Canyon Is Home to Birds, Bees and the ‘Trudgin’ Curmudgeon’

Sycamore Canyon is home to deer, bobcat, fox, coyote, an occasional mountain lion, 200 species of birds, 880 kinds of flowers and a member of Homo sapiens who calls himself “the trudgin’ curmudgeon.”

On any given Sunday, park visitors can catch a glimpse of Lu Haas of Santa Monica, a hearty septuagenarian from the Sierra Club who leads hikers on flower-sighting odysseys through canyon back country that hasn’t changed much since the Chumash Indians etched petroglyphs in mountain caves thousands of years ago.

“This was the basic food of the Chumash,” Haas says, crushing a leaf of purple sage in his glove hand.

But even if nature walks aren’t your idea of an outdoor experience, Sycamore Canyon probably still has something for you. With 55 campsites and hot showers, it’s a full-service park that provides a highly unusual recreational double: the mountains and the ocean.

But its best virtue may be its proximity. At the eastern edge of 15,000-acre Point Mugu State Park, Sycamore Canyon is less than an hour’s drive from the Westside.

Pacific Coast Highway cuts between the canyon and the Santa Monica Mountains on one side and Sycamore Cove and the ocean on the other. An easily accessible tunnel beneath the highway leads from the campgrounds to the beach.

Although the basic food in the area is now more along the lines of barbecued hot dogs, the Chumash would have no trouble recognizing their old stomping grounds. Sprawling sycamores with giant crooked branches reaching out like tentacles rise off the canyon floor. The chaparral in the mountains remains in its natural state.

Man’s presence, however, has been felt ever since explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo dropped anchor there in 1542. California live oaks valued as fuel were almost eliminated from the canyon. And fire roads and footpaths crisscross the mountain like surgical scars. Brown bears once roamed the mountainside, but they disappeared years ago.

As L.A.’s neighborhood wilderness, the park suffers from urban fallout. Like most state parks it is immensely popular in the summer, booked on weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but the pressure on Sycamore Canyon is intensified because of its location. As with a good restaurant, reservations are necessary, even during the week.

The campground is run by state park rangers. At the entrance to the park, just off Pacific Coast Highway, visitors have to check in at the ranger station to be assigned a campsite. Prime sites are Nos. 30, 32, 50 and 52, but they’re on a first-come, first-served basis.

People go to a park for different reasons. Some like to hike and swim. Others like to sit around a fire and incinerate marshmallows. A few prefer to sip vodka tonics and enjoy the scenery while listening to music on a portable radio. To them, Sycamore Canyon probably will be a disappointment. Yosemite it is not. A lot of campsites are neither very private nor are they pristine.

“It’s the retirees who come in with their RVs and leave the place a mess,” says Blake Richard, a park aide.

The joy of staying at Sycamore Canyon is to get out of your campsite and explore. At the back of the campground is the gateway to the mountains, trails that lead into the Santa Monicas and other canyons.

Most popular is the Scenic Trail, which ascends the mountains at an angle steep enough to require a rest on a wooden bench about halfway up. As the climber goes higher, the valley below disappears along with the hum of trucks on PCH. Only the thundering surge can be heard, and then it begins to fade, replaced by sounds of the wind running across the prairie grasses.

Walking to an altitude of 1,300 feet, the climber has a choice of stunning vistas: To the south, beneath rugged cliffs, the blue Pacific stretches to the horizon, a ribbon of white foam lining the beaches; to the north is Old Boney, at 3,000 feet the highest mountain in the range. The intrepid hiker can hook up with Overlook Trail and make a tough trek to La Jolla Valley, where rock caves have been chiseled into the hillsides by wind and erosion.

Even though the journey on the Scenic Trail isn’t recommended for anybody out of shape, it is really no tougher than walking up the stairs at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The sun is a potential hazard--experienced hikers will take along a canister of water--but an even graver threat are the mountain bikers who sometimes whip around a switchback without regard to their safety or anyone else’s.

“We’ve had a problem with bicycles,” Ranger Brit Horn says. “There have been accidents and lawsuits with bikes running into and over people in the hills.”

Aside from giving nature lectures, Horn and four or five other rangers are responsible for maintaining law and order. This means enforcing quiet after 10 p.m. and making sure that pets aren’t brought into the park; their scent scares away indigenous wildlife. Occasionally, Horn says, a cooler will be stolen, usually by teen-agers looking for beer. Cars parked by surfers on PCH sometimes get swiped or broken into.

Teen-agers, Horn says, like to party in the canyon. “We pour (out) a lot of beer and either cite for or confiscate marijuana,” he says. During Easter weekend “we definitely had near-riot conditions” because of “a major gathering” of teen-agers, perhaps gang members, Horn said. “We’ve had a little bit of everything here.”

Except the cunning and elusive mountain lion. Although deer are common and reminders of other animals are found along the trails--Horn has yet to cross paths with the big cat. But, he says, “reliable sources have told me that a mountain lion or two are in the range.”

Directions to Sycamore Canyon: 101 to Kanan-Dume Road, west to Pacific Coast Highway, north 15 miles to the ranger station. Overnight camping fee: $12. Day use: $4. Hot showers, flush toilets, on-site water, RV dump station. Reservations necessary. Call (800) 444-7275.