Hiking L.A. is as it sounds: about hikes near Los Angeles. The author is a playwright, which sounds a bit hoity-toity, but the writeups are straightforward “what we say, where went” accounts. From one entry on a hike at Mount Islip:

Part of the reason why we picked Mount Islip was because it was advertised as a relatively easy stroll. Only 5 miles and 1250 feet of elevation gain, it should have been a quick and painless hike. We wanted to make it easy because, to quote BF, “we don’t want to kill EVG.” See, EVG is a fellow writer, which is usually enough to make a person out of shape. (All that sitting in front of computer, staring at the blank document…) But not only is EVG a writer (and a good one, at that), he is also a heavy smoker. Rather than ravage his lungs with a death march, we decided on a short jaunt in the woods.

The short jaunt turned into a major trek that finished in the dark and included a thunderstorm.

We arrived back on the abandoned highway just as it became too dark to see where we were walking. BF whipped out his headlamp and we headed back the three miles to our car. From the road, we got a perfect view of a great thunderstorm over the L.A. basin. We could see whole strokes of lightning, from cloud to ground.

Walking back through the abandoned tunnels in the dark was undoubtedly creepy. EVG, being a horror writer, wanted BF to turn off his headlamp so we could walk in the dark. Figuring that not walking into the tunnel walls was more important than giving EVG new writing material, BF kept his light on. Even with the headlamp, I have to admit that I looked behind me a few times, half expecting to see an apparition trailing us.

So far, five hikes have been profiled. Let’s send her some traffic and hopes she keeps up the pace.