Bee Rock Fern Valley Loop Trail

The Bee Rock/Fern Valley Trail is a 5 mile loop and includes Vista Del Valle Drive and the Lower Zoo Trail. The 600′ elevation gain happens almost entirely on the climb to the top of Bee Rock so that alone puts it at a difficulty o 7/10. Views of Burbank and Glendale are… fittingly mediocre.

The Parking – You can park anywhere near the carousel in Griffith Park and then make your way over to the playground area. We just parked at the Old Zoo Picnic area just above the main Griffith Park playground. Even on a crowded day if you just keep circling something will open up. Have faith!…and some patience.

The Best Thing – Depending upon falcon mating season you can walk out from asphalt Vista Del Valle Drive onto the Bee Rock precipice. It’s surrounded with chain link fence but it’s still cool in a futuristic Escape from New York kind of way.

The Route – Start your run up from the paved parking area with the main playground on your left. You can look up and see you are headed to Bee Rock. At the end of the road it is fenced but there is a door to your right. Enter there and continue straight ahead uphill toward Bee Rock on Bee Rock trail. There is a trailhead sign and you will hive an intermittent creek to your right.

You will arrive at a ‘T’ and the left turn allows you to climb directly toward Bee Rock however, for variety’s sake, let’s take the right turn which heads up through the brush in a steep and cool skinny trail still popping out on the asphalt Vista Del Valle Drive.

Don’t worry, the only car you’ll see here is the occasionally Park Maintenance truck. SO turn left and in a couple hundred yards on your left you will see the short trial to the peak of Bee Rock. If it’s open, do it!

After that mediocre view continue for 1.5 miles along the asphalt Vista Del Valle Drive. As views of Glendale go it’s… epic? However, it’s an unshaded asphalt road looking at Glendale for 2 miles sooooo, just enjoy the workout. You will arrive at an enormous helipad with a pretty incredible view of downtown Los Angeles. If it’s a clear day, enjoy. If it’s a nightmare of heat and smog… well, time to keep moving

Back up a little bit and you’ll notice a dirt trail to your left that appears to head up towards a water tank. Take that and you will actually go around that water tank to the left and then downhill less than 1/4 mile to the 5 point crossing. Take the hairpin turn to the left and you are now on the Fern Canyon Trail. This a wide downhill fire road about 1/2 mile and just as it gets closer to the bottom it starts to get crazy steep for a fire road. Look to the right for the smaller Fern Canyon Nature Trail. Take it!

You start on some wooden stair and then there’s a bridge, little amphitheater… son’t get too excited. Everything on the 1/4 mile nature tail is tiny but it’s still a nice change of pace from the usual Griffith Park “big and dusty” Trail.

At the bottom you will be staring at the Merry Go Round parking lot but we are not giving up just yet. Stay on the dirt and turn left. You’ll star back uphill towards another intersection that has an excellent sign. Follow the arrow pointing right along the Lower Old Zoo Trail. This cooly passes a number of old zoo cages that usually have an opening pried open so you can sneak a peek inside. It’s a little spooky, but the “stalls” aren’t filled with chimpanzee and bobcat poop any more it’s now only lizard and… well, maybe some bobcat poop still.

Continue along above the parking area on this trail that occasionally becomes the old asphalt zoo path until you arrive back at the sign at the beginning o the Bee rock trail. 4.75 miles. Boom.