March 16, 2016 - In Los Angeles, there are equestrian areas all over the city. Some are private for use by residents who own their own horses, while others are open to the public and are available for rent on an hourly basis. One of these public ranches is the Sunset Ranch in Hollywood, which was our adventure for the day. It offers a unique trail through Beachwood Canyon with views of the iconic Hollywood sign and Los Angeles. It was a beautiful day and there were a lot more horses than there were people at the ranch.
We're pretty sure that the horse shown below was the one that I got to ride. His name is Phoenix and he's a bit of a movie star here in Hollywood.
These are all of the horses that are going to take our small group up into the hills of Griffith Park.
This was our first view of the Hollywood sign.
Judy is right in front of me as we trek up the "fire roads" in the park. In the center of the picture is the iconic Griffith Park Observatory.
The views on our ride were beautiful, thanks to a little rain earlier in the week that made everything a lot greener. The skyscrapers of downtown Los Angeles are shown on the right.
Heading back to the ranch, here's Judy astride Aladdin with the rest of the group behind her.
Our ride lasted an hour, which was more than enough time, since we found it to be a little strenuous on the body. It was a nice way to see this part of Griffith Park that would ordinarily only be seen after a very difficult hike. Of course we worked up an appetite, so our next stop was the 101 Coffee Shop in Hollywood. We both had their "100% Grass Fed Beef Burgers" with fries and potato salad. They tasted great and it was nice to sit down and not bounce around.
