nature

Last Tuesday, I asked my friend Mish if they’d like to skip our gym trip and instead drive into Angeles National Forest for a chance to view the northern lights.

We decided, for our health, to go to the gym. We arrived around 7:15 p.m., only to realize our gym was closing early because of Veterans Day. Divine intervention or dumb luck? Either way, we left, got our cameras and snacks and headed up Angeles Crest Highway.

We stepped out of the car about 8:45 p.m., and I started shouting a flurry of joyful expletives. The pink glow of the northern lights was visible to the naked eye, shining near Mt. Gleason.

The northern lights as seen from near Angeles Forest Highway on Veterans Day.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

This was my second time viewing the northern lights from the San Gabriel Mountains. Last May, my buddies and I were out celebrating a friend’s sobriety anniversary when my pal Machiko texted me that — somehow! — the northern lights were visible in dark places around L.A. We quickly left Chinatown and headed onto Angeles Crest Highway.

At first, around 10:50 p.m., we could only see a faint pink glow and only by using our phone cameras. By 11:30 p.m., we’d found a darker place in the forest to park, and our cameras picked up quite the light show.

From there, I quickly became enamored, similar to eclipse chasers, with how I could see the northern lights whenever possible from Southern California.

Below you’ll find my tips on how to do just that. I want you, dear Wilder, to witness the sheer awe that comes with realizing there is so much about our universe we remain blissfully unaware of — until suddenly it’s a brilliant burning pink right before us.

If you’re reading this and getting major FOMO, have no fear! We will likely have another opportunity to see the aurora near L.A. soon enough.

The northern lights illuminate the sky of the North Bay as seen from China Camp Beach in San Rafael last May.

(Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu via Getty Images)

The sun plays a major role in why we have auroras, and it turns out we’re in a season when the sun might be sending more our way.

I spoke to Delores Knipp, research professor in the Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, who explained to me that the sun has an 11-year “solar cycle.”

The sun reached its solar maximum period last year, and as NASA noted last year, “The solar cycle is a natural cycle the Sun goes through as it transitions between low and high magnetic activity. Roughly every 11 years, at the height of the solar cycle, the Sun’s magnetic poles flip — on Earth, that’d be like the North and South poles swapping places every decade — and the Sun transitions from being calm to an active and stormy state.”

Knipp said the sun now goes through a kind of relaxing period, during which the interactions of certain solar particles can create the most geomagnetic storms over a three- to four-year period. Good news? “We are about one year in,” Knipp said.

Why is that relevant to us? Because the aurora is “one manifestation of geomagnetic activity or geomagnetic storms,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And as I will explain below, the stronger the storm, the more likely it is that those of us in Southern California can see the aurora!

If you want to understand more about why auroras happen, consider checking out this presentation by Knipp, where she talks more about the science behind them — including historic auroras that really freaked out the public.

OK, let’s dive in. Here’s how I became an amateur aurora chaser, and you can too!

Mish, a friend of The Wild, sets up their camera near Angeles Forest Highway to capture the aurora visible from near L.A. on Veterans Day.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Sign up for alerts

You can sign up for free updates from the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center to view its forecasts for upcoming geomagnetic storms and how intense they’re expected to be. (A simpler option is to view the predicted aurora viewline.)

2. Learn the data points

The first time a space weather alert lands in your inbox, you might have flashbacks to a high school science class where you sat puzzled, wondering if you could still graduate if you failed this class because science had always been your weakest subject. (Maybe that was just me.)

Regardless, in the NOAA Geomagnetic Forecast, you’ll notice a data table with the “Kp index forecast,” which is the planetary K-index and is used to measure the magnitude of geomagnetic storms. Generally to be visible near L.A., the K-index needs to be at 8 or 9.

As Knipp explained to me, “When Kp goes up to 6, 7 and beyond, what that means is the auroral zone tends to extend from its quiet regions around the northern part of Norway and northern part of Canada. It can extend all the way to mid-latitudes … and in our case, the edge of it [on Nov. 11] might have been in the northern tier of the United States. Those of us who are kind of standing off to the equator-ward side can look up into the sky and still see the disturbances that are moving along the [Earth’s magnetic] field lines. And those disturbances are created by particles that are crashing into our atmosphere as they move along the field lines.”

You might also notice in NOAA’s alert a G-scale, ranging from G1 to G5. This is the rating used to gauge a geomagnetic storm’s potential effects on satellites, spacecraft and the power grid, among other things. Meanwhile, the K-index is more of an intensity rating scale.

