Went on a mission into Elysian Park today. Craziest hike through the strangest terrain in the middle of Los Angeles

Through the ganglands

The trees are all carved up from gang and love carvings

Deep along some trails we found some Cholo thrones

Epic lensman Andrew Tonkery was the location scout on this mission

Everywhere theres rock theres gang signs. Warnings ! Ye intruders bewares !! I gotta say this was the creepiest forest i've ever been in.

Andrew and Puffin perch on the alter where the Cholo leaders have their pow-wows and sacrafice partys

We reached the edge , where the wilds meet the concrete jungle

We pressed on. Then shit started to get a wee bit gnar. Bags of decaying chickens were hung up on all the trees on either side of the path. The smell was gut wrenching. Voodoo satanic offerings or warnings. It was kind of confusing and very daunting. I'd have taken more photos but my eyes were watering. This forest was getting weirder every step. We also saw joggers running holding cans of mace and pepper spray. Any normal person would have turned back .............

We pushed onwards wishing we had a bigger dog.

A lot of the cliff path had washed away in heavy rain and the ground was real slippery. If the 300 foot fall didnt get you, then the 8 lane highway would definatly seal any fate

We reached a really open section with tons of different plants. A giant hawk circled above us for so long. It was definately eyeing up Puffin. She would've been a tasty wee twinkie snack for the evil turkey vulture

Hiking for hours

Graffiti on everything.

Its funny to think a ton of graffiti cats marching around hiking in the forest , lugging all sorts of spraycans about . Seems like a lot of work.

Andrew leashed up Puffin incase of an ariel attack

We got to another gnarly section that was all fenced off. A few meters down the hill is the LAPD shooting and target practice facility. Gunshots echod through the valley. The sharp snaps were eery as the blue guys got their gun off. This Police Academy had zero laughs

Were on the road to nowhere

This place was like an apocalypse . Except from the occasional helicopter flying overhead there was not a soul around. Weird when your in a city of 4 million people

Abandoned cholo village. This hike was no picnic in the sun. Never thought i'd long to see a Mcdonalds sign so much in my life

Heading home to the safety of the big leather sofa.

I had nightmares of bags of chickens later that night. Scary place man !!