Skip to main content

Lake Balboa Orange Line Bike Trail (Wild Flowers and Cherry Trees)

Ready to begin a beautiful and satisfying bike ride? Lake Balboa is so lovely this time of year. Full of wonderful parks like The Japanese Garden, and Lake Balboa Park. I hope you enjoy the following awesome bike ride around my neighborhood.

To begin your ride, park at the orange line station located just off Sepulveda Blvd. and Oxnard. The station is bursting with bright pink cherry trees. A beautiful start to your adventure. As you bike along you will go under a bridge and arrive at Victory blvd. Continue on this very green and stunning bike path, lined with yellow, pink and purple wild flowers, as well as cherry trees, until you come to Balboa Blvd. Cross the street and make a left (don't forget to stop and take a picture of the orange tulips. You can't miss it), so that you continue down Balboa blvd until you arrive at Balboa Sports Park. There are always teams playing soccer. Make a right into the park to continue onto the bike path, and veer right. Continue on this bike path, once again, lined with beautiful wild flowers. Keep going until you get to Corbin ave. I promise it is worth the effort to continue on, as suddenly you encounter more cherry trees, an abundance of purple and pink wild flowers lining both sides of the path, and beautiful white trees, Bradford Flowering Pear.

The entire bike path is bursting with butterflies. They flew in front of me and around me, almost the entire time. I had planned to continue on to Topanga Canyon Blvd, but suddenly the place was devoid of flowering plants. I decided instead to cross and make a left on Corbin Ave, as the residential street looked absolutely gorgeous, lined with vibrant flowers and cherry trees. Can I just say, this street appeared to contain all the butterflies in the valley. It was sort of magical.

I turned around, headed back to the orange line bike path and rode back the way I came, towards Tampa Ave. I highly recommend you make a left onto Tampa Ave and continue (via the side walk, a beautiful ride), until you arrive at Victory blvd. The other alternative of course is to ride back the same way. My way is better, you get variety and a change of scenery. Hang a right on Victory blvd. and take it the entire way back to the orange line station. The street is lined with a lot of green, plus the flowering plants of  neighborhood front yards. I even saw several large yellow butterflies. A butterfly even hit me in the eye.

Once you arrive back to the Lake Balboa area you are treated with gorgeous views of the surrounding parks, hillsides and mountains. There are several patches of wild flowers that come out of nowhere, and are lovely. Then, you encounter the stunning white trees and cherry trees once again. 

As you have noticed, the weather has gotten to be a lot warmer. I noticed a good amount of the cherry trees have already died off. I highly recommend taking this ride within the next week. It was truly a marvelous bike ride. I was exhausted in the end, but very happy. 
 

































Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hiking Among the Beautiful Wild Flowers in Malibu

Getting out in nature is good for the soul, to unplug and get away from it all for a few hours. As you know contributes to peace of mind and emotional well being. What could be better than hiking by the ocean with it's spectacular views, light ocean breeze and fresh air. Located off PCH Highway, both hiking spots are within a couple blocks of each other, and very easy to find.  Malibu Bluffs Park: One of my all time favorite places to go. Is always a pleasure, especially during the spring time. I have fond memories of taking my son there as a kid, picnicking and flying kites. There are two cool playgrounds, a sand pit and a zip line area.The place has changed a lot since I've been there last (about a year ago). They have cleared away brush from the walking path around the grass, allowing for additional views of the ocean and homes on the hillsides (which are fabulously covered in yellow wild flowers at the moment). To my absolute delight, they have created a clearly marke

Discover the Picturesque Longridge Park Hiking Trail (Sherman Oaks, CA)

Me and the hubs out to discover new hiking trails in the San Fernando Valley, hit up Dixie Canyon Park first, in Sherman Oaks. First of all, Park??? There is a clearly marked trail that leads to, well, nowhere. At a certain point, after hiking about ten minutes, the trail (?) becomes WAY too narrow and dangerous with loose gravel and mud pockets. We had to turn around and head back the way we came. This is a charming little spot if you live in the direct vicinity of the "Park". It is very green and shaded over. On the plus side, the drive up is VERY pretty. Dixie Canyon is tucked into the hills of a picturesque, upper class neighborhood, full of McMansions, and all around beautiful homes of varying architecture. After Dixie Canyon I wasn't ready to go home. So, I chose for us to visit Longridge Park (?)  Longridge Park Trailhead is located up in the hills of Sherman Oaks, at the end of a lovely residential street. Again, the drive up was spectacular, through a fairy tale

Absolutely Magical butterfly Den Discovery! In Lake Balboa!

So, the butterflies have emerged once again now that the weather has warmed quite a bit. They are everywhere, BUT I have discovered the mother of all butterflies dens. A truely magical place hidden away from the main paths. While out for a bike ride today I decided to take a semi-dirt path, almost completely hidden off the main street. I had accidentally stumbled across it before, but hadn't the time to explore it. Today upen entering the bike path, off Burbank Blvd, I was completely taken aback by the sheer amount of butterflies, seemingly attracted to the bright yellow wild flowers growing along both sides of the path. I stopped for quite a long while to video tape them, but upon viewing the footage, I realized it does not compare / do the place justice. I hopped back on my bike and rode a little further, which is when I saw a closed off (barred) path to my right, with a small opening, large enough to walk a bike through. This hidden jem of a path contained even more