Hike to Mount Hollywood offers exercise, sights and surprises

New Year’s Day was exceptionally bright and warm, the sort of day we could brag about to shivering relations back east, if we felt like rubbing it in.

As I parked at Griffith Park at 10 a.m., in the lot above the Greek Theatre, the temperature was already in the mid-60s. Even as someone likelier to be cold than not, it seemed wise to leave my sweater in my car and proceed in short sleeves.

For decades I had, like much of Southern California, studiously ignored this 4,200-acre amenity.