Sycamore Canyon Campground

Many of the campsites are "duets", two parking spaces right next to one another, so if your neighbor is noisy there's no way around it. Beach access is shockingly difficult considering how close the beach is to the campground. Pedestrians need to shoot Pacific Coast Highway without the benefit of a crosswalk or signal to get there. Drove by Leo Carillo on the way to Sycamore Canyon, and sadly it appeared to be completely destroyed by the fires. If it ever re-opens, I prefer Leo Carrillo to Point Mugu.

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. Point Mugu features miles of rugged shoreline, narrow sandy beaches and some chaparral covered hills offering miles of hiking trails. The campsites within the campground are small, more suited to tenters, truck campers and small trailers. Two sites adjacent to the camp host site offers a 40'' pad, but you are parked parallel to the camp, so little room to maneuver a large rig. As our rig is only 25' long, we were able to fit in the majority of the sites. We felt the price point per night was steep, at $42.50 per night, based on shortcomings of amenities. You have to cross the highway to access the beach, there is only one restroom/shower building and the gate is locked each evening at 10:00 pm with no access out or in after that time. Bathrooms are flush toilets, very clean and there are at least token eating showers. A well used trail at the rear of the park offers miles of hiking and mountain biking. Apparently it is quite popular as we witness many people parking in the day use and walk through the campground to access the trail. No dogs allowed though.

We had originally planned on staying here on our way up the Pacific Coast Highway. Once we pulled in we were a bit taken back by the campground. It was more of just a parking lot that backed up to small wooded areas with your typical fire ring and picnic table (maybe not at all sites). Once we realized that we were not going to be staying there we wanted to logon and check out some other campgrounds in the area, but our Verizon Mifi service was giving us zero bars so we knew for sure we couldn't stay there. All in all, it really overpriced for what it is given no hook ups and the very strange set up. Also, we found it to be called Point Mugu State Park when we were researching it.