Continue Healthy January: Go Take a Hike!
Santa Monica Press, Solana Beach CA 1-800-784-9553
Are you curious about the city you live in? Paul Haddad’s book 10,000 Steps a Day in LA is the ticket for you! He has 57 walking adventures throughout LA’s fascinating boroughs with information, descriptions, and maps of each walk - all approximately 10,000 steps (or about five miles).
One of my favorites is the Lower Arroyo Seco Walk which takes in much of old Pasadena and throws in a delightful stroll up the Lower Arroyo Seco valley. You can complete your trek from South Park and back without using your car or a gallon of gas!
Map by Brian Duddles
Start by boarding the north bound Metro from the Pico Station – A Line bound for Azusa. You can now ride the train to the start of your walk (Del Mar Station in Pasadena) without changing your seat! At Del Mar Station, cross the tracks and have a cup of coffee and some great deviled eggs at La Grande Orange.
Tip your waiter and walk out the west entrance of the restaurant to start your journey. Take a left turn and walk down (south) ½ block to Del Mar Blvd. On your right is Central Park. Cross Del Mar Blvd and walk west ½ block to Edmondson Alley. In the late 1800’s Edmondson Alley was the site of an elevated wooden bikeway - the California Cycleway - envisioned by its creator, Horace Dobbins, as a non-stop bikeway from Pasadena’s Central Park to LA’s Olivera Street – some nine miles of uninterrupted biking pleasure. Unfortunately, only 1 mile was completed. You will be walking south to its end at Glenarm Street. (If walking a mile down an alley is not your cup of tea, you can use either paralleling streets - South Raymond Street or Fair Oaks Ave. to Glenarm St.).
Edmonson Alley - A little Pasadena History!
Turn right at Glenarm St., stay on the north side of the street. Walk a couple of blocks to Pasadena Avenue and take a right (north) about ½ block to Arlington Drive. Take a left (west) onto Arlington Drive. Here the busy city turns into a beautiful leafy suburb. Find the block-long Arlington Gardens, open free to the public daily, and across the street you will find a gem of a private Japanese Garden open to the public Friday - Sunday. It’s well worth the time and the entry fee to spend an hour enjoying this surprise!
Continue your journey west on Arlington for several blocks until you reach Orange Grove Blvd., turn left (south) for about a block, then turn right (west) onto Madeline Drive. Here you enter the world of super-rich Pasadena. Spectacular estates line both sides of the street and pay homage to the (very) good life. Traverse Madeline Drive to Arroyo Blvd., cross the street and turn right (north) on Arroyo Blvd for ½ block until you come to Busch Garden Drive, turn left and stroll through the historic Busch Gardens area with 26 beautiful homes which incorporate much of the original rock walls of the original Busch Gardens.
Proceed down Busch Garden Drive for several winding blocks and take a right on Busch Garden Circle. At the end of the block is a hidden wooden gate on your right. Go through the gate. You are now on the dirt trail on the east bank of Arroyo Seco where you are immediately transported into a lush, verdant valley overhung with 200-year-old oak trees and vines.
Turn right (north) up the valley with channeled Arroyo Seco on your left. You might see fellow hikers with their dogs on this well-used idyllic trail. On the weekend, you might meet two Pasadena policemen patrolling on saddleback on their matching white mares.
The pathway winds north following Arroyo Seco for about a mile. About half-way up the trail, you pass under the historic La Loma Bridge (sister to the famous Colorado Street Bridge a little farther north). At the first major intersection of the trail is a foot bridge over the Arroyo Seco. Note the one-hundred-year-old Roving Archers Club grounds on your left on the other side of the river. Turn right (east) and follow the road past a large parking lot. On your right is the picturesque shallow pool of the Pasadena Casting Club. After witnessing fisher folks practicing their fly casting, continue up the hill on the button-hook road to Arroyo Blvd. Turn left and travers up (north) on Arroyo Blvd about a block and then turn right (east) onto Arbor Street.
Until now your trek has been mostly flat, but Arbor Street soon becomes a formidable hill that will test you. At the top of the hill, turn left (north) onto Orange Grove Blvd for about a block then turn right (east) onto Del Mar Blvd. After several blocks you are now back at Central Park where you started! Walk to Del Mar Station for the quick ride back to Pico Station.
While Paul Haddad estimates the trip at 10,000 steps, I have a much shorter gate and totaled 13,600 steps on my Apple iPhone. I walked a leisurely pace and explored Arlington Gardens for a while. My total trip time was 2.5 hours. All-in-all the trip was about five miles from start to finish and the grade change was a net 20 flights of stairs (up). It’s a great workout, and you can take your dog who will also love the trek!
By John Nilsson