I start to pay attention when I see forecasts mentioning a possible G3 storm. I keep an eye out as the forecast grows more detailed about whether the storm is expected to intensify and become a G4 storm. And I watch the K-index to see whether an 8 is expected.

Last week, at around 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., the Space Weather Prediction Center emailed alerts noting that the agency expected a three-hour window from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. PST where the K-index could reach 8. Lucky for my friend Mish and me, that’s when we arrived in the forest and found a place beyond the clouds to view the aurora.

3. Find a dark place with a northern view

You must drive beyond L.A.’s light-polluted skies to view the aurora.

There are many different websites dedicated to mapping light pollution. Last week, I found a north-facing turnout off Angeles Forest Highway that, per Dark Sky Map, was close to the “bright suburban sky” range on the Bortle scale, which stargazers and astrophotographers sometimes use to discern where to view celestial bodies.

Photographer Patrick Coyne posted to Instagram a video from Mormon Rock(s), about 12 miles east of Wrightwood in the San Bernardino National Forest, capturing a stunning pink aurora. Photographer Jason Anderson, whom I randomly met in the middle of the woods a few months ago, was among the luckiest, filming a deep red scene in Joshua Tree National Park.

Above the clouds and facing north, the lights from the aurora borealis were visible last May along Highway 2 in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

4. Bring a camera, tripod and patience

I have a mobile phone (iPhone 15 Plus) that allows me, when in night mode, to adjust the shutter speed to 10 seconds. This essentially means the camera will take in as much light as possible within that 10-second time frame. The main image for this edition of The Wild was taken with my personal iPhone.

Mish brought their camera and tripod — while I used my iPhone and Canon DSLR — to photograph the aurora. We spent about an hour observing the aurora, and it seemed to pulse in intensity. Twice, it appeared brighter to the naked eye before becoming visible only on our cameras. By 10 p.m., the aurora had disappeared.

We headed back to L.A. hyper and eager for the next time the aurora was visible, with a goal to set up shop in the desert or some other dark corner of Southern California. Staring at the night sky has a way of inspiring you to dream bigger.

3 things to do

A young cyclist works on a bicycle at the CicLAvia Melrose event last year.

(Kirk Tsonos)

1. Watch for “Stranger Things” on a ride through L.A.
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Netflix and CicLAvia will host “Stranger Things 5 One Last Ride,” a special 4-mile open streets event where fans can bike, skate or walk down a car-free stretch of Melrose Avenue in celebration of the show’s final season. The free event will feature Melrose reimagined as Hawkins, the fictional town where the show is based, with photo ops, animations, live entertainment and more. Learn more at ciclavia.org.

2. Witness the warblers of Wilmington
Latino Outdoors Los Angeles and Communities for a Better Environment will host a community bird walk from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday in Wilmington. Guests will tour local resilience centers and walk through Banning Park. Register and sign a waiver at eventbrite.com.

3. Hike and help others near Pasadena
Nobody Hikes in L.A. and Walking Pasadena with host their 10th Will Hike for Food hike at 8:30 a.m. Friday along the Gabrielino trail near Pasadena. Hikers are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items to donate to Friends in Deed’s food pantry in Pasadena. Money will also be accepted for the organization, which provides food, hosts a winter shelter and builds relationships with unhoused people to ease them into housing and other services. Learn more at walkingpasadena.com.

The must-read

A family poses in early October near the west entrance sign of Joshua Tree National Park during the 43-day government shutdown. The park remained open to visitors despite the shutdown.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

If you visited Yosemite or Death Valley national parks during the 43-day government shutdown, you may have experienced more order than you expected. Trash cans were cleared. Bathrooms were cleaned. That’s because, as Times staff writers Lila Seidman and Alex Wigglesworth report, employees who greet visitors and those who work in maintenance and sanitation, law enforcement and emergency functions were kept on during the shutdown, a marked difference from the 2018-19 shutdown. A Death Valley ranger, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said resource damage was rampant then at numerous parks because the guidance “was, like, shutter your doors, skeleton crew, leave the park open.” Continuing to fund visitor services kept up a facade that all was well, but the government’s choice there speaks to a long-simmering fight over our national parks: whether to prioritize the guest experience or conservation more. During the longest shutdown in U.S. history, almost 9,300 of the park service’s total 14,500-member staff, or roughly 64%, were furloughed, many of whom work on their park’s conservation, research and education teams. For example, a firefighter at Joshua Tree National Park said there were once 30 people on the team that protects endangered desert tortoises and Joshua trees, monitors air quality and restores areas after a fire. During the shutdown, none were working regularly. There was one bright spot though: Officials deemed the feeding and monitoring of the area’s pupfish, a chubby little guppy (and one of the world’s rarest fish), essential during the shutdown, a ranger said, because they’re “this star animal of the park.”

