obviously. We think visibility cut out right before the Santa Monica Pier; on a clearer day we should have been able to spot it from there.

This is the only view that matters anyway

The trail continues from there if you want to take a longer hike, but by longer we mean like seven miles, and we weren’t up to that, especially since it was already getting late in the afternoon. One slightly disappointing aspect of this hike is that it’s an up-and-back hike rather than a loop. We’ve done some up-and-back hikes [or even down-and-back hikes, in the case of The Grotto] that were great, of course, but in general loops are more fun because you get to see more new stuff along the way.

Anyway, it was a really easy hike back down since there were no particularly steep sections. Then after some really confusing driving [read: pulling over every fifty feet like four times] that caused us to decide Allison is not allowed to lead the caravan anymore, we found a little Mediterranean/Mexican joint for either a very late lunch or a somewhat early dinner down on Sunset.

Wildlife? We saw a few lizards, and of course the snake which may have been a baby rattlesnake, which is a deceivingly adorable notion. Also there was this one tree that looked like a brontosaurus and absorbed our attention for probably a lot more time than we should have allowed, as grown women.

Musical moments? Um, we’re sure there were some, but this is where we run into the real trouble of putting off hiking posts until a week and a half after they happen. Whoops. [ETA: Allison kindly reminded us by posting the video of it on her Instagram that Shannon may have sung “It’s Oh So Quiet” and made Alejandra bellow in fear when she imitated the horns.]

Conclusion? The fifteen-degree temperature difference out by the coast was worth the long and convoluted drive it took to get there. There weren’t too many other people, though the narrowness of the trail made every time we encountered someone else kind of an ordeal. The view at the top was v nice; maybe someday when the weather is cooler and we have the time/energy we’ll commit to the longer version of the hike.

Thanks for reading and for waiting patiently for the new post again. We have one more catch-up post to go, which will be two if we hike tomorrow like we’d planned, but the high for tomorrow is in the mid-90s so we’ll see. And if you have any suggestions for us about hikes to try, please leave them in the comments! But don’t just make up random names to comment with and expect us to know who you are. Despite Shannon’s dad’s beliefs, that is not how the internet works.

Until next time,

Skip&Bird[&Sooky]