Sycamore Canyon Camping

Husband face and I have been trying to find more places semi-locally to camp so we can do more little weekend getaways.  Our go to spot is closed in the winter so this past weekend we ventured up the coast to the Malibu area.  We had made a reservation at Sycamore Canyon Campground in Point Mugu State Park.  We chose this campground over Malibu Creek State Park because the layout of the campground online looked like it afforded more privacy.  Boy were we wrong.  This campground allows you to make a reservation but not for a specific spot.  It is a small campground and the sites are packed in as tightly as possible.  There is no privacy whatsoever except for one site.  Lucky people that we are we scored that site (#10).  It's at the back of the campground right by the trailhead and it's tiny, only room for one or two small tents.  Perfect for husband face and I, we didn't really want to watch our neighboring campers kid's temper tantrums. If we hadn't gotten this site we honestly probably wouldn't have stayed at this campground, we would have forfeited our $53 (jeez that's pricey for camping) and moved on.

Campsite #10, thank the lucky stars we got it.

Now for the reason this campground was worth it.  The trail head I mentioned above leads to a variety of hikes.  We chose to go with the Scenic Trail because...well I like scenery.  We also happened to score the best weather you could ask for in February, a balmy 75 degrees.  I think the Scenic Trail is 2.7 miles or so but we kept wandering whenever we'd see a little path shooting off to the side, well worth it. There's a good list of hikes in Point Mugu State Park here.

Babe Alert

The scenic path

Me atop the scenic peak

Pretty typical

Looking north up the coast

The other positive of this campground is that it's right across the 1 from the beach.  And unlike a lot of campgrounds further south it is not right one the 1 so you don't get the road noise.  After our hike we ventured down to the beach for sunset (hiding our beers of course because for some dumb reason alcohol is now allowed on beaches in California). It was not too shabby a sunset

Back-lit sunset photo

Sun setting by the Channel Islands

After sunset we went back to camp and proceeded to drink to much by the campfire and do dumb things like take pictures of husband face's knife against the fire and say things like "That's a hell of an elk." At least we make ourselves laugh.