When first reading Karen’s email describing September’s walk, many of us started to think of some really good reasons that we might have to miss. But, courage prevailed and seven of us met up for the 10-mile adventure she had planned in the Hollywood Hills.

The initial walk was in the Hollywood Hills through a very eclectic neighborhood. Karen had set up a loop to add to the total number of miles and wound us around through the houses.Up and up we went on our way to the Hollywood Reservoir which we were set to circle before it got hot – not much shade here.

After getting around before the sun became too overwhelming, we made our way back through the hills of the neighborhood – this time going down. As per every walk it seems, we met someone special adding something new to our walk. This time it was Carol, who brought out her neighborhood map and also explained the history behind the Alaskan Clan drawing on her garage door.

A few other pictures from our walk through Hollywood-land!

Once done with the loop – we had a remaining 2.5 miles to finish up on the stairs…again, reasons not to go…several…but we forged on.  We were here, might as well go for it, plus it was only 850+ stairs – piece of cake.

Thanks to Karen’s meticulous planning, we found the first staircase no problem – just 170 or so steps up!  Then we found the next and the next, luckily a few were down!

Here’s a look at some of the houses we passed on our Secret Stair walk:

And our favorite:

All in all it was an excellent adventure, interesting, challenging and fun.  We summed it up with another great meal, this time at the Beechwood Cafe which was RIGHT where we started so that made for an easy drive to lunch!

Thanks Karen for a great walk….next up October 11 – Bridge to Nowhere.