Rare LA Hike

Rancho Palos Verdes is a blanket term that some people think applies to the mountainous peninsula that separates the northern LA area beach cities from the South Bay and Orange County beach cities. RPV is actually the name of a city on the peninsula. The peninsula is an erstwhile Channel Island that was brought into contact with the mainland by way of silt deposits from the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers forming the LA Basin over the millenia.

But, if you live in the vicinity of the peninsula, it is an easy getaway and hike, and the views, weather permitting, are quite nice.

The missus Blonde Giant (neither of us are all that giant) and I went with our favorite cat-sitter, the Garifuna. We parked up on a ridge street where there was parking, and entered the Three Sisters Trail from the top.

Making sure we were careful, we started out, heeding the signs and checking out local fauna:

The terrain is similar to the other Channel Islands, which is obvious, but if you've never been (and outside of Avalon, we haven't), it resembles the hills of the Central Coast of California,with a little more variety. On this side of the mountain there was no poison oak, thankfully. In any case, it's not your usual LA scene:

Speaking of Avalon, the largest city on the closest Channel Island, Catalina herself is easily visible if the weather permits, of course:

I love the misty layer of fog separating the island from the vista over the shrubbery...

One view reminds those knowledgeable of the Pacific Coast Highway of more northerly locales:

I like the lone sailboat:

We hiked down to the bottom, then went from the leeward side, where we had spent the entire hike down, to the windward side, where the pleasant afternoon was interrupted by a stiff and forceful wind. Our trail snaked around until it was lost and we had to make a way to an old dirt driving path to ascend again.  It, being more direct, was a bit steeper:

It did afford a little closer look at the canyon against which we walked:

It was definitely a nice afternoon, a few minutes from the house.