Cycling Los Angeles – LA River Bike Path – Heron Gate

 We’ve lived n NE LA for almost (gulp)12 years  and I absolutely love finding new areas to explore, especially when they are so close to home.

Case in point, the LA River bike path which proved to be something of a revelation. Sure we’ve driven over the river many times but it mostly looked like a grotty cement gully.

However we were in a peddling frame of mind this weekend & with a 20% gas hike this week we had no desire to drive far.

We chose to enter at the “Heron Gate” located on Fletcher drive and take the path south which is almost completely flat, this is very important for little legs, with training wheels.

It’s a delightful ride and I was astonished by the rapidly moving water even in October, when we haven’t seen major rainfall in 6 months. The quantity and variety of wild life was also surprising. We saw Ducks, herons, egrets, kingfishers & Moore hens as well as a red tailed Hawk that circled for much of the ride.

Mile markers are helpfully painted on the path so the children could proudly boast with accuracy that they had cycled 5 miles (2.5 each way).

A short stop at rattle Snake Park made a good rest stop especially on the way back when we realized that 5 year old legs contending with training wheels had exceeded their limit.

The bike path does have a rail long it but I would be nervous with a toddler on a trike if peddling themselves as they could quite easily roll under.

Some of the streets that run behind Riverside drive are pretty rundown (as well as industrial) so not an area I’d want to spend time after dark, but by day the path was well trafficked by a steady flow of bikers, bladers & walkers all of whom were pleasant and smiley.

Next time we will head north up towards Griffith Park

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