Bronson Caves

If you’re looking for your next great outdoor adventure in LA’s own backyard, Griffith Park is home to a wide variety of hiking trails. There’s something for everyone in these sprawling mountains, and I think we can all agree it’s sometimes necessary to escape the busy and bustling streets of LA and enjoy fresh air and nature all around us. Within Griffith Park, you can hike up to the hidden gem Wisdom Tree, the iconic Hollywood Sign, the famous Griffith Observatory, and many other trails varying in difficulty level. Griffith Park is also home to Bronson Canyon, and inside of it, the Bronson Caves – somewhat of a hidden gem, somewhat of a Hollywood iconic location. This man-made cave has become a well-known filming location for a wide variety of movies and TV shows over the past 50+ years. It’s most well known, though, for being the cave that the Batmobile stormed out of in the 1960’s Batman TV series starring Adam West. When it’s not being used for filming, visitors can walk right through the 50-foot tunnel-like cave and explore it at their leisure. Pretty cool, huh?
 
What’s great about these unique caves is that the hike to get up here is definitely an easy one. From the parking lot (more details on easy parking are below) to the caves, it was only about a 10-minute walk at a very small incline. Total, it’s about 0.6 miles round trip. So, it’s more of a leisurely walk than a hike, but you can continue to explore the trails within Bronson Canyon/Griffith Park beyond the cave if you’re interested in getting more of a workout.
 
For the best parking for the Bronson Caves hike, plug this trailhead address into your GPS: 3200 Canyon Drive, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA 90068. There is a small parking lot at the trailhead and there is street parking along Canyon Dr. if this lot is full. The trail to the Bronson Caves starts on the fire road (easily identified by the red steel gate closed shut) on the right hand side at the end of the road by the parking lot. You will take this road about a quarter of a mile until you see the Bronson Caves on your left hand side. While these directions may sound simple and probably even a little too vague, trust me - you can’t miss the caves! Overall, this is an easy and unique adventure to go on in if you’re looking for something simple and if you’re already in the area. Bring your buddies and a camera – that’s really all you need to go out there and explore! 
 
For other hiking ideas in LA, here are some of my favorites that I’ve blogged about before:

• Wisdom Tree & Hollywood Sign Hike
• Abalone Cove Shoreline Park Hike
• Debs Park Hike