Malibu Creek

-You’re either kicking ass or getting your ass kicked – and there ain’t no in between-

For the past three years we’ve ignored Malibu Creek State Park, driving right past it on our way to the beach or to the best Thai in the area.  The reason probably being that we’d tried to go early on but no dogs were allowed on the many hiking trails inside the park.  Hiking while leaving Charlie home always felt like betrayal, so we crossed Malibu Creek off our list.

Then this month Seb had a week of surf camp in Santa Monica and Mick suggested we camp for the week somewhere on the coast to make the commute easier and have a little fun in the process.  Great idea.  One hitch:  this time of year camping along the coast is booked up and crowded.  You might get lucky and land a site at Leo Carrillo, a beach we’ve enjoyed in the past, with tide pools, star fish, anenomie, and caves, but the last time we were there during peak season we went to sleep to the sweet natural sounds of C&C Music Factory.  Despite how great the late Leo Carrillo was as Pancho in the Cisco Kid, the campground’s not great enough to make up for Freedom Williams’ rap locked into my head for days.  What else is in the area?  Ahhh, Malibu Creek.  Sites available.  Just over the hill from the coast.  Let’s do it, and hope it doesn’t suck….why are sites available…?  Ok, ok, how bad can it be.

Depends on your state of mind it turns out.

Malibu Creek is a perfectly pleasant place to camp.  In fact, I’d guarantee we’ll be back.  For some reason, though, day 1, day 2, and half of day 3 feel like slogging work.  Commuting back and forth, called back into Hollywood for work, half-assing the camping.  We are off.  What usually brings us close together, a trip, different surroundings, is having the opposite effect and it’s two days of a grind accompanied by a bout of punishing diarrhea, and a couple of ‘what the f**k?’ happenings that I just can’t tell you about.  Enough was enough.  You ride the wave or it crushes you.  Wake up with purpose, deliberately.

-A morning hike, and discovery-

Funny what you find when you get active – within and without.  Not only is Malibu Creek a gem for activity, I was reminded how hiking and climbing (especially) reflect life so clearly.  You may have a goal, and there is no easy, direct path to the goal, so you climb and search to find your path, taking the long way , higher and higher, looking for a way to cut across, higher still, the views, the climb, the challenge.  You find momentum, and higher you reach despite the fatigue, the climb itself invigorating, and you find you’d stopped thinking about the intended result, so involved were you in the process.  And you reach a point where you have to decide, do you redirect toward that original goal, or do you honor where the process has taken you and keep flowing with the momentum you’ve built?    If you trust it, you follow your instinct, and it may take you on a long circuitous journey that’s twice as long as anything you expected, twice as tiring as anything for which you prepared, but that may just reveal hidden beauty that rivals the ends and justifies the means, discovery that might have been missed had you simply listened to intellect.
And you return full of life, perhaps having reached your goal, perhaps not, but having been challenged and learned, knowing you stayed true to instinct, choose to kick ass, and ready, once again, for the reigns.

I’ll set aside more hiking/climbing time in Malibu Creek to be sure.  And I noticed many a crawfish in the creek that would go well with new potatoes, corn, and cajun spices.  Maybe we can tempt some of you to come pinch the tail and suck the head….