Trail Review: Condor Trail/Skyline Trail Loop
Parking: Free parking on Mineral Wells Road.
Distance: 2.6 miles loop.
As life gets busier once again, it certainly becomes a rarer opportunity to get out and enjoy nature. But we were finally able to get back to hiking recently. Since it's been a couple of months, we didn't go for anything too grand. We started with a trail (or a combination of trails) at the northeast end of Griffith Park. Beginning at the Mineral Wells picnic area off of Griffith Park Drive, it was surprising easy to find parking around mid-morning on a weekend. We parked on Mineral Wells Road, which borders the picnic area to the west, and crossed the grassy area to get to the trail. However, it looked like we could've easily parked right across from the trailhead without any problem.
The trail starts just north of the intersection of Mineral Wells Road and Griffith Park Drive. You do need to cross the road right at a bend so just be careful of oncoming cars because it's hard to see. The trailhead was at the row of white sandbags and No Parking sign to the right of the road:
The steepest and most difficult section of this hike is the first few tenths of a mile right at the beginning. It's surprisingly steep but not impossible to walk up, and it's only for a short amount of time. The rest of the hike is pretty easy after this first section.
As the trail evens out and starts to head east, you'll get your first views of Glendale in the distance. After about 0.7 miles, you'll end up at the fork for the Skyline trail. Heading to the right will take you down to the LA Zoo parking lot. Heading left will take you farther into the park and eventually allow you to loop back around to Mineral Wells. This intersection was distinctly marked by the sounds of the 134 highway which is pretty close and very much in view, so it's not the most peaceful of trails at this particular point. This is also the point where you start to get views of Burbank to the north.
This trail is very wide, allowing for ample space when passing other hikers or even some horses. We passed a couple groups of horseback riders along the way. It was cool to see but it made walking a little perilous as we did have to avoid the horses' droppings quite often.
About 0.4 miles after the Skyline trail intersection, the Rattlesnake trail will appear on the left. This will be the trail to take to get back down to Mineral Wells. However, we wanted to extend the hike a little bit longer so we continued on the Skyline trail for a few more tenths of a mile until there was a wide circular area. This is where the Skyline trail veers sharply down and to the right toward the Travel Town Railroad Museum. We turned back at this point and headed for the Rattlesnake trail.
The Skyline trail alternates between some uphill and some downhill sections, but the Rattlesnake trail is a short downhill descent that'll connect you to Griffith Park Drive in 0.2 miles. It deposits you out right next to the Griffith Park Composting Facility. Between this place and the horse droppings along the trail, it made for a very pungent hike at times...
At Griffith Park Drive you'll want to head to the left and you'll soon be back at the Mineral Wells Picnic Area in about 0.5 miles. The road is not set up well for hikers though so be careful as you walk along the side of the road. We made sure to walk on whichever side had the widest shoulder, but at the bend right before the trailhead, the shoulder disappears. So watch out for cars and hug the side!
Bottom Line: A relatively easy combination of trails at the northeast end of Griffith Park. Not that busy of a trail but also had some pungent smells from time to time... Decent views of Glendale and Burbank.
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