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

The Wild is dark next week for Thanksgiving and will return Dec. 4. If you’d like to take a hike, I’d recommend my Wild article from last Thanksgiving outlining treks that make me feel grateful to live here. Or especially if you’re estranged from your family and not going to attend a Thanksgiving meal, consider soothing your soul with a waterfall hike (as long as weather allows). It’ll likely be less crowded at trailheads considering those out celebrating the holiday. Regardless of what you do, may you experience something outside that fills you with goodness and wonder!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

If there are times when the sights, smells and sounds of a new destination are best downed in a single, heady, flaming sambuca of a weekend, there are others when a more slow-drip pace is called for. Such is the case with De Alde Feanen, in Friesland. One of the most peaceful national parks in the Netherlands, this 4,000-hectare wetland slows down naturally after the summer season. Its waterways shrug off their summer flocks of kayakers, paddleboarders, boat trippers and terrace diners. Museums and galleries close. The local tourist office winds down. Even the park’s population of nesting storks fly south.

A 20-minute drive south-east of Leeuwarden, in the country’s north-east, the lakes, ponds, ditches and canals of “The Old Fens” are the remains of the peat-cutting that began there in the middle ages. Now awash with reeds, rushes and sedges, its watery habitats are richly biodiverse, home to more than 100 bird species as well as otters, pine martens, roe deer and dragonflies. Hay meadows and wetland forest add marsh thistle, reed orchids, alders and willows to the list. Ribboned with well-marked hiking and cycling trails, the proximity to nature draws spring and summer tourists but treasures can be found there in autumn and winter too; among them thousands of ducks and geese, and some of the starriest skies in the Netherlands.

In search of a place to be rather than do, my son and I book a simple cabin, De Ooievaar (“the Stork”), with a plan to walk, cycle, read and sleep. Upcycled from an old barn during the pandemic by owner Jurjen Veldboom, the cabin’s galley kitchen and wooden sleeping platforms give it the cosy feel of a boat but it’s the picture window in its living room that sells it to us. With a sofa to one side and a wood burner on the other, it’s the perfect winter roost: a place to sit and sketch, or watch deer bouncing through the alders.

To get our bearings we start with a gentle walk, spotting a white heron almost as soon as we step outside. A skein of geese skim the sky above us as we wander along a blustery 15-minute track through the reeds to the park’s gateway village, Earnewâld. Winding between its doll’s house-like buildings to the Princenhof Hotel, we eat bowls of salty fish soup while watching the soporific ebb and flow of small cargo boats.

When we arrived, Jurjen told us that canny marketeers have a new verb for winter holidaying in Friesland: opfriezen is a play on words that means embracing the cold (with the help of a cosy hot tub or sauna) in Friesland. Back at the cabin, we give it a go, slipping into the site’s sauna at dusk and listening to the soothing ticking of the heater’s timer, cocooned in its warm, timber embrace. What follows is even more uplifting, though: opening the door into the dark Friesland night, a huge gibbous moon is glowing above us, the skeins of geese replaced by stars and the cabin’s twinkling lights giving it the look of a giant gingerbread house.

The following morning we hire two e-bikes from Hollema in Earnewâld (€25pp a day), where owner Rikele Hollema meets us with a map for a gentle 50km route looping through the eastern corner of the park and then out to the villages and forests around Beetsterzwaag.

Cycling out along little paths crunchy with seashells is like pedalling through one of Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch’s paintings. Skirting low fields where the horizon is broken only by the odd birch tree or farmhouse, there’s more sky than land, and it’s filled with clouds that look like balls of scrunched-up paper, soft grey shadows tucked into creases in the white. Cycling along these flat, empty paths, hopping on and off little foot and bike ferries to cross bridge-less stretches of water, is a meditative experience. A feeling that’s later heightened when the sun emerges and we dip into forests where the light is sieved through golden beech leaves.

Beyond the palatial houses of Beetsterzwaag, in Olterterp we stop at De Witte Huis for lunch – fat chips and bowls of mustard soup hiding slivers of sausage. It’s just the fuel we need for the long ride back along the windy polders, catching the whimsical sight along the way of three cows sailing past on a ferry, and two swans flying alongside us, their white plumage glowing against the rose gold of the rushes.

