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 (United States), county located in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, Ca ...

, 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 (SMMNRA) is a national recreation area containing many individual parks and open space preserves, located primarily in Southern California's Santa Monica Mountains. Located in greater Los Ange ...

below the peaks of the Boney Mountain State Wilderness Area. 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 . ''Platanus racemosa'' is native to California and Baja Califo ...

trees. As a primary pathway through the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains are a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area encompasses this mountain range. Because of its p ...

between the

Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle del Conejo'', meaning "Valley of the Rabbit") is a region spanning both southeastern Ventura County, California, Ventura County and northwestern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles C ...

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 () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...

-lined canyon is close to numerous trailheads, including the

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

. 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

* Pentateuch (dis ...

and

Tongva people The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . In the precolonial era, the people lived in as many as 100 villages and primarily identified by ...

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 Fri ...

located in the historic

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

village site adjacent to Rancho Sierra Vista 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