Discovering Griffith Park. Casey Schreiner

work camp, a pre-internment camp and prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, housing for veterans, and more. Griffith Park contains five museums: the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, the Autry Museum of the American West, the Griffith Observatory, Travel Town, and the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum. Griffith Park has been the site of countless films and television shows since its very beginning. Popular filming locations include the Bronson Cave, Cedar Grove, and the closed-to-traffic Mount Hollywood and Vista Del Valle Drives. Griffith Park is home to hundreds of species of plants and animals ranging from carp in the L.A. River to a famous mountain lion named P-22 in the rugged chaparral.

       The visitor center features beautiful artwork detailing the park history.

      By June or July, the “Endless Summer” usually kicks in—and can sometimes last through November and even December, when you will be begging any higher power you believe in for sweet, sweet relief. During this time, the marine layer weakens, the temperatures rise, and many native plants go into summer dormancy (I sometimes call this “Summer Brown”). Hikers during these months should watch the forecasts and start early or wait until the sun is setting to hit the trails. Bring extra water, slather on the sunscreen, and pay attention for red-flag warnings and news of Santa Ana winds—dry, hot, often violent gusts that can knock down trees and powerlines, ignite and spread fires, and generally make everyone a bit crazier than usual.

      Sometimes cooler days and light rain can sneak into October and November, but in general our “Winter-Spring” lasts from December to April, when the region gets 86 percent of our annual rainfall (on average, L.A. gets about 15 inches of rain a year—don’t let anyone tell you it’s a desert, OK?). These rainstorms can often be very heavy. I don’t recommend hiking during a rainstorm but I absolutely recommend hiking the few days following one. Then, the skies clear and our native plants turn bright green and begin to bloom, making for unforgettable outdoor experiences.

       GENERAL PARK RULES AND REGULATIONS

      Almost everything inside this book is inside the boundaries of Griffith Park, which means these rules apply throughout. Where rules differ, they will be noted. In general:

      •Fires and fireworks are prohibited everywhere in the park. Cooking should be done only in designated barbecue pits in picnic areas.

      •Do not feed or bother wildlife of any kind.

      •Collection or removal of any material inside the park is prohibited—this includes rocks, wildflowers, and artifacts.

      •Dogs must be on leash at all times in the park. The only off-leash area is the official dog park west of the Ferraro athletic fields.

      •Bicycles are prohibited on trails inside Griffith Park; they are permitted only on paved roads.

      •The speed limit throughout the park is 25 miles per hour.

      •Alcohol and smoking, including e-cigarettes and vape pens, are prohibited.

      •Park hours are 5:00 AM through 10:30 PM.

      •In case of emergency, contact the park rangers at 323-644-6661 or call 911. For basic information, call the visitor center at 323-644-2050.

      •For the 2016 Cartifact map, head to the Griffith Park Visitor Center at 4730 Crystal Springs Drive or visit www.laparks.org/griffithpark.

       TRANSPORTATION

      It’s often been said that Griffith Park is the quintessential Los Angeles park “because you have to drive your car to get around it.” And while at one time that may have been considered a good thing by L.A.’s autophilic population, younger Angelenos are starting to see the drawbacks of building an infrastructure with cars in mind first and every other mode of transportation or way of moving around relegated to an afterthought.

       THE MEANING OF NUMBERS

      As you explore Griffith Park, you may begin to note that many objects in the park have numbers assigned to them. You will see numbers on water tanks, fire hydrants, and trail signs. This seemingly incomprehensible system can actually help you locate yourself—and more importantly, help rangers locate you in case of an emergency. If you need to contact the rangers, try to find a nearby trail sign, hydrant, or water tank and let them know what number it is—they’ll know exactly where you are.

      Also, there is a bit of rhyme and reason to the numbers on the water tanks—if you add a zero to the end of each number, that’s the tank’s elevation above sea level.

       The numbered objects throughout the park help rangers find visitors quickly.

      For such a large, heavily used, and much-loved park, it can still be frustrating to get around if you aren’t driving your own car, but in the past few years both the city and the park have made great strides in making more parts of the park accessible by transit—and more improvements are on the way.

       There are more and more ways to get around Griffith Park without a car.

       DASH Shuttle

      The DASH Observatory shuttle line run by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) is the easiest and most convenient way to access the often heavily congested area of Griffith Park between the Griffith Observatory and the Greek Theatre. Inside the park, this shuttle stops at both the observatory and the theater as well as at West Observatory Road/Mount Hollywood Drive and at Commonwealth Canyon Drive, which means you can use this route to access many different hiking routes. The shuttle makes several stops in the Los Feliz neighborhood and connects with the Metro subway and Metro bus lines 2/302, 175, 304 and rapid lines 754 and 780 at Sunset Boulevard/Vermont Avenue as well as Metro bus lines 180/181 at Vermont Avenue/Los Feliz Boulevard and 180/181 and the DASH Los Feliz line at Hillhurst Avenue/Los Feliz Boulevard. Fare can be paid in exact change or with a Transit Access Pass (TAP) card, which can be purchased at any Metro subway station.

      The DASH Hollywood shuttle stops at Franklin Avenue/Western Avenue in front of Immaculate Heart High School, which is a short 0.3-mile walk to the Fern Dell Drive entrance to the park.

      For more information, including fares, timetables, and real-time updates, visit www.ladotbus.com and www.metro.net.