LOS ANGELES, FOR ALL the things it’s known for, isn’t usually considered a great city for green spaces. The metropolis is well loved for its Mediterranean climate, but nature isn’t what most people think of when they picture it—and for good reason. LA is a coastal basin that humans turned into a concrete bowl.
And yet, for all the cars and wildfires, LA is the only major city in the United States bisected by a massive mountain range. It’s also a hot spot of biodiversity. Just a 20-minute drive north of Dodger Stadium is Angeles National Forest (fs.usda.gov/angeles), which has 700,000 acres of woodlands and mountains, some of which top 3,048 metres. In winter, you can even go backcountry skiing.
After my wife and I moved
