The Tuesday before Thanksgiving my girlfriend and I went camping at Pt. Mugu State Park on our way north for the holiday. We pulled into a nice campground in the late afternoon.


We enjoyed our evening at the campsite with abnormally high temperatures and gusting sundowner winds whiping through Sycamore canyon. The park is a popular night ride and I saw 3 or 4 groups pass by our campsite. I talked with one group and got some info on the standard loop.

I woke up early Wednesday morning to a cup of mountain coffee, bundled up and grabbed the bike. My loop for the morning was out Sycamore Canyon Rd. to Overlook Trail to Guadalasca Trail to Wood Canyon View Trail and back to Sycamore Canyon Rd. This gate at the back of the campground leads to Big Sycamore Canyon Road, the start of the ride.

A mile or so into Sycamore Canyon Rd. you hang a left on the Overlook Trail. It is not long before you are greeted with a classic Southern California fireroad climb.


The morning's first glipse of the Pacific as the sun crest the Santa Monica Mtns.


Boney Mountain State Wilderness to the north east.


The fireroad grind continues...


...but the views can keep your mind occupied. Anacapa of the Channel Islands.


At the end of the aptly named Overlook Trail, you are greated with aview of the the Oxnard area farm fields and the Los Padres Mtn.s in the distance.


Now the fun begins. The Guadalasca singletrack is a fast and flowy ride with switchbacks purpose built for bikes.










At the end of Guadalasca be on the lookout for a steep fire road to the right. This is Hell Hill. A short steep climb/HAB will lead you back to the Overlook Trail and the Wood Canyon View Trail.


The Wood Canyon View Trail was good fun. The top section was like an on mountain pump track with high banked walls in the turns and lots of undulations. The lower section became more technical.






After the short ride back to the campsite, a quick 10 minute hike will get you to the beach.


Although not a destination ride, I enjoyed this loop. From what I remember it was about 14 miles, 3,00 feet of climbing and took about 2 hours.

looks like fun trail and a nice camp site.

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strava:instagram:activejunky

I like it! A lot of places aren't "destination" rides, but I think I would still like to try them regardless.

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~I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
~Nothing from nothing is nothing.
~I'm allowed to be a pussy because I have one!

Linking non-destination rides together on a trip gives you a sample platter. Best of all, you don't have to eat everything if you don't like it and move on to the next.

Nice pics and TR Matt. Rode there about ten years ago. Now I want to go back.

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"We'll ride it until they pave it."

-Big Clyde

From the looks of it, there is the definite possibility of a trans Santa Monica route. Some Wilderness may get in the way, however.

Thanks for sharing the photos... I love riding Pt. Mugu state park. My in-laws live out in Ventura County so when ever I go up there to visit I bring the bike and ride out there. Seeing your photos of the Guadalasca trail reminds me of how fun it is.

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Panoramic Places

That place is awesome! I was there on Thanksgiving day. I loved Guadalasaca or whatever. Hell hill was not very fun.... There is even more sweet singletrack if you keep venturing out eastward. Thanks for the pics - my camera battery died as I tried to take my first picture of the camp ground trailhead.

If any of you DT's are up near Malibu, this place is really worth taking time for!

65

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blog

Cool TR! It's cool to sample other trail systems and that one surrounds "the real Sycamore Canyon", as the Los Angelenos know it. We used to ride there, gasp as I realized this, in the 90's a fair amount when weekend travel with the bikes was a regular thing. On one ride down to the beach using the trail in the bottom of Sycamore Cyn with the creek crossings, we also crossed 14 rattlesnakes on the trail. The scars I used to have on my left cheek were from a mean old oak tree that jumped out in front of me during an outlaw race in '94.

I keep saying, " we gotta get back to Sycamore Cyn" when we're in LA, but Ahmanson/Cheeseboro are just so much easier to reach.