This past Saturday morning I decided to try something I always wanted to do. Drive to the beach, leave the car, run home via Sycamore Canyon, then ride my bike back to the car with my son. What a fun way of "mixing it up" a bit by doing something new.

My destination Saturday morning was PCH at Sycamore Cove State Beach in Malibu. While a straight shot down Sycamore Canyon Road from Newbury Park to the beach is 8 to 9 miles depending on where you start, getting there via Potrero Road west to Hueneme Road and south on Las Posas to PCH is about 18 miles.

Driving west on Potrero Road while deftly taking picture before navigating twisty, hilly turns.

I reached the ocean around 6:45 a.m. and soon noticed there were "no parking" signs lining up almost every inch of PCH within range of the Sycamore Canyon trailhead. Thoroughly annoying. I KNOW it wasn't this way all the time. Perhaps the state is so broke they're putting up the signs to force us to pay $12 to park in a lot.

Malibu in the morning does not suck

I thought of parking in the state park lot but it didn't open until 8 a.m. So I drove down PCH just south the trailhead and discovered a handful of spots available and nabbed one. Whew!

Most of Sycamore Canyon from the beach is slight to gradual uphill, up until the very top where there's an 800 foot ascent over 3/4 mile. The bottom half of the course is mostly dirt trail, then switches to pavement  More on this course HERE.

I love it back in Sycamore Canyon. It is rarely crowded, beautiful, peaceful scenery, you can go miles without seeing anyone, in the early morning you'll come across deer and other wildlife and....there are plenty of, ahem, porta-johns along the course. That's a nice feature to have along any course.

So 72 minutes later I was home and felt great. A bit grungy though, so I hopped in the shower and within 15 minutes was out the door with my son.

The ride down Sycamore Canyon doesn't require too much effort. Other than some initial, brief uphills into the Canyon a handful of dirt stream crossings, it is a fun, downhill ride. Make sure your brakes work!

We enjoyed the beach a bit afterwards then drove over the Oxnard via PCH to grab lunch and enjoy the rest of the day.

Sycamore Canyon is beautiful but do watch out for poison oak if you veer off the main road/trail.