Los Liones Trail to the Parker Mesa Overlook in Pacific Palisades, California

Parker Mesa Overlook

The Los Liones Trail is a popular recreational trail located a few miles north of Santa Monica California, just off Pacific Coast Highway. Most people use this trail to connect to the Paseo Miramar Trail and continue on to the Parker Mesa Overlook. From the locked gate on Los Liones Drive, you're looking at about a 7 mile round trip to the overlook and back.

The first mile of the Los Liones trail is the steepest, but its shaded and the grade is relatively gradual. This section is a single track trail. After a mile, you'll come to the fork for the Paseo Miramar Trail. Make a left and continue uphill for an additional 2.4 miles to the Parker Mesa Overlook. The Paseo Miramar Trail is extremely wide and well-maintained. The trail is almost entirely uphill and there is absolutely no shade, so bring a ton of water.  You will pass several small spur trails, but you can just ignore them. Just stay on the wide trail and follow the signs to the overlook.You may also see mountain bikers on this section of the trail, so keep an eye open. 

The overlook at the top is absolutely worth the climb. You can see all of Los Angeles and a stretch of beach south all the way to the hills in Rancho Palos Verdes. After a well-deserved rest, just turn around and head back down exactly the way you came in.

For those of you looking for a really brutal hike, you might think about taking the spur off of Miramar trail for the E. Topanga Fire Road and heading north all the way to Eagle Rock. I’ve never personally done this section, so I can’t vouch for it.  A round-trip hike from gate at the Los Liones trailhead to Eagle Rock is 14 miles. 

Directions:

From Santa Monica, head North on Route 1, Pacific Coast Highway.  After passing Will Rogers State Beach,  make a right onto Sunset Blvd . Go ¼ mile make a left onto Los Liones Drive.  Continue approximately ½ mile on Los Liones road to the metal gate adjacent to the Latter Day Saints church. There is free parking and several public restrooms along the right side of Los Liones Road.  Enter this address into your GPS and it will lead you directly to the trailhead:

575 Los Liones Dr

Los Angeles, CA 90272

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Using a Camera Stabilizer For Better Hiking Videos

I know that a lot of hikers like to shoot video, so I thought I would do a tutorial about how I set up my camera stabilizer. There are a lot of things that factor into a nice hiking video. If you’re not using a stabilizer, you really won’t be able to get a good shot if you’re walking and shooting at the same time. I put some side by side footage in the video above. The results are pretty drastic. 

There are a lot of times when using a handheld camera stabilizer can really come in handy. You obviously won't be able to set up a tripod and a dolly and start wheeling around your camera in public wherever you want.  A handheld stabilizer is also great in a situation where space is limited. Before you hit the trail, you should practice walking backwards with the stabilizer while keeping your subject at an equal distance from the camera to keep them in focus. Here is an example that shows what you can do with a stabilizer in a confined space on the fly. We were actually scolded by the woman working the sunglass hut for shooting without her permission, but we were finished before she could even complain.

I’ve used a couple different models in the past, but I’ve finally settled on a Roxant Pro video stabilizer. They sell for around 60 dollars on Amazon with free shipping.   I really like the build quality. It’s also really light, you can fold it up and it works great with with my GoPro, my point and shoot and my Canon DSLR. I also like that the Roxant Pro stabilizer is easy to customize.  I’ll show you in the video how I use washers to fine tune it.

Here are five shots you can do with a stabilizer to make your videos more interesting

1. Tracking shot while trail running: On a wide trail you can actually run alongside someone and film them with a wide angle lens and get a really great shot.

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Adventures in Southern California

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Best of OC 2012: Outdoors

Best of OC 2012: Outdoors

The OC Register's Best of Orange County  is a great reference for local hikes, biking trails, camping and surf spots in Orange County. I get ideas for a ton of hikes from reading through their list, so I thought I would share it.

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Yuba State Park. Levan, Utah

Yuba State Park Beach Camping

Yuba State Park is located just a few miles off the I-15 interstate near Levan Utah. It offers great opportunities for lakeside camping on the sand, boating, kayaking, fishing, ATV trails, or just kicking back and drinking a couple brews on the beach with your buddies. Yuba State Park is also quite possibly one of the best places to stargaze in the United States.  I've literally never seen anything like it. The stars looked so close that you could almost reach and touch them.  If you’re making the 16 hour trip from Southern California to Yellowstone National Park, Yuba should be your 8 hour halfway stopping point for the night. 

The Northbeach campground is the closest to the highway. Reservations can be made in advance by phone or through the official website. Campsites are insanely cheap, just 10$ for the night. Many of the campgrounds closer to Salt Lake City charge upwards of 40$ per night. For travelers on a budget, you won’t find a better deal than Yuba. 

 A few words of warning:  if you decide to drive on the beach, have your most experienced driver behind the wheel or YOU WILL get stuck in the sand.  My girlfriend stopped to let a dog cross our path and we spent the next fifteen minutes digging and pushing the car out of the sand. As long as you keep your car in first gear, stay out of the deep stuff, and refuse to stop for anything, you should be fine. I had no trouble at all behind the wheel. :) Also, you’re probably going to want to check the weather forecast. Temperatures in Yuba State Park can vary a great deal. When we visited in June, the daytime high was 89, but dipped to the low 50’s at night. Pack your gear accordingly. A jacket and a heavy sleeping bag are recommended. 

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