That evening, with Jurjen’s help, I track down Jannie Slot, project coordinator for a new mindfulness walking trail launched in the park this summer. Designed to get visitors offscreen, slowing down and reconnecting with their surroundings, those who want to try it have to borrow a physical copy of the guide and then follow its prompts as they walk the 5km route. She tells me of the tricky balance between welcoming visitors and protecting the park but believes that if people can connect with nature, they will love it and want to protect it.

For now the guide is only available in Dutch or German but there are plans to produce an English version. Trying my best with rusty German, I leave my son sleeping and head out into the park at dawn the next day to try it out. The path leads through the reeds and forest paths behind our cabin and, as I walk, I follow the guide’s instructions to listen to the sound of the wind through the reeds. The ground is wet from overnight rain and the air is charged with the calls, rattles, clicks and chitter of blackbirds, goldcrests, reed buntings, wigeon and geese. At various points, I’m encouraged to do some gentle yoga, standing in poses inspired by birds or trees, or to look more deeply at the landscape. It’s not hard this morning. The rising sun is suspended in the ditches around me, coating the water with an ethereal bronze glow.

The route leads to an observation tower and when I reach the top, it feels as if I’m at the very soul of the national park, a million shades of sugary golden brown spilling out around me. Towns glimmer on the horizon and a distant road rumbles, but here the hush is broken only by two geese honking away at eye level, and the reflective glint of a nearby windmill.

Later, over coffee, I read that one of the park’s key plants is frogbit. In summer it floats above the water but in winter it retracts below, freezing until the spring, when it re-emerges in search of sunlight. The guide tells me: “It’s also very important, of course, for humans to slow down, take a breath, reflect and rest.” But De Alde Feanen has already taught me that.

Transport from London to Amsterdam was provided Eurostar, which is launching a fifth direct weekday service on 15 December; advance return from £78pp. Onward travel to Earnewald by train and bus. Alternatively, hire a car from Leeuwarden station (greenwheels.nl). Two nights at De Ooievaar campsite from €352. For more information about De Alde Feanen national park, see np-aldefeanen.nl

I stood atop a lookout point in the heart of Los Angeles County watching the sunset paint downtown L.A. a deep orange.

I was amazed to be alone in the outdoors just before 5 p.m. in America’s second-largest city. I took in more of the panoramic view before me. I could see Mt. Baldy turning a hazy pink as the sun coated the rest of the San Gabriel Mountains in a scarlet hue. I spotted thick clouds moving in over the South Bay. It’d be foggy later.

I’d usually need to travel to Griffith Park or Debs Park for similar views, but that evening’s location was the lesser-known Elephant Hill Open Space, a rolling landscape in El Sereno that local activists hope becomes L.A.’s next great park. But that’s only if they can save it in time.

Mt. Baldy is visible in the distance from a hiking trail in Elephant Hill Open Space in El Sereno.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Elephant Hill Open Space is a 110-acre plot of undeveloped land in El Sereno that residents have advocated, for more than 20 years, to be developed into a public park like nearby Debs Park or Ascot Hills with hiking trails, benches and overlook points.

For years, local activists have beat back developers who wanted to build luxury homes, tried to curb illegal dumping and attempted to persuade off-road enthusiasts who have (illegally) carved deep scars into the hillsides to recreate elsewhere.

Their final challenge, though, if the entire 110 acres is to be saved from development, is persuading about 200 different land owners to sell their parcels of Elephant Hill to a public agency — and at fair market rate.

Newly installed steps near the Elephant Hill test plot lead hikers toward panoramic views of L.A. County.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

About 25 acres are owned by government agencies. Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority, a local government agency focused on protecting open spaces, manages 8.37 acres at Elephant Hill and is in the process of buying another 2.4 acres. The city of L.A. owns about 15 acres after buying around 20 acres in a 2009 settlement with a developer who wanted to build luxury homes on the hillsides. (The city later sold five acres to MRCA.)

In recent years, MRCA has received about $4.2 million, including $2 million last month from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, to research and buy more land, build a 0.75-mile trail to bring in more hikers, and install gates and boulders to prevent illegal off-roading.

Sarah Kevorkian, deputy chief of wildfire resilience at MRCA, said her agency is required by law to buy land at fair market rate, making it hard to compete in a “cutthroat” market with private developers who can offer landowners more money.

“The number of individual landowners is an added layer of complexity, and I don’t think that exists in other places, not like this,” Kevorkian said.

A view looking east from Elephant Hill’s new hiking trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Still, she remains optimistic, regularly checking land sales websites to see whether any Elephant Hill owners have posted their properties. Community members are quick to call her if they see a “for sale” sign go up.

