Outside Magazine

The campground at Malibu Creek State Park, 25 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, can feel like the most peaceful place on earth. Tucked into a canyon halfway between the celebrityvilles of Calabasas (population 24,000) and Malibu (population 13,000), it’s a natural oasis in one of the most crowded regions in America. Every year the state park, part of which used to be owned by 20th Century Fox and was the set of M*A*S*H for more than a decade, hosts 300,000 visitors who come to hike, bike, fish, and camp. 

“It doesn’t get any more chill than around here,” says Henry Jenkinson, a 21-year-old construction worker and surfer who’s lived at the Blue Dude Community, a cluster of 13 mobile homes next to the park, since he was 12. “Ten minutes to the beach, ten minutes to do errands over the hill. You can’t beat it.” 

When I visited the state park on a warm morning in February, rugged summits poked through the clouds and encased a lush, green canyon floor. Normally, the 63-site campground would have been humming with people on a day like this, but bundles of firewood rested unused next to pits, and the tent platforms had sprouted grass. Other than a red-tailed hawk hovering above, scanning the ground for breakfast, the place was deserted.