Big Sycamore Canyon, often shortened to Sycamore Canyon, is a major feature of

Point Mugu State Park Point Mugu State Park is a state park located in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Southern California. The rugged, nearly impassible shoreline of the western Santa Monica Mountains gives way to tidal lagoons and coastal sand ...

, in

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxn ...

, United States. Sycamore Canyon is situated in the northernmost region of the

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area containing many individual parks and open space preserves, located primarily in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. The SMMNRA is in t ...

below the peaks of the

Boney Mountain State Wilderness Area Boney Mountain in Ventura County, California is one of the highest peaks in the Santa Monica Mountains. The prominent mountain visible from Newbury Park, California is . It is also known as Boney Peak. The mountain contains four of the highest p ...

. The canyon begins on the north slope of Boney Mountain and heads north down the slope. The canyon then heads southwest past Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa to Sycamore Cove on the coastline. The canyon in the park is one of the riparian woodlands along the California coast.Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (N.R.A.), General Management Plan (GMP): Environmental Impact Statement. United States: n.p., 1982. It contains a number of

California sycamore ''Platanus racemosa'' is a species of plane tree known by several common names, including California sycamore, western sycamore, California plane tree, and in North American Spanish aliso. ''Platanus racemosa'' is native to California and Baja C ...

trees. As a primary pathway through the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...

between the

Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both southeastern Ventura County and northwestern Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It is located in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. Communities in the Conejo ...

and the coast, Big Sycamore Canyon Trail is a popular trail. The

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry". Species of trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplata ...

-lined canyon is close to numerous trailheads, including the

Backbone Trail The Backbone Trail is a long-distance trail extending 67.79 miles (109.10 km) across the length of the Santa Monica Mountains in the U.S. state of California. Its western terminus is Point Mugu State Park, and its eastern terminus is Wil ...

. Other nearby trails include the Satwiwa Loop, Mishe Mokwa, Overlook Trail, Lower Big Sycamore Trail, and Wood Canyon Trail. Big Sycamore Canyon was for thousands of years a popular trading route connecting the Conejo Valley to the Pacific Ocean through the

for the Ventureño

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also *Chumash traditional n ...

and

Tongva people The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous peoples of California, Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Channel Islands of California, Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people p ...

who inhabited the area for thousands of years. At the top of the canyon is the

Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center Satwiwa (Chumash: "the bluffs") was a former Chumash village in the Santa Monica Mountains of Newbury Park, California. The current Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center is operated by the National Park Service in cooperation with the Frie ...

located in the historic

Satwiwa Satwiwa ( Chumash: "the bluffs") was a former Chumash village in the Santa Monica Mountains of Newbury Park, California. The current Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center is operated by the National Park Service in cooperation with the Fr ...

village site adjacent to

Rancho Sierra Vista Rancho Sierra Vista is one of the last intact ranches from the first half of the twentieth century in the Santa Monica Mountains. The majority of the landscape is much as it was 100 years ago. The area is now owned by the Santa Monica Mountain ...

in southern Newbury Park.Brundige, Don and Sharron (1994). ''Bicycle Rides: Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties''. B-D Enterprises. Pages 218-221. .

References

{{authority control Newbury Park, California Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Canyons and gorges of California Santa Monica Mountains