Cahuenga Peak & Mount Lee

Elevation: Cahuenga Peak - 555 m (1821 feet), Mount Lee - 521 m (1708 feet)
Elevation Gain: 500 m (1640 feet) cumulative
Separating Hollywood, Universal City, Burbank and Glendale, Cahuenga Peak is the 12th-highest named point in Southern California’s Santa Monica Mountains. “Cahuenga” is a Spanish term, which was derived from the Native American Tongva word “Cahug-Na,” which means “place of the hill.” In the case of Cahuenga, the hill in question is located immediately west of the famous “Hollywood” sign and is, therefore, comprised of valuable real estate. Cahuenga Peak was purchased by business magnate, pilot and film producer Howard Hughes in the 1940s. Originally, Hughes intended to build a home for Ginger Rogers here, however, their relationship ended before development on Cahuenga could proceed. In 2002, a group of investors purchased the peak from Hughes’ estate with the aim of developing luxury estates on it. This prompted a “Save the Peak” campaign, which eventually succeeded in protecting Cahuenga as part of Griffith Park, thanks to significant public and private contributions.
Located immediately to the west of Cahuenga Peak, Mount Lee only features 12 m (39 feet) of geographic prominence but the famous “Hollywood” sign on its southern slopes makes Lee a global landmark. Mount Lee was named for early Los Angeles radio station owner Don Lee. Lee is credited with building a transmitter atop the peak, widening his stations’ transmission field considerably. The world-famous “Hollywood” sign on the peak's south slopes is comprised of 15 m (50 feet)-tall white letters that originally read “Hollywoodland.” The sign was erected in 1923 as an advertisement for a real estate development. By 1949, the sign fell into disrepair and was restored by the LA Parks Department on the condition that its “Land” suffix was removed. The, one-time, wood advertisement was again replaced by more durable steel letters in 1978 and the iconic sign is now protected as part of Griffith Park.
My Ascents:
May 21 2023
Trailhead: Wonder View Trailhead (street parking on Lake Hollywood Drive)
GPS Track: Cahuenga Peak and Mount Lee

My 5-year-old’s current favorite word is “inattendu!” She typically shouts this at us with sass (hence the exclamation point at the end of the previous sentence). In French, “inattendu” (!) means: unexpected, surprising and, potentially, unwelcome. It is, apparently, a term used by her teacher when Kindergarten French immersion students (like mine) misbehave. Appropriately, it was also the first thing that popped into my head when I was asked to go on 4 work trips during an 8 week span this Spring. Indeed, this amount of work travel was unexpected, surprising and not especially welcome! Inattendu, some would say.

Fortunately, my employer recognizes how important family is to me and allowed me to combine one of these work trips (to Long Beach, CA) with a SoCal family vacation that we’d planned. After chairing and speaking at a conference session, meeting with local partners and “networking” for a couple of days, it was finally time to clock out for some inattendu fun in the sun with my fam jam! (“Fun” being defined as California peak-bagging, of course!) When it came time to pick a SoCal peak, one immediately came to mind. You may not be familiar with the name “Mount Lee” but you’d no doubt recognize it…

You see, Mount Lee sports a certain set of 50-foot-tall white letters and its ubiquity in pop culture makes it a global icon. My research revealed that Mount Lee’s lettered summit could be easily reached by hiking up a well-graded road. Boring! Inattendu! What fun is a road?! A peak as cool as Mount Lee deserved a more adventurous ascent and, luckily, I found one. 😎 Instead of tackling Lee’s paved east side, I decided that we should ascend via the Wonder View trail to its west. This trail looked steeper, prettier and, better still, went up and over nearby Cahuenga Peak (which is actually higher than Mount Lee and should probably be considered the true summit of the Hollywood sign).

