...that leads to this little pond.
A few weekends ago, we decided to take a little hike up to a pond I read about, hidden in the hills of Montecito Heights. It's not really hidden, I had just never been. Ernest E. Debs Park is an urban wilderness area / park located in Northeast L.A.--sort of the kid brother to behemoth Griffith Park. No pony rides, carousels or a zoo in this modest little oasis, but it is home to an Audubon Center. The walk up to the pond was surprisingly short. There were turtles in the greenish water and tons of tadpoles. I can only imagine what it will sound like in the summer. It wasn't exactly crowded but it was apparently a well known spot as we saw many groups of people. There were a few benches dotted around the pond and the view to downtown was nice.
Since it took us all of maybe 10 minutes to get up the hill and to the pond, we went a little further on a different trail. It took us to a hill above and across the 110 from the Southwest Museum, overlooking what used to be Lucky's, then was an Albertsons, now is a Superior Grocers. (Anyone else remember Lucky's?) I have seen hikers on this path while wooshing by on the 110, but never knew how they got there. The trail we were on went down a little into the canyon and looped back up to the pond area.
We ended up hiking for about 45 minutes and were surprised by the number of animals we saw, including what looked like a Peregrine Falcon but was probably a Cooper's Hawk (I tried to ID online), a very small snake, a really big and very fast raccoon, a turtle trying to push another turtle off a piece of wood in the water, at least two different kinds of butterflies and of course, red-tailed hawks (maybe a pair). Within a few minutes of walking, we felt like we were so far from the city, but not.
You know, I really do enjoy living in L.A.
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