Last week, after walking my own neighborhood, I decided to hike up the main road to take a look at the harbor from a higher vantage point. I frequently see people, some obviously tourists, stopping at a particular spot along that thoroughfare to snap photos. Before my knee started giving me trouble I used to walk that route daily but I don't recall being wowed by the view, although I suspected that tree trimming and removal in the area may have opened the vista. I decided to check it out.
But before I walked up to the viewing spot, I took a brief detour down a nature trail that sits just feet beyond the turn-off into our neighborhood. I've walked this route before but I don't think I've photographed it.
![]() |
| This sign right outside the nature trail's entrance refers to vehicle traffic down the main road |
![]() |
| but the sign might as well have referred to the trail's path, which is far steeper than it may appear in this photo |
![]() |
| There weren't many wildflowers yet but there were some |
![]() |
| Much of the trail looks like this: muddy gullies over-run by grass and weeds. In the lower right, you can see a pipe that directs rain water overflow from the homes above. It must have been a mess during some of our heavier rains this season. I wish more people would collect that rainwater for use during our long dry period. |
![]() |
| The trail leads one along the outer edges of the properties of several of my neighbors. This wide expanse of nasturtiums extends from the garden of my next door neighbor. It's a fairly shady stretch and I can't remember seeing it in bloom during prior walks here but I'll have to come back next month to see if my earlier visits were just ill-timed. |
As the path was nearly covered in foot-high grass and I'd already interfered with one jogger's run, I turned back in the direction of the main road not far beyond this point. That took me by this:
![]() |
| This property off the main road is directly adjacent to the trail and not fenced off from it |
![]() |
| Front view of the same structure: Needless to say I didn't trespass to see if there are still birds in that shed/aviary but I didn't hear any birdsong. I remember seeing the warning on the back side years ago on my first trip down the trail. My guess is that the aviary hasn't been occupied for a long time. |
The view spot is a quarter mile or less up the road. Late afternoon isn't the best time to take photos but here are the best of those I took.
![]() |
| View looking south: I think all that green space is part of Friendship Park, a 123-acre public space which isn't usually nearly so green! |
![]() |
| View looking roughly east, showing the city of San Pedro in the area surrounding the harbor and the city of Long Beach in the distance |
Try as I did, I couldn't make out my own home from this vantage point. We sit further up and farther to the west. However, there was another, smaller view spot closer to our neighborhood road and, when I cropped that photo a bit, I was able to make out our house. Do you see it?
When we moved in, after many years of living in a closely-packed beach city with neighbors literally on top of one another, we were thrilled by how much breathing space there was between us and our neighbors. But although we may have more space than the community crowded around the harbor below us or the beach city we previously called home, it really isn't all that spacious as the photo above shows.
![]() |
| If you couldn't find our house in the jumble of roof-tops, here it is |
All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
