Explore Southern California's iconic beaches, Pacific shore, and mountain views without traveling deep into the backcountry. This book features easy-to-follow urban trails that allow hikers of all levels to discover the landmarks that shape the Golden state’s cities and towns. Urban Hikes Southern California provides the latest information to plan a customized trip: Common and lesser-known hikes, from city center strolls to forest trails Full-color photos and maps, detailed trail descriptions, and trailhead GPS Insightful hike overviews and details on distance, difficulty, canine compatibility, and more California boasts a plethora of great urban hikes, and this guide highlights both family-friendly footpaths and culinary and gastronomic delights found along the way. Find hikes suited to every ability. Stroll Orange County's Laguna Beach to take in the sights or enjoy a pint of local beer after a walk to Downtown Los Angeles from the Hollywood Hills. Discover arboretum trails, waterfront walks, after-work rambles, and more.

• 125 of the best trails throughout the Los Angeles metro area • Easy-to-use, well-organized guide to hiking in the greater Los Angeles area • Hikes feature ocean views, waterfalls, coastal canyons, native grasslands, rocky peaks, desert wildflowers, and more In Southern California, the city of Los Angeles alone covers more than 500 square miles. Yet beyond the freeways and suburbia, there is a surprising amount of hikeable green space and wilderness. This new guide details trails in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the world’s largest urban national park stretching from the Pacific Coast right into Hollywood itself; the Santa Susana Mountains in Los Padres National Forest; Angeles National Forest, including the San Gabriels and Mount San Antonio, the highest point in Los Angeles County; the striking desert landscape of Antelope Valley; the Santa Ana Mountains; portions of the San Bernardino Mountains; Chino Hills State Park; and slivers of green space and city parks such as famed Griffith Park.

The Pacific Crest Trail was designated as one of the first National Scenic Trails way back in 1968. As it traverses the “high road” from Mexico to Canada, incredible views are not only commonplace but also uniquely diverse, because the trail connects six of North America’s seven eco-zones. The PCT’s familiar, well-worn path is a special place for hikers from all walks of life on walks of all lengths and for all reasons. Instead of guiding you through the arduous task of hiking the entire PCT, the goal of this book is to help you plan trips that incorporate hiking on the PCT in Southern California, whether you have just an afternoon to spare or you want to escape for the entire weekend. Carefully edited maps and elevation graphs generated with GPS data collected by the author on the trail will help make your trip a success. This cargo-pocket guide offers author-tested advice to help you make the most of your time away from civilization, however long (or short) that stretch may be.

The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCT) traces a 2,650-mile route from the California-Mexico border north to the border of Washington and Canada. While many hikers attempt a “thru-hike” every year, beginning in Campo, California and connecting their footsteps all the way to Manning Park, B.C., even more people enjoy “section hiking” – tackling the trail in bits and pieces. This guidebook serves as a road map to section hiking the Southern California portion of the PCT, beginning at its southern terminus in Campo and ending 942.5 miles north at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. From the magical cactus gardens of the Mojave Desert to the snowy peaks of the High Sierra, this book covers one of the most biologically and geologically diverse portions of the PCT. Author Shawnté Salabert serves as your personal trail guide along the way, offering informative route descriptions, interesting sidebars, and colorful stories that will deepen your experience on this iconic trail, whether you’re headed out for a weekend, a week, or a month. Each volume of this new series focuses on section-by-section pieces of the PCT and includes the following features: • Inspirational full-color guides with over 150 color photographs in each • Trail sections of 4- to 10-night trips • Detailed camp-to-camp route descriptions • Easy-to-understand route maps and elevation profiles • Details on specific campsites and most-reliable water sources • Road access to and from various trail sections • Info on permits, hazards, restrictions, and more • Alternate routes and connecting trails • Clear references to the PCT’s established system of section letters, designating trail segments from Mexico to Canada—so you can easily cross-reference the guides with other PCT resources • Key wilderness sights along the way • Suggested itineraries *Download an errata for Hiking the PCT: Southern California for a profile fix here*

Discover Southern California's most inspiring trails! "HIKE Southern California: Best Day Hikes" is a must-have for every Southern California hiker. From Lost Palms Oasis to the HOLLYWOOD Sign to the top of Mt. Baldy, you're guaranteed to find a hike you'll like in this latest edition of one of the most popular trail guides of all time. This "greatest hits" collection of longtime Los Angeles Times hiking columnist John McKinney includes updates of classic trails and 25 new hikes. The guide feature more than 125 hikes, and comes complete with colorful stories, trusted trail accounts and easy-to-follow maps for all the hikes.From waterfalls to wildflowers to wilderness areas, enjoy a diversity of hikes in:Santa Barbara & Ojai, Griffith Park, Palm Springs. San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Monica Mountains, Orange County, Catalina Island, Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains.Take a water bottle, trail snack and this guide and: Chill-out in Cold Spring Canyon, Icehouse Canyon and Winter Creek. Cool-off at Eaton Falls, Seven Falls and Holy Jim Falls.Climb Mt. San Gorgonio, Mt. San Jacinto and Saddleback Peak. Get grand metropolitan vistas from atop Echo Mountain, Mt. Hollywood and Inspiration Point.Hike to dozens of classic and contemporary film locations including Shangri-La in Ojai, the M*A*S*H site along Malibu Creek, and to the Planet of the Apes at Point Dume."Other regions of the country have high peaks, pine forests, vast deserts and lovely shorelines, but only Southern California has all these environments," explains McKinney, aka The Trailmaster. "And four-season hiking, too!" The guide features a range of hikes for everyone--easy nature hikes, moderate outings and all-day adventures.

LA Times Best Seller and four-time award winner from three Outdoor Writers Associations, including Best in Show and Best Guidebook! Expanded 6th edition includes 160 day hikes in and around Los Angeles and over 230 maps. Hikes range from boardwalk strolls along the ocean to shady canyon trails that lead to panoramic overlooks. This is an essential guide to discovering the city's thousands of acres of public green space as well as many access points to the coastline.