Jun 9, 2026 · 6 min · 7 segments
A couple times a week, Omar Covarrubias leads a large group of hikers to the summit of Mount Hollywood! The group is called the 5AM crew and everyone is invited to join! Click to hear his chat with…
Heather JordanHostHe's inspiring a group of early morning hikers.
Heather Jordan is with our KNX Hero of the Week, brought to you by RooterHero.com.
If you need a dose of morning motivation to get up and moving, just spend a few minutes with Omar Covarrubias.
When he was younger, Omar found that hiking produced some much-needed focus and clarity, and the activity just stuck.
A few years ago, Omar reached out to his friends and people on social media, inviting them to join him for morning hikes out at Griffith Park and up to Mount Hollywood Summit.
It's now turned into an actual club that they call the 5 a.m. crew, and they hike three miles up and three miles back down three times a week.
So we meet at 5 a.m. sharp.
We gather everybody around at about 5, 10, do about a five-minute introductory speech, letting everybody know what the ground rules, the guidelines are.
introducing them to the idea of talking to somebody.
So I'll give everybody one minute to shake somebody you don't know's hand, tell them who you are, where you're from, and what brought you here.
Literally two minutes later, everybody's talking, they're getting to know one another, and then I have to tell everybody, okay, break.
Like, enough.
Who's ready? And I'll say, who's ready for six miles?
Anywhere from 45 to 60 people get together before the sun rises to get some exercise and start the day off with some great conversations.
Omar, who does this out of the goodness of his heart, says he's inspired to push forward and lead the way every morning hike because other people show up.
Coming back from the hike, I see a huge shift in the people around me.
They're making plans.
They're talking about, you know, whatever their life goals are.
And I realize it's bigger than me.
And it's the payoff, really.
So there's times when I'm just like, I'm glad I didn't quit.
He's inspiring a group of early morning hikers.
Heather Jordan is with our KNX Hero of the Week, brought to you by RooterHero.com.
If you need a dose of morning motivation to get up and moving, just spend a few minutes with Omar Covarrubias.
When he was younger, Omar found that hiking produced some much-needed focus and clarity, and the activity just stuck.
A few years ago, Omar reached out to his friends and people on social media, inviting them to join him for morning hikes out at Griffith Park and up to Mount Hollywood Summit.
It's now turned into an actual club that they call the 5 a.m. crew, and they hike three miles up and three miles back down three times a week.
So we meet at 5 a.m. sharp.
We gather everybody around at about 5, 10, do about a five-minute introductory speech, letting everybody know what the ground rules, the guidelines are.
introducing them to the idea of talking to somebody.
So I'll give everybody one minute to shake somebody you don't know's hand, tell them who you are, where you're from, and what brought you here.
Literally two minutes later, everybody's talking, they're getting to know one another, and then I have to tell everybody, okay, break.
Like, enough.
Who's ready? And I'll say, who's ready for six miles?
Anywhere from 45 to 60 people get together before the sun rises to get some exercise and start the day off with some great conversations.
Omar, who does this out of the goodness of his heart, says he's inspired to push forward and lead the way every morning hike because other people show up.
Coming back from the hike, I see a huge shift in the people around me.
They're making plans.
They're talking about, you know, whatever their life goals are.
And I realize it's bigger than me.
And it's the payoff, really.
So there's times when I'm just like, I'm glad I didn't quit.
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