Hollywood Sign Trail

On our list of the best activities in Los Angeles.

From the free lots at the north end of Canyon Drive in Griffith Park, a dirt fire road climbs into the hills as Brush Canyon Trail before joining a paved road for the final stretch up Mount Lee. The round trip runs several miles with roughly a thousand feet of climbing, ending at a chain-link fence directly behind the sign's nine letters -- as close as the public can get without trespassing. Behind that fence, the Los Angeles basin spreads out below, with the sign's own back visible from just a few feet away.