Griffith Park Halloween Night Hike with a Bat Biologist

Halloween in Los Angeles usually means pop-up mazes and parking-lot pumpkin patches, but one of the better things happening in Los Angeles this October skips the fog machines entirely. On Wednesday, October 7, UCLA bat biologist Joey Curti leads a Halloween-themed night hike through Griffith Park, swapping jump scares for the actual animals and plants that gave the holiday its creepier imagery in the first place.

What the hike covers

Curti studies bats for a living, and the walk leans into that expertise. Expect a slow, guided loop through the park after sunset with stops to talk about bats emerging to feed, the owls that hunt the same hillsides, and the spiders and toads that tend to get cast as Halloween villains despite doing useful ecological work the rest of the year. The route also touches on a few of the poisonous plants native to the park, the kind of thing that quietly explains where some of the season's folklore actually came from.

This isn't a haunted-house experience. There are no actors, no jump scares and no theatrical lighting. It's a real naturalist walk that happens to run during Halloween week, aimed at the crowd that wants its spooky season to come with actual field knowledge attached. If you've been scanning the usual list of things to do in Los Angeles this weekend and want something that isn't another bar crawl or costume party, a night hike with a research biologist is a genuine change of pace.

When and where

When: Wednesday, October 7, 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM Where: Griffith Park, 2700 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027 Price: Free Organizer: jasonjourneyman via Eventbrite

Griffith Park after dark looks and sounds different than it does at midday, and a guided walk is the easiest way to experience that safely. Bring a flashlight or headlamp, wear closed-toe shoes suited to uneven trail, and dress in layers since the park's hillsides cool off fast once the sun is down.

Getting there

Griffith Park sits off Vermont Avenue just north of Los Feliz, with free street parking near the trailheads and additional lots scattered through the park depending on where the group meets. If you're searching for events in LA today that don't require a ticket purchase or a long drive, this one is about as accessible as it gets: free admission, a well-known park, and a defined two-and-a-half-hour window. It's also an easy one to pair with dinner nearby beforehand, since the surrounding neighborhoods have no shortage of casual spots to grab a bite before heading up into the park.

Because the hike is free and reservations tend to fill quickly for anything billed around Halloween, claim a spot on Eventbrite ahead of time rather than showing up and hoping for space. For anyone building out a list of LA events this weekend that leans more "interesting" than "spooky for spooky's sake," this is worth the drive up into the park.