Trails

I've CLIMBED higher and higher still, side-stepping lizards, sweltering under a searing midday sun, craving even the slightest sliver of shade. I turn to gaze at the ocean, which is invitingly blue but too far away to leap into. Thankfully, it issues a sweat-cooling breeze that allows me to continue my quest to find Nicholas Pond. I'm on the Nicholas Flat Trail within Leo Carrillo State Park in the western Santa Monica Mountains, and descriptions I've gleaned from the Internet are apt.

Oh, to have a grand valley in which to wander and unwind after hiking up a steep canyon trail for 45 minutes. And were it not for the thunder of big guns, a stream of cougar paw prints on the trail or the curious coyote in the brush, my recent Saturday afternoon journey would have seemed downright idyllic. But so it goes at the north end of Point Mugu State Park, at the extreme north end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in close proximity to the Point Mugu naval base.

THE smell of steaks sizzling on a campfire grill wafted through towering tamarack and Jeffrey pines as the sun set over the saw-toothed crest of Duck Pass in the Eastern Sierra about eight miles south of Mammoth Lakes. We sat on folding chairs around the crackling fire, sipping beer, while our cook prepared a dinner of surprising delicacy.

Griffith Park looks like it can't wait to come back. Fresh clumps of red-fringed chaparral, sustained on the moisture from dew and fog, already dot the park's ash-covered hillsides. Bursts of new growth resembling unkempt beards can be seen on trees that were left bare by the May 8 wildfires. As the park's plant life returns, city officials are working out the next formal stage of the Griffith Park recovery.

The city reopened the Mt. Hollywood trail in Griffith Park on Monday morning, nearly four months after a fire torched parts of the park. The 1.2-mile trail follows a fire road to the 1,625-foot summit of Mt. Hollywood, which affords sweeping city views. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilman Tom LaBonge announced the reopening and hit the trail. The mayor ran, LaBonge walked.

Peru has closed the Inca Trail that leads to Machu Picchu, South America's greatest tourist attraction, for a month of maintenance, authorities said. The 40-mile trail, which links the city of Cusco to the Inca citadel and 12 other archeological sites in the forested mountains, will be reopened March 1. Machu Picchu remains open to tourists and is accessible by train from Cusco.

THE half a dozen or so trail runners push themselves up the single track trail, darting under a canopy of oak and eucalyptus trees, around burly sage bushes and over slippery stream rocks in Santa Ynez Canyon above Pacific Palisades. It's halfway into an 8.5-mile run and the sound of heavy breathing and pounding feet grows louder as the runners climb the final incline.

Four former managers of supermarket group Ahold could be jailed for their role in one of Europe's largest financial scandals when a Dutch court hands down its verdict today. The trial on fraud charges -- which prosecutors say is the largest ever in the Netherlands -- is the final act in a saga that pushed one of the world's largest retailers and foodservice groups to the brink of collapse.

THE days of high sun in Southern California offer many pleasant idylls, many fine, relaxing and trivial ways to scatter the hours. This isn't one of them. To plunder one of the region's famous mountain roads on a sport bike is to tease the fates. Out here among the wheeling blacktop carousels, yes, good things happen, and for those who ride, there are moments when -- the bike heeled over, the throttle rolled on and your plastic knee slider skimming the asphalt -- you are your own celestial hero.