“I immediately will call,” Kevorkian said. “I called this one person, and they said, ‘Yeah, we have an offer, we’re going with it.’ … I said, ‘If anything changes, call me back.’ They didn’t, but I just had a feeling.”

The land was next to the hiking trail that MRCA was installing. It’d be such a perfect parcel to snag.

Kevorkian called the property owner back a few weeks later, and they told her the deal had fallen through. “It was such an awesome win,” she said.

Mt. Wilson is visible from the Elephant Hill Open Space in El Sereno.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

And anyone who visits can easily see why.

I first visited Elephant Hill a few weeks ago with Elva Yañez and Hugo Garcia, co-founders of Save Elephant Hill. They started their efforts in late 2003 to try to fight off private developers. Both live within walking distance of the open space.

We started our hike on the western side of Elephant Hill, with an aim of seeing the beginnings of Elephant Hill’s first official hiking trail, which MRCA expects to complete next year with way-finding signage, boulders and more.

We headed up the steep terrain, quickly passing the latest disputed development — a truck garden that’s drawn the ire of Save Elephant Hill and other conservation groups for its owner’s choice to chop down protected native trees, as reported by L.A. Taco.

A tree canopy provides shade over the hiking trail in Elephant Hill Open Space in El Sereno.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

We took the trail’s switchbacks and then paused to catch our breaths in the shade of hollyleaf cherry, black walnuts and other trees creating a dense canopy. There, the hills blocked the noise from the roads and city. It’d be the perfect place for a picnic table, bench or both.

Next, we walked down newly installed steps to reach the Elephant Hill test plot, a lush experimental restoration garden where volunteers have planted hundreds of native flowers and shrubs and close to 100 trees. The land looks grateful.

Bees buzzed around the sugar bush and coyote brush. Unlike other parts of the park that remain overwhelmed with invasive mustard, trees of heaven and castor bean, this area is thriving with drought-tolerant and, in some cases, fire-resistant native plants.

A native sunflower in the test plot garden, from left, a shaded path in Elephant Hill, and a white-crowned sparrow perched in the test plot garden.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Yañez said during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she and Garcia realized they needed to expand their list of allies for Elephant Hill. “We’re not naturalists. We’re not traditional environmentalists. We’re not native plant people,” she said. “We realized at a certain point that we have to activate this space. We have to get people on it to start building that support.”

Joey Farewell, an estate planner who lives nearby and manages the test plot, said, with Yañez and MRCA’s blessing, the test plot volunteers installed the garden in fall 2022 and have seen it thrive, largely without watering outside of what’s needed to first establish new growth.

The test plot started as 3,000 square feet and has expanded to 10,000 square feet of native plant, said Jennifer Toy, director of nonprofit Test Plot, which has 16 experimental gardens around L.A. At Elephant Hill, volunteers have cleared about 20,000 square feet of invasive species, she said.

“It’s not a huge area, but each year we think about” what they can do next, Toy said. “It’s a work in progress.”

And it’s a powerful proof of concept of what Elephant Hill could look like with investment.

Farewell, who is the conservation co-chair of the L.A. and Santa Monica Mountains chapter of the California Native Plants Society, said most people don’t realize what a dynamic landscape Elephant Hill is, including its water features.

“My kids would play by the brook” after heavy rains, Farewell said. “You could reach your hand into one of the springs that fed the stream and feel the water bubbling out of the ground.”

The view of downtown L.A. from a high point at the Elephant Hill Open Space in El Sereno.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Yañez wants more local children to have similar experiences. Elephant Hill sits among a neighborhood plagued by environmental racism, she said. Green space isn’t readily available, but with the development of Elephant Hill into a park, it could be.

Yañez said she understands the need for more housing in L.A., but Elephant Hill has repeatedly proven an unsafe option. In the late 1980s, townhouses in a nearby development started falling into the ground, causing major structural damage. Around 2006, a developer was using a backhoe to build a fence around his property when the heavy machinery fell deep into a spring. Neighbors referred to it as a “sinkhole.”

“When you look at the big picture of climate change and lack of access to park space in communities like El Sereno, it’s kind of a no-brainer — and it’s very difficult to build here. In fact, it’s not safe,” Yañez said. “All the factors come together and make a pretty strong case on their own for conservation. Plus, I think the community deserves access to open space on these hillsides.”

3 things to do

Volunteers repair habitat in the Bolsa Chica Conservancy in Huntington Beach.

(Erika Moe / Amigos de Bolsa Chica)

1. Address messy nests in Huntington Beach
Amigos de Bolsa Chica needs volunteers from 8:15 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday to restore nest habitat for the threatened western snowy plover and endangered California least tern. Participants will remove invasive and overgrown plants in an area of the reserve off-limits to the public. Register at amigosdebolsachica.org.

