RIDE THE PERIMETER: TRAVEL TOWN TO THE MERRY-GO-ROUND IN LOS ANGELES

Biking Zoo Drive in Griffith Park | Photo: Joshua Johnson

Difficulty: Easy
Length: 3.5 - 4 miles one way
Elevation gain: -120 ft.
Ride Type: There and Back
Special Considerations: Commuter traffic on weekdays - to avoid highway traffic, many drivers reroute through the park. However, speed limits are low and there is plenty of space for bicycles.

If you want to enjoy a flatter, easier and perhaps more relaxing ride (no hills!) then riding either the bike friendly Zoo Drive/Crystal Springs Drive or the Los Angeles River Bike Path may be a great option. This guide will move from the northern end of Zoo Drive that meets Forest lawn Drive at the Travel Town Railroad and we will move south to the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round. You can ride this route going either direction, there is plenty of parking at either end.

Start at the Travel Town Railroad Museum, where you can take a few minutes to check out the historic trains on display at Travel Town. It’s free and really cool. When you’re done Instagramming selfies with locomotives, ride east on Zoo Drive. The shoulder is wide and traffic tends to be on the slow side. Soon you’ll pass the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad - a museum and miniature railroad (the Ghost Train in October is very popular!) and a half-mile after that you’ll come to a three-way stop at Riverside Drive.

At Riverside Drive you have a choice.

STRAIGHT on bike friendly ZOO DRIVE

Continuing straight on Zoo Drive takes you past the grassy meadows, trees and picnic areas that line the southern outskirts of Griffith Park. There may increased traffic during weekday commute hours on this stretch due to drivers attempting to avoid highway traffic.

 Biking Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park
 Photo: Joshua Johnson

The road soon finds the L.A. Zoo, the Autry Museum of the American West and their respective parking lots, after which the road is now called Crystal Springs Drive. The road now runs directly through the Wilson and Harding Golf Course so be on the look out for golf carts crossing your path! There are wide shoulders and a pedestrian gravel path off of the road that edges the golf course. You can turn right at the divided lane four-way stop to head up a short distance on Fire Road to the Merry-Go-Round parking lot - also good place to park if you’re starting on this end.

If you want to ride further, keep going on Crystal Springs Drive all the way to Los Feliz Boulevard where you can get on the L.A. River Bike Path and loop back towards Travel Town via Riverside Drive and then Zoo Drive.
 

LEFT on the L.A. RIVER PATH

You may turn LEFT and ride the Los Angeles River Bike Path for several miles of easy going bike and pedestrian only pavement that hugs the L.A. River.

Biking the Los Angeles River at Griffith Park 
 Photo: Joshua Johnson

Watch out for traffic, then take a left on Riverside Drive - you should immediately get onto the sidewalk and in a hundred feet you’ll see the entrance to the L.A. River Bike Path. The path follows the Glendale Narrows, one of the most beautiful stretches of the L.A. River, where hundreds of ducks, geese, egret, swallows and crane float, flap and fly above the tall oak, palm overgrowth and river rocks. Yes, there is also trash caught in the brambles but the river has an undeniable beauty. It’s about 3.6 miles from Riverside Drive to Los Feliz Boulevard, where you can exit the bike path if you wish and head back towards Griffith Park.
* by Joshua Johnson