Sycamore Canyon Campground

“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a 

primeval wood and the sound of outer ocean on a beach“

Henry Beston

When looking at the extended radar forecast, we decided to pack up the Webegon and planned a month-long escape to the warm desert breezes of Southern Arizona.  We began our desert safari with a stop at Point Mugu State Park to visit our new tribe members and fellow camphosts, John and Christina. As the most recent camphosts at Sycamore Canyon Campground, they had invited us to stop by for a visit during our ramble down Hwy 101. This is a lovely campground offering some nice campsites and miles of hiking/biking trails. It was a surprise to find such a sanctuary amongst the urban sprawl that is Southern California...homes, asphalt and concrete. As it turns out, it is but a small part of Santa Monica Mountains National Preserve which Congress established as a part of the National Park System in 1978.

Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, Point Mugu features miles of rugged shoreline, narrow sandy beaches and some chaparral covered hills offering miles of hiking trails. With the park being devoid of campers, not only did we have our choice of campsite, but our friends were able to break away from their hosting duties to give us that perfect nickel tour of the surrounding area, hiking trails, their private beach and John’s never-ending “tide trash’.

We did venture out to hike the 3.5 mile Grotto Trail…although an unimproved streambed prevented us from touching the goal post. But the trail offered some wonderful views of the hillsides and winter waterfalls as it led us down to the west fork of the Arroyo Sequit. And the biggest takeaway of our short hike was an edit of “Webster’s description of a lap dance”….with visuals. We were smiling like monkeys with new bananas.

Although our stay was short, we had some wonderful quality time with our friends…great food, conversations and warm hugs…we definitely look forward to our next reunion in Oregon. Ahh...the sweetness of friendship...laughter and the sharing of pleasures. We now point our snout south to the surrounding area of Joshua Tree National Park.

At Waypoint 34.072853, -119.014599