Despite a plan that was fit for the bright lights of Hollywood, our trip got off to an inattendu start when our flight was unceremoniously cancelled due to a pilot’s strike that never happened. Inattendu WestJet! After a good deal of stress, 2 re-bookings and an emergency refundable airfare purchase with Air Canada, we eventually made it to Cali in time for my work commitments. Once I was off the clock, our vacation also got off to a poor start… Hoping to beat the SoCal heat ☀️, we woke at 6 am to make our way to the trailhead (which was about 45 minutes away). Within a mile of leaving the hotel, we realized that something was awry with our rental car. After a quick inspection, Mera and Penny found the source of the problem (LEFT) and I got to put my tire-changing skills to the test (RIGHT). So inattendu…

After defying death on LA freeways with a tiny, donut-like, spare tire, we eventually arrived at the Wonder View trailhead (which is just street parking on Lake Hollywood Drive). Had our original tire fared better, we’d have gotten a much better parking spot but, thanks to our delay, we ended up having to hike a good way up the steep road. Most of us were less than thrilled about this but 7-year-old Mera was overjoyed since the entire street lined with “gemstones” (broken glass from people burgling hikers’ cars)… 😬

LEFT: At the top of Lake Hollywood Drive, we turned right (east) onto Wonder View Drive (which allows hikers and local zillionaire traffic only.
RIGHT: Cahuenga Peak rises steeply above Wonder View Drive.

LEFT: At the end of the road, a gate marks the beginning of the real fun. 😎
RIGHT: My girls (5-year-old Penny, 8-month-old Lillian, 7-year-old Mera and the ageless Brianne) excited to get their Cahuenga on at the base of the steep Wonder View trail!

LEFT: The trail was anything but a paved road and was pretty rugged. Hilariously, 5-year-old Penny seemed to handle it better than most of the other hikers whose paths we crossed! 😁
RIGHT: The thick brush on either side of the trail was usually taller than Penny (and the source of some anxiety for her sister Mera who’d noticed the “Beware of Rattlesnakes” 🐍 sign earlier).

LEFT and RIGHT: The girls stop to check out a non-rattling native reptile.

LEFT: Penny tackles the steep, rocky terrain which leads 225 vertical meters up to the Wisdom Tree (a scenic point on Cahuenga Peak’s west shoulder).
RIGHT: Atop the ridge crest, a colorful sign showed the way: left for the Wisdom Tree and right for Cahuenga Peak and Mount Lee.

LEFT: With the scenic Wisdom Tree so close, we decided that it would be wise to check it out while we were in the neighborhood.
RIGHT: While the tree was pretty, I think its most alluring feature was the fact that it offered the only shade that we’d see all day long!

Star-spangled views south over Lake Hollywood towards the smoggy Los Angeles basin from the Wisdom Tree lookout.

LEFT: Happy hiking Hobbses (on vacation)!
RIGHT: Looking 1.2-miles west to the tower-cluttered summit of Mount Lee. From the Wisdom Tree lookout, you only catch a glimpse of Lee’s famous letters.

Our own hiking star, little Lillian, enjoying some free time and a fresh breeze during her break from Mom’s hiking carrier. ❤️

LEFT: While the Wisdom Tree was pretty, it was not on an actual summit so our journey continued east as we followed Cahuenga’s ridge crest gently up towards its apex.
RIGHT: a USGS survey marker marks Cahuenga Peak's summit (which is overgrown and actually less scenic than the lower Wisdom Tree lookout)!

Proud parents: Cahuenga Peak was little Lillian’s 5th different summit (in 3 different countries, no less)! Looks like we’re raising quite the international peak-bagger!

Smoggy Cahuenga views south and west, back towards the Wisdom Tree (right).

Looking northeast over Burbank, CA towards the hazy Verdugo Mountains.

