Day 16 was laundry and moving day. The RV Park had a great laundry room, so I took the opportunity to clean EVERYTHING. Did a quick once over on the trailer while the washer did its thing. Packed up the bikes & hitched up while the dryer had its turn. Cue Willie Nelson.
Today's drive is through Santa Barbara and Ventura. The latter had signs posted for "Scenic Drive" in the direction of the coast, so I took it. What a mistake. It first took you through the narrow downtown streets of Ventura. Very nice area with small shops, but not a place for a truck & trailer. I was able to impose my will on the traffic and exit the high street without incident. The scenic drive wasn't much of one. Went past numerous 'pay for entering' beach access sites, and never did get close to the ocean. I had enough, and got back on highway 1 - which eventually DOES go to the water, and was much easier on the trailer.
Checked out Point Mugu State Park & a couple of State beaches, but no mobile phone reception, so I decided to keep moving. Arrived in Malibu mid afternoon and stopped off at the beach. Test the water - way warmer than the Big Sur area. Guess that's why the real estate costs are so high. Made a short call home, and sent off a few text/chat messages. The sun felt great, temperature about 20 C. Can't believe the beach was completely empty.
With Charlie Sheen gone, is the party over?
I decide on Malibu Creek State Park. It's $35/night. A bit high, but considering the Malibu RV park is $85 - off season - maybe it's not such a bad deal. I stop for gas, then make the winding climb up Malibu Canyon road. Lots of day guests here, but the rest of the park is mostly empty. The spots are very tight. Just enough room for the trailer, and VERY difficult to back it in. I pick a decent sized spot right beside some 'extra vehicle' parking. At least the truck would be close.
Day 17 - time to get back on the bike. This would be a two ride day. The first is mostly a double track meander. Why do this ride at all? We'll get to that. Starts right from the campsite and is mostly a moderate grade trending higher. Within about 10 minutes I see partially hidden singletrack path called "Lookout Trail". Doesn't say no bikes, so up I go. Starts with a steep babyhead rock hike-a-bike, then smooths out to a nice climb. It's only 10 minutes to the top all-in, and not much of a view.
Hmmm, looks like Southeast Asia. Do I hear choppers?
This was the best view. Not even from the top of the trail.
Down I go. Could be the only singletrack of the day, so had to take it.
10 minutes of climbing for 45 seconds of downhill. Felt good to be schralping singletrack again, but that was waaay too short. Gotta find some moar.
This dam was just of the main 'trail'.
Had a nice little picnic site, but they were serious about keeping people off the dam itself.
Another 10 minutes down the road, and a short section of nice technical singletrack, I arrived at my destination.
Where am I? If you know, you're likely over 35 and either Canadian or American.
More pictures of the site.
The site looked VERY small compared to how it appeared on the tube. TV trickery? Perhaps. They mostly used this site for times when choppers or loud outdoor scenes were required. The rest was shot in studios - even some of the externals. Three vehicles and the famous destination sign-post were left behind for the tourists.
If you're a TV memorabilia fan, this site has to rank in the top 5 must-see list. I'll give it a 9 out of 10 - perfection is impossible.
I continued along the doubletrack and onto a trail called Bulldog. Turned out to be just a forestry road, but it did climb steeply for all it's length - well, I'm going to assume all, I stopped after about an hour. Why go so long? After not riding much on the trip, I had to start putting in some miles, or I wouldn't be riding any epics later in the trip. The rip down the road was kind of fun too.
View of MASH site from Bulldog
Back to the trailer for a late lunch. Turned out to be a 3hr, 20km ride with the long MASH site stop.
By the time lunch was done, it was 3:15. Could I squeeze in one more ride? Sure, what's the worst that can happen?
This ride was much shorter, and was alllllll singletrack :) The Grasslands trail is an out & back and starts across Malibu Canyon road from the park entrance; or you can take a meandering doubletrack directly from the campsite that would add an extra 0.5km each way and a nasty little climb. So, I went with that. This was a fantastic little trail. A gentle grade, except a short steep climb to a knoll and descent in the middle. I saw a GPS track before the ride, and couldn't believe the trail was going up hill on the way out. Felt very flat.
Massive oak tree. Lots of ribbons tied to it. Only a couple were yellow.
Sure enough, it was uphill. 55 minute 12km ride, 20 minutes on the return.
Back to the trailer just before dark.
Tiring day. The after ride beer tasted great.
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