10 Hidden Hikes in Los Angeles

A rolling fire-road loop across Ronald Reagan's former ranch, climbing to a ridge overlook of Malibu and Century Lake. In spring the road doubles as a wildflower corridor, and you can extend to Century Lake and the old M*A*S*H filming site. Note the one catch that trips people up: dogs are banned on all Malibu Creek State Park trails, so leave the pup at home for this one.

A brutal, ungraded climb straight up the spine to a single pine, the "Wisdom Tree", that somehow survived the 2007 fire that took everything around it. At the top: 360-degree views over the Valley, downtown, and the back of the Hollywood Sign. There is an ammo box at the tree stuffed with notebooks where hikers leave wishes and messages, which gives this one the same survivor's resonance that fire-closed Echo Mountain used to.

In LA's second-largest city park, a fire road climbs to a three-tree crest with a near-360 panorama of the San Fernando Valley. Push on to Mission Point, at 2,771 feet, the highest vantage over the Valley, for a fuller day out. It stays refreshingly empty for a view this big.

The highest point in the entire Santa Monica Mountains at 3,111 feet, well west of the Palisades burn and thriving. The Mishe Mokwa loop delivers ocean and Channel Islands views from the summit, plus hidden Balanced Rock and Split Rock formations along the way, the "secret rock" payoff that Skull Rock used to give before the fires closed it.

A 30-foot waterfall on the forest's west side, well clear of the Eaton Fire closures on the eastern range. The trail rounds a bend and the whole cascade appears across the canyon before you descend to its base. One honest caveat: the falls run hardest from winter into early spring. By mid-summer it is often a trickle, so plan this one for January through April after rain.

Towering sandstone spires on the old Iverson Movie Ranch, where countless classic Westerns were shot. It is barely a hike, more an easy stroll with optional scrambling, but the film-history angle makes it a pilgrimage: you can line the real rock formations up with shots from the movies filmed here a century ago.

The shortest "hidden" hike on this list and the most famous rock in it: a man-made quarry tunnel that played the Batcave entrance in the 1966 Batman series, plus Star Trek, The Searchers, and dozens more. Walk straight through it, catch a Hollywood Sign view up the canyon, and you are back at the car in under half an hour.

LA's best-kept birding secret: a flat loop around Machado Lake, a restored urban wetland where hundreds of species have been logged. It is the rare pick here that is genuinely level and stroller-friendly, which makes it perfect for an easy morning with kids or anyone who wants nature without the climb.

A beehive-shaped outcrop with a caged overlook and a wide park-and-city panorama at the top. The real reason to come: it starts right at the abandoned, graffiti-covered cages of the Old LA Zoo, which closed in 1966 and now make one of the eeriest, most photogenic picnic spots in the city.

A roughly 30-foot slit-canyon cave in the Simi Hills that you climb up and through, emerging to sunset views over the west Valley. It is a Chumash sacred site tied to the legend of the shaman Munits, so tread lightly, leave no trace, and never carve or mark the rock. Add neighboring Castle Peak if you want a longer day.