Rainforest Trail
Trail Description
DISTANCE 5 Miles total. 2 miles out and back to the swing.
ELEVATION GAIN 500 feet(ish)
PARKING Crappy. Small area on Iredel Ln. 500 yards from the trail head.
SPF 15. Almost half the trail is in shade.
CHANCE OF INJURY
Trail: Moderate chance of slipping on steeper hills
Rope Swing: Moderate chance of breaking a femur if you let go.
WEIRD SMELLS Sage and Icy Hot
TIME 30 mins to 3 hours
FEATURES Rope Swing, Mini Troll Bridge, Views
ANIMALS Bees, dogs, dead rats
CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS From the back, one guy looked like Will Ferrel, but wasn’t.
DOG SHIT Light. People too lazy to pick up after themselves, also too lazy to find this trail.
ANYTHING ELSE? The Rainforest part of the trail is great for yoga, or Tai Chi, or just being a hippie.
DISTANCE 5 Miles total. 2 miles out and back to the swing.
ELEVATION GAIN 500 feet(ish)
PARKING Crappy. Small area on Iredel Ln. 500 yards from the trail head.
SPF 15. Almost half the trail is in shade.
CHANCE OF INJURY
Trail: Moderate chance of slipping on steeper hills
Rope Swing: Moderate chance of breaking a femur if you let go.
WEIRD SMELLS Sage and Icy Hot
TIME 30 mins to 3 hours
FEATURES Rope Swing, Mini Troll Bridge, Views
ANIMALS Bees, dogs, dead rats
CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS From the back, one guy looked like Will Ferrel, but wasn’t.
DOG SHIT Light. People too lazy to pick up after themselves, also too lazy to find this trail.
ANYTHING ELSE? The Rainforest part of the trail is great for yoga, or Tai Chi, or just being a hippie.
Directions
DRIVING DIRECTIONS:
You are driving along the 101, looking for Laurel Canyon Blvd. It’s east of the 405, before the 134 begins – or ends – however you want to look at it. Take Laurel Canyon south. Pass Ventura Blvd and all the desperate wanna-be starlets will begin to melt away.
The third stop light will be Fryman Road. Turn right – DON’T PARK THERE! Keep Going! Whew, that was close. Right on the corner there is parking for Wilacre Park. That’s what most people mean when they say, “I saw that actor from Grey’s Anatomy on Fryman this morning.”
But we’re not going there today. The first street on your right is Iredell Street. Turn right. They say that one of the mansions on the street was where the little Kardasian girls grew up. Don’t slow down. I’m not sure how contagious Skank is, even after all these years. You’ll see Iredell LANE split off to the left but the only parking is along Iredell STREET. You’ll see cars parked on this ridiculously tiny street. A classic case of super rich people bribing the government to put up No Parking signs. After you park… it’s a steep 200 yard uphill walk on Iredell LANE to the trail head.
And pay attention – not to all the sexy people walking by – but to the driveways on the left. The dirt driveway, 3 houses from the end of the road, is actually the trail head. I know, tricky rich people.
HIKING DIRECTIONS:
This has some steep parts, some brushy parts, and some spur trails. If you like scrambling around a little bit, this trail pays off with a rope swing and a cool, peaceful well, “rainforest” area. I mean, no baboon tribes or headhunters… that we know of. The first mile or so feels like a nice, dry, LA single track trail. If you wanted to twist an ankle to get out of your Boot Camp Aerobics Class, this would be the place to do it. There are enough people walking by that someone could even carry you out. They might even be good looking. Hey, you might hook-up! Wait. Ew. Now that sounds creepy. Don’t do that.
When you get towards the bottom of a bigger valley (you’ll see it coming) the trees get bigger and it gets cooler. No, you won’t see the veloceraptors from Jurassic Park. Oh they’ll be there, you just won’t see them. If you like to sit and just stare at trees, this is your place. (We saw one lady doing that, and it looked like a good thing for her to be doing.)
Not long after all the big trees comes the big rope swing. It would be cool if it swung out over a pond and you and your kids could spend hours playing and swimming, right? Well, too bad. It just swings out over a steep, shrubby canyon. Actually, probably very dangerous. If you wanted to really get out of Aerobics Class, you could do some serious damage here. BUT, it’s very fun. Not great for small kids… unless you hate them.
