Modern Pawrent: May 2012

Ooooh man, did this hike hurt. I hiked it on Sunday and am still limping around. Theo barely moved for 24 hours afterward so I know he definitely got an amazing workout too. I thought he might be too small for the hike, but owners had Chihuahuas and other teeny dogs there. He did such a great job. If it wasn’t so miserably hot, I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more.

Directions: From Sunset take Mandeville Canyon Rd. north. Make your first left onto Westridge Canyon Rd. & continue until the road ends at a parking lot.

Pros

Fantastic workout!
Dog-friendly and dogs can adventure off-leash.
After 4 brutal miles, you arrive at a nice resting point complete with bathrooms and water fountains and a viewing tower that offers a 360 degree view of the whole city.
There are two trails on this hike: one hard, and one insanely hard. Luckily the trails meet up several times so you can pick and choose when you want to try the more difficult trail and when you want to get off.
The view! Check out my pictures. So nice and it was a smoggy day.
Two words. Parking lot! This is a big deal. And there is ample street parking too.

Cons

Little to no shade throughout hike.
8 miles just takes too long – 2.5 - 3 hours for us outta shape peeps. In our defense, we took a break at the resting point.
Too hard. This hike is difficult for anyone who isn’t really active.
There are a lot of bikers, which makes me nervous having a dog off-leash.
Some reviews online mention rattlesnakes, and that they’ve seen dogs get bitten. Luckily I didn’t see anything but I made sure Theo stayed close to me.

Final opinion: I like it. But I don’t think I will go back until after summer, when the weather cools down. I wish it was shorter… 8 miles is a bit too crazy for me.

Tips:

Bring tons of water.
Rattlesnakes tend to come out more in the summer so use caution.
Go early or go late. Mid-day it is just too hot. I went at 930AM and was still struggling because of the heat.

Tons of pups. Theo thinks he's one of the big boys.

My lovely friend Kaori came along.

Nice big trails

I only carried Theo through one intense hill because it was so hot and I didn’t want him to overheat. Thank goodness for my handy sling (thanks, Mom!).