Led by Jeff Johnson and Nancy Beverly
Photo above: Starting the 2-mile loop inside the El Dorado Nature Center. Photo Nancy Beverly.
By Jeff Johnson
One of the noticeable trends in GLS hikes is that easier outings have the biggest attendance. This easy walk through El Dorado Park in Long Beach brought hikers from as far away as Claremont and the San Fernando Valley to walk with us because, some told us, it was listed as an easy hike.
From the city library in El Dorado park, we walked without incident through a well-used disc golf course, crossed the San Gabriel River, and then entered the El Dorado Nature Center. These days the walkers on the nature center paths are noticeably multilingual, including local and tourist families with kids, lots of lycra, and many barefoot walkers. Barefoot walking seems to be a trend now on the relatively well-tended dirt paths inside the park, though it has not caught on with GLS hikers.
A “nature center” created today would probably focus on native flora, but when the El Dorado Nature Center was created, they took whatever robust greenery was available, much of which is non-native. The predominant trees there today in low areas are Brazilian pepper but, on higher ground, are handsome, large, and old native coastal live oak. The streams and ponds in the nature center are treated water that is recirculated by pumps, recharging local aquifers.
As usual, the most interesting part of this was walk was meeting and getting to know other walkers, with roots in several other parts of the world. This has been a regular walk each year, and we will probably be back next year.
