hiking lake hollywood

Did you know there is a big, beautiful lake 10 minutes from the nightmare of rush hour traffic known as the 101 Freeway in Hollywood? No? Well, neither did I until recently. And today, I got to experience this man-made wonder -- known as Lake Hollywood and/or the Hollywood Reservoir -- for the first time on an awesome hike with my friend/fellow lady of leisure, Diana. 

The reservoir is nestled in the hills between Hollywood and Burbank, surrounded by expensive houses precariously built on the sides of said hills, and is accessed via tiny residential streets. 

View of the lake and Hollywood sign take from the dam.

There are great views of the newly refurbished Hollywood sign and Los Angeles' skylines to the south. And it's amazingly quiet! I seriously felt like I was up in the mountains, enjoying nature versus a mere 10 minutes from the craziness of Hollywood. 

The newly refurbished Hollywood sign as seen from the fire road.

View of the reservoir and pretty greenness, looking west, towards the 101.

As a hike, this is a great one for people just getting into (or back into) shape, as it's a mostly flat trek around the lake's paved service road with lots of shade provided by the huge trees that surround the reservoir. 

In fact, I'd go so far as to dub it "The Anti-Runyon Hike" because a) the paved road means no dust all over your sneakers... and therefore inside your car an hour later, b) the shade means you're not going to sweat bullets or get heat stroke and die like I and/or my four-legged hiking buddies have almost done in the past at Runyon and c) there are no four-legged hiking buddies (aka dogs) allowed here, so those of you that are afraid of dogs (Hi Bhavani) or hate the "smell" dogs leave all over Runyon (Hi Mikey), would have no issues here.

That said, it's still a good workout. Totally joggable if you're in shape/haven't been hacking up a lung for the last two weeks like I have ;) It's officially a 4-mile loop around the lake, but part of the trail is currently closed, so you can't do the entire loop. From where we parked on the "Hollywood side" of the lake (accessing it near the Mulholland Dam, via hilly residential roads off Cahuenga) you can head to the left for a short trip across the dam, but then have to stop and turn around. Or you can head to the right and hike the service road around the lake for about a mile and half before you hit the gate on the "Burbank side" (accessed off Barham Blvd) and have to turn around and go back. We hit both gates and backtracked from each as well, totaling a 3.24 mile hike.

It was a great way to spend an hour on a beautiful, not-too-hot, not-too-cold Friday afternoon. I will definitely be going back soon!

View of the lake and houses on the hill, looking south from near the "Burbank gate."

PS: This is "New Thing #2" on Day 4 of 2013 :)