You can continue on and the trail will end up at Mulholland, or, if you scramble down the creek bed, you can get down to Fryman Road again. You can turn the whole trail into a loop if you follow the road back to your car. That’d be about a 6 mile loop. Do that, or just out and back to the swing, if you like trails, you’ll like this trail.
THE STORY:
Monkey smuggling used to be huge in the 20’s. A large crate of monkeys fell off the back of a truck and landed at the bottom of this trail. All the monkeys died, and the trail was already call Rainforest Trail for some reason, but, a helluva story, right?
DRIVING DIRECTIONS:
You are driving along the 101, looking for Laurel Canyon Blvd. It’s east of the 405, before the 134 begins – or ends – however you want to look at it. Take Laurel Canyon south. Pass Ventura Blvd and all the desperate wanna-be starlets will begin to melt away.
The third stop light will be Fryman Road. Turn right – DON’T PARK THERE! Keep Going! Whew, that was close. Right on the corner there is parking for Wilacre Park. That’s what most people mean when they say, “I saw that actor from Grey’s Anatomy on Fryman this morning.”
But we’re not going there today. The first street on your right is Iredell Street. Turn right. They say that one of the mansions on the street was where the little Kardasian girls grew up. Don’t slow down. I’m not sure how contagious Skank is, even after all these years. You’ll see Iredell LANE split off to the left but the only parking is along Iredell STREET. You’ll see cars parked on this ridiculously tiny street. A classic case of super rich people bribing the government to put up No Parking signs. After you park… it’s a steep 200 yard uphill walk on Iredell LANE to the trail head.
And pay attention – not to all the sexy people walking by – but to the driveways on the left. The dirt driveway, 3 houses from the end of the road, is actually the trail head. I know, tricky rich people.
HIKING DIRECTIONS:
This has some steep parts, some brushy parts, and some spur trails. If you like scrambling around a little bit, this trail pays off with a rope swing and a cool, peaceful well, “rainforest” area. I mean, no baboon tribes or headhunters… that we know of. The first mile or so feels like a nice, dry, LA single track trail. If you wanted to twist an ankle to get out of your Boot Camp Aerobics Class, this would be the place to do it. There are enough people walking by that someone could even carry you out. They might even be good looking. Hey, you might hook-up! Wait. Ew. Now that sounds creepy. Don’t do that.
When you get towards the bottom of a bigger valley (you’ll see it coming) the trees get bigger and it gets cooler. No, you won’t see the veloceraptors from Jurassic Park. Oh they’ll be there, you just won’t see them. If you like to sit and just stare at trees, this is your place. (We saw one lady doing that, and it looked like a good thing for her to be doing.)
Not long after all the big trees comes the big rope swing. It would be cool if it swung out over a pond and you and your kids could spend hours playing and swimming, right? Well, too bad. It just swings out over a steep, shrubby canyon. Actually, probably very dangerous. If you wanted to really get out of Aerobics Class, you could do some serious damage here. BUT, it’s very fun. Not great for small kids… unless you hate them.
You can continue on and the trail will end up at Mulholland, or, if you scramble down the creek bed, you can get down to Fryman Road again. You can turn the whole trail into a loop if you follow the road back to your car. That’d be about a 6 mile loop. Do that, or just out and back to the swing, if you like trails, you’ll like this trail.
THE STORY:
Monkey smuggling used to be huge in the 20’s. A large crate of monkeys fell off the back of a truck and landed at the bottom of this trail. All the monkeys died, and the trail was already call Rainforest Trail for some reason, but, a helluva story, right?
Thank you so much for this hike! We loved it and really enjoyed your fun writing. Just a heads up, there is no longer parking on Iredell lane or street now. Pretty much the only place to park is the Fryman lot. Pretty crazy that rich people can ‘own’ a public street for their own use.
Thanks Rachel. Yeah the street parking thing is a poke in the groin. At least the Fryman lot is free now. Try the Fryman Fireroad access if you want great parking and want to ditch the crowds. http://traildummies.com/trail/fryman-fireroad-trail
Working on a new map with new trails there.
I know this upper Fryman trail to the Rain Forest, which I like to call the Bayou. Anyway, Is there a way to start at Mulholland or Valley Crest and get to the Rain Forest coming from the opposite direction? Getting in is just a bit too steep for me these days.