Well, here's my ride report on lovely Big Sycamore Canyon.
I ended up getting to Malibu on Sunday about noon. The drive from the Seal Beach area was great - It took only about an hour and a half for the entire drive. I have never seen the 405 so open and PCH was clear as well. We passed Mel's favorite hangouts and after scouting a few of the waves along the way, made the park.
The campground is nice. Plenty of bathrooms with showers (cleaned daily) and big campsites with lots of large sycamore and black walnut trees for shade. Wild parrots, squirrels, quail, fox, etc.
The beach is within walking distance, as are the trails. This would make a very nice STR gathering weekend trip.
Leading from the back of the camp is the Sycamore Canyon fire road. This reminded me a lot of Telegraph in Chino - shaded valley trail adjacent to a stream bed with a very gentle grade.
I took by son and nephew and went for a ride up the road, noting the trails on the left.
After we returned, I went out again and climbed a little 8 inch single track that was marked 'Overlook Trail'.
I kept expecting it to open up into the fire road I had read about, but it never did. After a while I figured out that I wasn't on the right trail.
I climbed until it started to get dark and then turned around for a blast of a decent to the canyon floor. Roller coaster, twisty-turn fun. At the end I noticed the no bike sign...Ooops! #-o 8-[ Too bad, this was a nice trail.
On Monday I made a late start and climbed up the real Overlook. This reminded me of Black Star and El Moro. A little hot down below, great ocean views and breezes on top. Not too tough of a climb.
I wasn't sure if I had gone too far and had missed Backbone and almost turned around. Just as I was about to start, a guy came around the corner and set me straight.
Ahh the Backbone! I don't think the video does it justice.
It was narrower than I expected and long. Great exposure and great fun.
I liked the left handed berms. The tracks leading from the runouts over the edge showed that not everybody liked them as much as I did.
There were several switchbacks that could get you if you weren't prepared.
That is all that I had time to ride this trip. I will definitely be back to hit the rest.
