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ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER

That's just one of the pleasures of hiking in and around Los Angeles (yes, we said L.A.).. Photographs by Jennifer Rocholl.

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I like to blame my eldest brother for my early aversion to hiking. When I was just seven or eight, Mike, who was attending Dartmouth College at the time, invited our family to stay a few days at an isolated, rustic lodge at the base of Mount Moosilauke, one of New Hampshire's many 4,000-plus-foot peaks. The plan was for the entire brood to climb to the summit together, but I never even made it to the trail.

A favorite nighttime tradition at the lodge was to tell - complete with lights extinguished and well-timed screams - the story of a local doctor who, in the 1800s, kidnapped and killed a young girl on the mountain and was said to still haunt its slopes. Fooling nobody, the next morning I feigned the kind of doubled-over, gasping-for-breath stomachache so popular with kids trying to avoid something unpleasant. It worked, but it also ensured that my cowardice would become family lore. I can't say for sure, but I imagine that my conversion later in life into an enthusiastic mountaineer (I eventually conquered Mount Moosilauke, along with other summits) was simple overcompensation for years of feeling like such a wimp.

Regardless, hiking has become a vital part of my life for all the reasons that are so obvious to anyone who gets out on the trail even occasionally: It's great exercise, it's spiritually renewing, and it provides a connection to nature that's otherwise elusive in modern, urban America. It's also one of the main reasons I live in Los Angeles - yes, Los Angeles. Snicker if you like, but the fact is that L.A. has a remarkable selection of easily accessible trails that can transport you from the clutches of gridlocked traffic to a quiet meadow dotted with grazing deer in a matter of minutes.