You don’t want to miss a minute of the amazing views and vistas that trails can lead you to (time to start relaxing RIGHT NOW), so the smart thing to do is to park as quickly as possible jump out of your car and sprint immediately to the trailhead without wasting a single moment thinking about security and safety, right? Right?

Wrong. You’ll have a much better time on the trail if you know you’ve taken a couple minutes for these basic precautions when parking at an LA County trailhead.

1. Stash your gear – or leave it at home. The best way to prevent theft is to not leave valuables, or even kind-of-valuables, in plain view. Keep your windows up and your trunk or tailgate locked. We’re not trying to suggest you, individually, specifically, need to clean your car, but we also aren’t not suggesting it.
2. Don’t leave your dog behind. Even on a cloudy day, with windows open, temperatures can rise rapidly inside a car. Do not leave a dog in your car at any LA County trailhead for any length of time, no matter the reason.
3. Engage parking brake. The ethos of leaving no trace is a wonderful thing to practice, but ideally your car won’t leave the trailhead until you are in it. Many LA County trails are in the hills with steep elevation changes, and so are the parking areas. Make sure to always engage your parking brake and angle your wheels as appropriate.
4. Double check everything. Here’s something we learned from a friend: having to run back to the parking lot because you forgot your strawberries and grubworms is bad, but getting lost because you don’t have cell phone reception is really bad (our friend is a possum, if that’s not clear). Double check your bag and your route (hopefully you have downloaded the Trails LA County app so you can count on offline navigation).
5. Only park in designated spaces. There’s nothing to joke about here. You never know when you might be blocking an emergency vehicle and putting some else’s safety at-risk.