Ever wanted to see the famous Hollywood sign up close? Well you can! There are several hikes that lead up to the Hollywood sign in the Santa Monica Mountains, ranging from 3 to 7 miles long. Some of the hikes start at Griffith Observatory, while others start in other parts of Griffith Park.

I did the Brush Canyon to Hollywood Sign Trail, which took about 3 hours. Most of it was on a wide, exposed path like the one in the photo below, and along the way, there were great views of downtown LA.

At some point, there’s a fork indicating the split between the trail that goes above and behind the Hollywood sign and the trail that ends below the Hollywood sign. We took the shorter trail to stay below the sign, and at the end, there was a great front view of the sign! Next time, I’m looking forward to climbing up and behind the sign — I’ve heard you can get much closer to it from behind 🙂