As far as city parks go, Los Angeles doesn’t really rank up there with other cities – compared to other municipalities, we tend to have less green space that’s also less accessible to residents. But, in the same way most people don’t know we’ve got some world-class hiking trails out here, people also don’t know we’ve got some great gems in our park system. So, in celebration of National Parks and Recreation Month, the LAist will be focusing on our local green space in their Park a Day series.

So far, they’ve already highlighted Topanga Canyon State Park and Placerita Canyon Natural Area, as well as smaller urban parks like Polliwog Park and Echo Park Lake, too.

You’re not going to get a bunch of trail write-ups, but each post does give a nice overview of what the different parks offer – from the backcountry solitude (depending on the trail) of Topanga to the dog runs of Polliwog. This is going to be a great month to get to know our parks a little bit better. Be sure to keep checking the LAist posts every day for new parks … and if you’re interested in hiking in some of the mentioned parks, check out my write ups for the Los Liones and Temescal Peak / Eagle Rock trails in Topanga or my recent firebreak route in Placerita Canyon.

Tags: City Life, city parks, Hiking, Los Angeles, national parks and recreation month, nature, outdoors, parks