2. Craft s’mores ’round the campfire in Culver City
The Nature Nexus Institute will host a fall harvest event from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook featuring a campfire and drum circle. Guests can also take guided nature strolls, listen to storytelling and make s’mores around a campfire. Register at docs.google.com.

3. Nurture native plants in the Hollywood Hills
The Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife needs volunteers from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday for a habitat restoration project in the Hollywood Hills. Participants will weed and water young native wildflowers, trees and shrubs, and install humane protection from deer and gophers. Register at clawonline.org.

The must-read

A sign stands in the middle of the fire-ravaged remains of the ranch house at Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades. The park reopened Saturday.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Hikers rejoice! Will Rogers State Historic Park reopened Saturday after being closed for 10 months following the devastating Palisades fire in January. Times staff writer Hailey Branson-Potts reported that 4.2 miles of the park’s trails are now open while 4.8 miles remain closed. Unfortunately, the segment of the Backbone Trail — a 67-mile trek from Point Mugu State Park to Will Rogers — that runs through the park will remain closed because the fire destroyed the Chicken Ridge Bridge. The Rivas Canyon Trail and Rustic Canyon Trail will also remain closed. The looping trail to Inspiration Point will be partially open, although parks officials might sometimes close it for trail work.

I am glad, slowly but surely, we’re getting to return to some of our favorite places closed by fire.

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s — no, it’s a bird! It appears that a bald eagle was spotted flying over the Audubon Center at Debs Park last Thursday. “Could it be?!” the Audobon Center posted on Instagram. The answer is yes, it really could have been! On the citizen science app iNaturalist, users have reported almost 1,000 bald eagle observations in L.A. County, including one over Debs Park in 2017 and others in nearby Glassell Park and Pasadena. Perhaps the Steve Miller Band was correct about our national bird’s flight pattern: “I want to fly like an eagle / To the sea.” May your spirit carry you through this week, friends!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

A MUSEUM based in south-east London that is loved by families will be getting even more attractions next year.

The Horniman Museum and Gardens in Forest Hill – named London‘s best family attraction in 2024 by Muddy Stilettos – will open a new play park next year.

Dubbed the ‘Nature + Love’ project, the park is one of several new experiences launching as part of the museum’s 125th anniversary celebrations.

The free-to-visit play area will have a nature theme and also feature a cafe.

Called the Kusuma Nature Play, it will include a number of different features designed to “encourage learning and wellbeing through nature and play”.

There will also be an augmented reality trail (AR) opening in the Gardens.

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It will be free to visitors and feature a cast of animated animals for visitors to meet and interact with.

The trail will also include a number of challenges and mini games for visitors to play.

In addition, The Horniman’s Nature Trail will offer step-free access for the first time.

The Gardens Nursery will be transformed as well and will include new glasshouses, a public boardwalk route and a workshop space – all free to visit as well.

Later in early 2027, the Horniman’s natural history gallery will reopen to the public having been fully refurbished.

Inside, visitors will be able to once again see many of the museum’s favourite items as well as new objects.

To mark its 125th birthday, the museum will also be hosting a number of events between June 27 and 29, 2026.

Michael Salter-Church MBE, Chair of the Horniman, said: “Opening in the Horniman’s 125th year, these new features in the Gardens will help visitors learn about the natural world and provide new welcoming spaces for everyone to enjoy for years to come.

“They embody the Horniman’s ethos and purpose and will help us celebrate our birthday!”

Gordon Seabright, chief executive at the Horniman, said: “We are delighted to reveal a first glimpse of what’s to come at the Horniman as part of our Nature + Love project.

“The Gardens are a beloved and integral part of the Horniman, and we hope the new attractions opening in 2026 will provide new and familiar visitors with fun and enriching encounters with the precious natural world we all share.”

Most of the Horniman is free to visit, including the library, animal walk, World Gallery and gardens.

And according to The Guardian, the destination “feels as if it was created for kids”.

There is also an aquarium that visitors can go to, though this is ticketed costing £6.50 per adult and £3.25 per child.

Inside, visitors can explore 15 exhibits showcasing different water environments from around the world, such as pond life and coral reefs.

There is also a butterfly house, which is also ticketed, costing £9.75 per adult and £6.50 per child.

The tropical indoor garden features free-flying butterflies of different colours and sizes.

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If you are looking for other things to do in the Big Smoke, these are the city’s best free indoor attractions for families.

