Elysian Park — Attraction in Los Angeles

A long time favorite to go hiking, just a few minutes drive from busy downtown LA! What a beautiful place to go, to get away from it all. From the hustle and bustle of the big city, to the quiet, tree lined hills of nature! A downtown office worker can do a round trip with a sack lunch at a picnic table within an hour. Locals can unwind with a disc golf game after work at the Chavez course, sure as a disk spins to the basket! Tree lovers may enjoy a walk thru the forrest, with a bonus trek at the arboretum! And view seekers will thrill to the Palms View spot with a view of the Downtown LA skyline, among the best I’ve ever seen! Angels Point Road provides an east-side scene of I-5 traffic, LA River and rail yard, way down below. Also further over is the 110 Fwy and mountains in the distance. The uphill trail above the Angels Point Road viewpoint leads to the Secret Swing Angels Point, where I felt like flying, high up off the hill! The park also has fields and courts for playing sports of just about anything and even includes the in-roads to Dodger Stadium, where fans of baseball and concerts often go after a day at the park! Free parking and restrooms are provided, though weekends and holidays tend to be overwhelmed, given the popularity and massive population surrounding the park. Restrooms may be unsightly, so checking thru a couple of doors may be necessary before using. The the real downside of this park is the downside. I don’t mean to sound punny, tho depending on the time of day, leaving can be a difficult experience! It’s one thing to leave with the stadium crowd, there’s yet another consideration when leaving on the weekdays. There’s traffic jams in the morning and evening as commuters shortcut thru the outlying roads. Even worse for park goers who live out of town, having to join the slow procession with the commuters going on the freeways. So a nice time at the park, may end with a check of the Google Maps color-coded traffic layer, for finding the best route home! The few faults I have with this park are offset by the naturalness included within the Downtown L.A. area. It’s as if the land was kept original and not overrun by urban...

For anyone visiting this area for the first time you will be hard pressed to find your way around this park. I had to ask several locals where each trail lead since there are no trail markers and/or trail map to be found either at the park or online. Once I found the main trail it was a nice walk (maybe 1.5 miles?) with some scenic views. But be careful on the other trails/abandoned roads as there is a homeless campsite right above the road with several people living there. I would have felt uncomfortable if I were alone, but I passed several other hikers and it was daylight. I’d prefer Griffith Park being that there is more information about the trails - which you would certainly need to avoid...

We took the wrong side of the trail because it’s a little difficult to tell where the parking or the trail is based on the signage.

There’s a police academy next door so we could hear them shooting, and the wrong side takes you by the busy highway, so both of those took away from the peaceful ideal of a hike. A little hard to tell where the trail was in some areas, mostly walking on a street with cars intermittently driving by. There was also a sketchy guy in the parking lot that stood right next to our car as we were heading off to the trail.

Cool getting to see the Dodgers stadium from a distance and still got some good miles in. A few great overlooks. Maybe will try for the interior...