From Cahuenga’s peak, nearby (and more frequently visited) Mount Lee looked to be a simple 0.4-mile stroll away. Appearances can, however, be deceiving…

LEFT and RIGHT: While the hike from the Wisdom Tree to Cahuenga was little more than a stroll, the short traverse east to Mount Lee (along the Allen-Getty Ridge Trail) was a fair bit more involved (especially if you’re wearing a baby on your chest)! Fortunately, Brianne, Mera and Penny are all surefooted little “Goats” 🐐 who are accustomed to this kind of terrain. Even so, there were probably a couple of moments when they thought that the hike that I picked was “inattendu”! 😂

LEFT: The a$$hat trail runner who didn’t think that he should have to wait for a mother carrying a baby over a tricky section and elected to nearly push them both off the ridge so he wouldn’t have to break his stride. 🤬 Talk about inattendu! Chill out dude. A baby climbed this peak so your trail running time really isn’t that impressive!
RIGHT: As we got closer to Mount Lee, Brianne stopped at an open area to point the Hollywood sign out to the girls (who didn’t really care anyways).

Just below Mount Lee’s summit, our adventurous route met up with the boring road that we could also have climbed. What fun would that have been, though?

Penny and Mera tackle the final, more crowded steps to the summit of Mount Lee.

While summit panoramas are always pleasant, this one proved unexpectedly inattendu! Click to see the less-photographed side of the famous Hollywood sign in greater resolution.

Hollywood is full of stars but none bigger than this little girl (in my eyes). 🤩

Eastward summit views towards nearby Mount Hollywood.

LEFT: Beyond Mount Hollywood, the silhouette of downtown Los Angeles was just visible through the haze and smog.
RIGHT: ⭐ A star-studded Hollywood family photo atop Mount Lee. ⭐

By the time that we summitted, Brianne was eager to get everyone out of the hot SoCal sun ☀️ so we only rested on Mount Lee for a few minutes before retracing our steps back up, over and down Cahuenga Peak.

LEFT: Mera and Brianne pay close attention to their footing on the way back towards Cahuenga Peak.
RIGHT: Penny puts her 5-year-old scrambling skills to good use! What an amazing little hiker she’s turned into! 😁

LEFT and RIGHT: Brianne negotiates a few of the traverse’s trickier sections (all without waking the now-sleeping baby)!

As we worked our way back towards the Wisdom Tree, the smog cleared (somewhat), granting improved ridgetop views. Click to see larger.

Clearer views of downtown Hollywood beyond Hollywood Lake.

Mera completes the Allen-Getty Ridge trail and readies herself for the steep descent from the Wisdom Tree.

LEFT: Easy does it! Although the traverse from Cahuenga to Lee and back was definitely the day’s crux, the steep, dusty descent from the Wisdom Tree still required a great deal of care (especially when transporting precious cargo)!
RIGHT: Miss Inattendu herself modeling her coat of dirt/dust at the end of the trail! 😂

LEFT: Two filthy little hikers finish off the day with a stroll down Zillionaire Lane.
RIGHT: Zillionaire flowers. 🌻

LEFT: Of course, no visit to Hollywood is complete without checking out the Walk of Fame (which we eventually found after getting lost on the maze-like drive down from the Hollywood hills)! Despite having just completed a reasonably significant hike, Mera and Penny both still had plenty left in their tanks, as evidenced by their sprinting up and down Hollywood Boulevard and hopping from star to star like a pair of filthy little tiggers…
RIGHT: I scream, you scream, they both screamed for ice cream… and they earned it! 🍦

LEFT: Mera and Penny enjoy their cool treats while Mom and Lilly keep a keen eye out for stars.
RIGHT: You didn’t think the adults would leave Hollywood without a cool treat of their own, did you?! 🤣 That would have been truly “inattendu!!!” The Dudes’ Brewing Company provided a wonderful cap to our day in the Hollywood hills with our little hiking superstars! 🍺

From start to finish, Mount Lee proved to be quite an adventure. From flight cancellations, to flat tires; From steep slopes, to exposed ridges; From jerk joggers, to spectacular views and, last but not least, from labyrinthine roads to the arrow-straight Walk of Fame, the start of our vacation proved unexpectedly awesome, surprisingly fun and most, most welcome. How would Penny describe it? “INATTENDU!”