Plus, a popular family attraction to return to UK capital – 8 years after it was scrapped.

I knew I’d chosen the right spot to hike as I drove past the yellow-leaved bigleaf maple trees near the trailhead.

I was in search of fall foliage near Los Angeles, and after a bit of research, I’d taken a chance by heading over to Big Santa Anita Canyon in Angeles National Forest to see if I’d get lucky.

I am now here to help you, hopefully, find the same good fortune on your autumnal adventures.

The idea that L.A. and its surrounding mountains feature trees with fall foliage can be hard to grasp for those who’ve been misled into believing that 1) L.A. is a desert (it’s not), and 2) The area doesn’t have seasons (it does!).

“L.A. was once wetlands fed by the cobweb streams and marshes of the L.A. River. It had oak woodlands and grassland valleys,” wrote Times columnist Patt Morrison. “Then, at least a thousand years ago, Native Americans were burning land to flush game and to make more oak trees grow to make more acorns to eat. It’s the last hundred-plus years that made the native landscape unrecognizable.”

Thankfully, it remains possible to observe the seasonal changes of our native trees in the wild lands around L.A. County. Below, you’ll find three hikes where you’ll see some level of fall foliage.

The leave of a bigleaf maple changing from bright green to brilliant yellow in Big Santa Anita Canyon in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Before I dive into those hikes, though, I wanted to teach you how to find autumnal colors near you. My hope is that you can use this information to find off-the-beaten paths near you where the loudest thing is the pop of fall colors (rather than cursed Bluetooth speakers). Here’s how your local outdoors reporter finds hikes with fall color.

• Know your native plants: There are multiple native trees, shrubs and plants that evolve as the weather cools to produce orange, red, yellow and copper colors. Those include California sycamores (orange-yellow leaves), bigleaf maple (bright yellow), Southern California black walnut (yellow), valley oak (orange, yellow, brown), poison oak (red), California buckwheat (rusty red) and more.
• Find where the wild things grow: After identifying the native trees and plants that could (hopefully!) produce colorful leaves, you can log onto iNaturalist, a citizen science app and website, and search for them in a hiking area near you. For example, I searched bigleaf maple and noticed a few documented near the Lower Stunt High Trail. Might there be a bit of fall foliage there?
• Look for water sources: Water makes for happy trees. It’s a near guarantee that if you head to one of our still-flowing local rivers or streams — like a hike along the 28(ish)-mile Gabrielino Trail where it runs parallel to the Arroyo Seco or West Fork of the San Gabriel River — you’ll find fall foliage. (This includes hiking from near NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab near Pasadena to the Brown Mountain Dam or from Red Box to the Valley Forge trail camp.)
• Set your expectations: As the fine folks at California Fall Color point out, it’s hard to predict when fall colors will pop. It depends on several factors, including the amount of daytime sunlight, nighttime temperatures and annual rainfall. That said, if you visit a trail, and it’s still quite green, consider returning a week later to see what you find. Nature is, lucky for us, a perpetual surprise!

I hope you use this knowledge to find fall foliage close to you that’s off the beaten path. That said, the three spots below are worth considering too and require no homework as I’m here to do that for you too.

A hiker heads up the fire road at Big Santa Anita Canyon in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Winter Creek Trail at Big Santa Anita Canyon

Distance: 5.2-mile loop trail
Elevation gain: About 1,230 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Chantry Flat Picnic Area for leaf peeping

Upon parking at the Chantry Flat parking area — which is admittedly a challenge on the weekend — you’ll have multiple hiking options to venture through Big Santa Anita Canyon. Note: If you forget to buy an Adventure Pass, you can usually snag one at the Adams Pack Station, which is open Tuesday through Sunday.

I chose to take the Winter Creek Trail because it leads you through dense vegetation, and I hoped this would increase my chances of noticing leaf changes. My dog, Maggie May, and I headed north down the fire road near the restrooms and then turned after about 900 feet onto the Upper Winter Creek trailhead. As we zigzagged along this single-track route down the hillside, I looked down into the canyon and quickly spotted pops of yellow — at least nine bigleaf maples changing with the season!

(Photos by Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

I passed California bay laurel, rubbing their leaves to smell their spicy, pungent aroma, and noticed a branch with exactly one yellow leaf. The tree was considering changing with the season. Rusty red buckwheat, red poison oak and yellowish beige California brickellbush also grew along the trail. Rather than doing the entire Winter Creek trail, Maggie and I were racing daylight and turned around where the trail meets back with the fire road for just under a 2-mile adventure. The moon was rising over a ridgeline of the San Gabriel Mountains as we left.

