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Hiking Griffith Park's Bird Sanctuary Trail

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A few weeks ago, the Bird Sanctuary Trail finally opened back up after the 2007 Griffith Park fire left it unusable to the public. It's a relatively short hike, but one that offers great views and connects to a wider system of trails.

Find the trailhead next to the actual Bird Sanctuary, which is still closed to the public and should open very soon, just north of the Greek Theatre on Vermont Canyon Road. The trail begins to the left of the sanctuary's fence.

Within less than a mile, it ends, but you'll meet up with three other trails to choose from: the Charlie Turner Trail (left, takes you down to the Griffith Observatory), 3-Mail Trail (straight ahead, takes you Mount Hollywood) and the East Ridge (Hogback) Trail (right, takes you to Dante's View and later, the Glendale Peak).

If you want to make a loop out of the hike, there's unofficially a trail heading down back to street level that takes you by a water tank. You can find it before the trail fork where there is a nice view of the Observatory. However, we warn it can get pretty steep and has lots of loose gravel.