Rock Climbing in Malibu Creek Canyon
I’ve been rock climbing indoors many times, and outdoor only a handful of times. The outdoor experience is always so exhilarating! Out in nature with an an unmarked rock wall to ascend. My good friends Bradon and Zack have recently gotten more into the sport, so I opted to head to Malibu Creek Canyon on a Sunday morning with my good friend Bradon to do some climbing.
Malibu Creek Canyon is loaded with great hiking trails and rock climbing routes. There are 8,000 acres of plains, oak savannahs and dramatic mountain peaks. We arrived and walked about 20min on a trail through some beautiful fields and mountain views to the creek itself, where a lot of people come to picnic and swim. It often gets crowded here on the weekends with organized trips and family gatherings. To get to some rock climbing routes, you have to traverse a rock wall over the creek to get to the other side. Rock climbing shoes are ideal for this, or hiking boots with really good traction. If you don’t have good traction you might end up falling into the creek.
Bradon set up ropes at the top of a 40 foot drop into the canyon. We’d have to repel down to a rock landing on the creek. I had to have a lot of trust in Bradon in setting up the ropes since I’d be the first to drop down over the side to descend. I was a little bit nervous at this point. I survived to tell this story, so thankfully the ropes were secure. We tried quite a few routes on this giant boulder, my forearms cramped up after some time. Rock climbing really works some muscles you rarely use otherwise in life.
There are over 120 rock climbing routes on high quality volcanic rock in Malibu Creek Canyon, and it’s considered some of the best rock climbing in Southern California. Whether you climb or not, you should take a trip here to hike, fish, horseback ride, or picnic.
