@WakeUpCall – NEW Griffith Park Hiking System

Amy talks with Board Member & Officer of Friends of Griffith Park Brenda Rees about the NEW Griffith Park hiking system debuting on Earth Day April 22nd.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's say good morning now to board member of Friends
of Griffith Park Brenda Reese. Good morning, Brenda, Good morning Amy.
Oh you sound way too energetic for five point fifty
in the morning, but we appreciated a ton. Maybe it's
because you're excited for Earth Day coming up.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm excited for Earth Day and this is the time
of the day anyways that us hikers are outside getting
ready to put on our shoes and walk walk around
in nature.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Okay, and let's talk about hiking because one of the
reason we're talking to you today is that there is
going to be a new trail resource for Griffith Park
that you're rolling out this weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
That's right. We call it the Griffith Park Explore or
the GPX for short, and it's a system of fifteen
different trails. So this is so people can pick which
kind of trail that they want to go on and
it's a it will be encompass all of the park.
This is something we've been working on for about two
years now.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Oh okay, So up until now, if people went to
the park, they would just find a trail ahead and
go And now is that how it used to work?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, people have done books about Griffith Park. You can
kind of look you know, to to those things or
as well as just you know, go to As you say,
go to the park, we look at the map. Oh,
I'm going to go there and there. What we've done
is we've kind of broken down the park into fifteen
different areas. So if you're an beginner hiker or an

(01:28):
expert hiker and you want to have a little challenge,
we've kind of mapped it all out for you with
ease or difficulty, and we've also given you an opportunity
for if you, oh, I want to go see birds
or I wanted more of a challenge, I want an
easy walk, this is this will help you for that.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Okay, So and is this an app or a website
or how do we how are we going to find
it when it launches.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's not an app, it's just on our website. So
it's going to be really easy to do. So people
don't here, don't have to add another extra thing to
your phone. Okay, kind of come on.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Okay, and so it'll take you and it'll say, okay,
here are the different trails and then as you mentioned,
like if you're a birdwatcher, beyond telling you where to go,
it'll tell you what you're going to see on the
different trails exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
We're going to give you little tidbits of geology, history,
little things of the flora and fauna you might see
around the area. And so it's going to give you
a little bit more than just you know, walk this way.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay, how many miles of trails are there around Griffith Park.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
There are fifty three official trails around Griffith Park. And
another reason why we wanted to create this is a
lot of people kind of make their own trails and
they kind of go off trail and this and that,
and that's where people can get into trouble. So we
really wanted to encourage people to stay on the official trails.
And that's what these that's what the GPX is. It
allows you to see and experience all of Griffith Park.

(02:51):
In fact, if you could, in theory, do them all
and say to your friends, I have hiked all the
trails in Griffith Park, which is about fifty three fifty
three miles of trails.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Well, I love this idea, Brenda, because I've thought about
going hiking in the park before and I just go,
but I don't know where to go, and so now
I'm going to know where to go, and you're going
to make it easy so I can go on the
easy trails because I'm not an advanced hiker by any stretch. Okay.
And then on Saturday, because we Earth Day is next week,
but we're going to celebrate early. So on Saturday, you've
got a special celebration for the launch of this and

(03:23):
also a chance for people to get their hands dirty
and help the earth.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Right, We're going to be meeting at the Griffith Park
visitor Center. We're going to be putting some native plants
in the ground, and I think we're going to be
doing with our friends at LA Recreation and Parks and
they'll be on hand to and we're just going to
be meeting everybody and explaining a little bit more about
the types of things that we're doing at Friends of
Griffith Park and let's all get our hands dirty and let's,

(03:49):
you know, help the park because it's one of our
greatest assets here in Los Angeles.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
And is everybody invited?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Everyone's invited, yes, And it's at.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
The visitor center. What time are you going to be doing.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
I think that's at ten o'clock. Okay, Bolly, now now
you're questioning me, but I think it's at ten o'clock. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well, here's how we can direct them to your website
if you'd like more information about the event on Saturday.
And also and then the gPex trail resource is going
to be available starting on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
That's correct, yes, okay.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
And also if you want more information about Friends of
Griffith Park find out all about how you can help
out for Earthday, you can go to what website.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
They can go to www. And it's going to be
Friendsigriffithpark dot org.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Super easy. Brenda Reese, thank you so much for coming
on with us this morning. I love this. I can't
wait to go and take a hike.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Thank you. We'll see you on the trails.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Amy, all right, Thanks Brenda,