Hiker Christina Best pauses amid the fall foliage along the Icehouse Canyon Trail on a First Descents monthly meetup in the Angeles National Forest in 2019.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

2. Icehouse Canyon to Icehouse Saddle

Distance: 6.6 miles out-and-back, or 7 miles if looping around on Chapman Trail
Elevation gain: About 2,600 feet
Difficulty: Hard
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: San Antonio Falls Trail. It’s wide and mostly paved, but steep.

The Icehouse Canyon Trail to Icehouse Saddle is a pristine route that takes hikers past the crystal-clear creek and up to Icehouse Saddle, where you’ll be surrounded by pine forest and have sweeping views of the Antelope Valley and Mojave Desert.

You’ll pass bigleaf maple, incense cedar, canyon live oak and more. The parking lot, which you’ll need an Adventure Pass to use, often fills up by 8 a.m. on the weekend, so it’s best to arrive early or try to visit on a weekday.

The higher you climb, the more likely you’ll encounter snow this time of year. If you don’t plan to pack crampons, please turn around once you reach snow.

Western sycamore trees like these grow in the aptly named Sycamore Canyon in Point Mugu State Park.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

3. Sycamore Canyon Trail in Point Mugu State Park

Distance: About 6 miles
Elevation gain: About 200 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Dogs allowed? No
Accessible alternative: The trail is mostly wide and flat, making it easier to navigate.

The aptly named Sycamore Canyon Trail is a fire road hike that takes you through the lush Point Mugu State Park. You’ll immediately see the limbs of large sycamore trees stretching over and around the trail. If conditions are right, they should be among the trees featuring fall foliage.

The trail also features Southern California black walnut, black sage, the fragrant California sagebrush and several other aromatic delights. Regardless of what you see, it’s a treat to be among pristine coastal sage scrub and other native habitat. And if the mood strikes, the beach is nearby. That sounds like a true Southern California fall day.

One of a handful of introspective signs at Big Santa Anita Canyon.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

I hope you spot gorgeous fall colors on your adventures this weekend.

If you do, please feel free to reply to this email (if you’re a newsletter subscriber) with a humble brag with your photos. I love hearing from you!

3 things to do

A desert tortoise shuffles about the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area in California City, CA.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

1. Celebrate desert tortoises in Palm Desert
The Mojave Desert Land Trust will be on hand from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens in Palm Desert to celebrate Desert Tortoise Day. The organization will host tortoise-themed activities, including a scavenger hunt and a meet-and-greet with Mojave Maxine, a tortoise who lives at the zoo. Learn more at livingdesert.org.

2. Take trash out of wetlands near Marina and Playa del Rey
Volunteers are needed from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at both north and south Ballona Creek to pull trash from these important wetland habitats. Participants must wear close-toed shoes. Register for either location at ballonafriends.org.

3. Tend the land with new friends in L.A.
Coyotl + Macehualli will host a volunteer day of weeding, planting and mulching from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday along a hillside in El Sereno. The exact coordinates will be provided to participants. Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

The must-read

Adrian Boone, a Muir Woods National Monument Park Guide, teaches children about the forest at the Ross Preschool.

(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)

Park rangers are among government workers furloughed while the United States experiences its longest government shutdown. Times staff writer Jenny Gold wrote about how, in an effort to provide some income to these rangers, the San Francisco Bay Area-based Grasshopper Kids is paying out-of-work rangers to educate children at area schools. Riley Morris, who works as a seasonal interpretive ranger at Muir Woods, said they wondered whether the children sitting inside classrooms or school auditoriums would still be interested in learning about redwoods without the “magic” of sitting in a park among the towering giants. “But it’s just been so cool seeing that when all of that is taken out of the equation, these kids are still just so totally glued to like the information that I’m sharing with them,” Morris said. “You can just tell they’re almost vibrating with excitement.”

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Do you have a nature lover on your holiday gift list? (Hi, Mom!) If so, check out this curated list of outdoors-themed gifts that Times staff writer Deborah Vankin and I wrote together for this year’s L.A. Times Holiday Gift Guide. I loved trying out the Six Moon Designs hiking umbrella, which I am eager to take on desert hikes this winter and spring. The Nomadix Bandana Towel is almost always either around my neck or in my pocket on every Wild hike. And the moment I finish writing this newsletter, I’m going to go find my North Face mules, which I also included on the list. They’re perfect for chilly evenings on the couch — or by a campfire. And as a bonus, read our list from last year’s Gift Guide, which doesn’t have a single repeated item. Boundless ideas for your boundless adventurers!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.