Point Mugu State Park Reopening, PCH Still Closed

The nearly two-month-long closure of Point Mugu State Park will soon be lifted. Park officials plan to reopen the park on February 1st.

Crews have been hard at work repairing the damage last month’s mudslides created along the Pacific Coast Highway and Point Mugu State Park.

The good news is Point Mugu State Park is expected to open this weekend; the bad news is the Pacific Coast Highway will be closed for another month.

The park and highway were closed after heavy rain on Dec. 12 brought mud and rocks down steep ravines and over roads, trails and campsites.

Part of the trails on the Newbury Park side reopened earlier this week. These trails can be accessed through Rancho Sierra Vista in Newbury Park. Local hikers are now waiting for the eight-mile hiking trail to the beach to reopen.

“My favorite running trails are on the ocean side and I have been anxious to get out there and run, but I keep hearing that they are expanding the closure date,” said Cassie Severa of Newbury Park.

Now that the work is almost finished on the trails, Point Mugu State Park and the trails that stretch from Newbury Park to the ocean in Malibu should be opening soon. State Park officials say it will be opened up as soon as Caltrans declares that side of the PCH is safe, and can be re-opened. When the park reopens it could be a few weeks before running water is restored to the campsites.

While the mud on the PCH is now cleaned up, there is still a lot more work to be done. Caltrans crews are now working on a new issue. The high surf we had in late January washed away the slopes below the highway. Crews are now working to replace large boulders and guardrails to secure the hillside. Caltrans expects the erosion damage to be repaired in the next month, and the PCH to fully reopen at the beginning of March.