2 min
Overview
A just-under-3 mile out-and-back in the Hollywood Hills. This seldom-traveled route offers fantastic city views and easy, dog-friendly routes. While parking and trailhead issues may be complicated, this area has many of the same features and views of nearby Runyon Canyon with a fraction of the foot and paw traffic. A nice, hidden gem. If you’re like me, you’ve often gazed at Google Maps of the Hollywood Hills, saw a little green slice next to Runyon Canyon called the Trebek Open Space and wondered what the heck it was. Well, today I finally took the trip up there to check it out. The area is 62 acres of land donated to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy by Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek back in 1998. Because the land was already being used by hikers from nearby Wattles Garden Park and Runyon, the Conservancy was happy to have the land to improve the trails and maintain a wildlife corridor in the area. Unfortunately, the park itself is a little difficult to get to and could probably use a bit more love and care from the Conservancy. While reading up on the area, I found many others had recommended just driving up Curson Avenue to enter the park’s southeastern corner. Unfortunately, when I tried this (on a Monday afternoon), the route was blocked by a large, locked auto and pedestrian gate. If you look at a Google Map, it looks like you can enter the southwestern corner off Castair Drive, but this, too, is blocked by private landowners who love giant, locked gates. Instead, I had to head a bit further up Nichols Canyon Road to the open gate to the Bantam Trail. The parking area is small but free and nicely shaded. (NOTE: I did a return visit to Curson Ave and found the pedestrian gate unlocked. Not sure if it’s locked at certain hours or days, but it IS possible to reach this trail from that street). Look for the gate and head on through. I saw a lot of birds, heard some frogs from the Nichols Canyon Creek below … and saw a lot of fancy houses. The path here is wide, gently graded, and easy to follow. It’s about
Trail Stats
4.8 km
128 m
347 m
214 m
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