Jonathan Tieu didn’t know anyone in Los Angeles . So when he started planning his first-ever visit to Southern California this year, when he’d have four free days after running in the Long Beach Marathon, he floated his potential itinerary on Reddit. Tieu’s plan included one particularly intriguing piece: He wanted to walk from San Bernardino in the Inland Empire some 60 miles west to Los Angeles.
Responses poured in from locals, warning Tieu against his idea. For starters, they said, the journey would be more complex than he was anticipating; 60 miles only covers a direct journey by car, and doesn’t take into account any pedestrian infrastructure issues. But these responses only further fueled Tieu’s desire to set out on what he jokingly called “the worst hike in the world.”
So on Oct. 8, amid a historic fall heat wave in the Southland, Tieu took his first steps in San Bernardino. Along his four-day, 60-mile trek, the currently unemployed 35-year-old walked a lot, sure, but he also achieved his goal of seeing a different side of Southern California, and getting a sense of how most residents actually live, instead of only visiting tourist hot spots in Los Angeles proper .
Tieu’s initial idea for exploring greater Los Angeles on foot came from thinking about what it would be like if he explored LA the way he explored Calgary, his hometown, or New York City. He also liked the idea of exploring a new city on foot , but taken to its most extreme…