Channel Islands National Park - Day one

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Geo: 34.0606, -119.915



Arrived @ LAX Wednesday, April 14, around 5 PM and drove to Ventura for our motel. Up early and on to Ventura harbor to catch the 9:00 AM boat to Santa Cruz Island, the largest in Channel Islands National Park.

Boat was a little late leaving because around 20 college students from UC Santa Cruz, along with all their supplies, were going to spend 8 days camping on the island, and around 60 K through 4th grade children and their chaperones were going for a field trip. Don't think the children stopped running around on the boat for the entire 1 hour trip.
Upon arrival, we turned out to be one of only two couples who were independent day hikers.

After a required island orientation, we took a short guided hike to Cavern Point on a bluff overlooking the Santa Barbara Channel.

Then hiked along the bluffs to a point overlooking Potato Harbor, then returned to the pier for the return trip at 3:15 PM.




Got back to the mainland around 4:45 and drove to Azusa, CA, and a Super 8 motel for the night.

A link to a document describing the hikes available on Santa Cruz Island, with a map, is:

http://www.islandpackers.com/ipcoWebpdf/scihiking.pdf

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Photos

LAX
The signature picture of Los Angeles International Airport.

Ferry
This is the ferry that took us to Santa Cruz Island. Took about an hour to get there and we saw lots of dolphin playing along the way as well as a couple of sea lions.

Pier
The short pier that we disembarked onto from the ferry is that little thing jutting out into the harbor in the center of the picture.

The Bluffs
Taken from Cavern Point. We walked along the bluff to Potato Harbor which is on the other side of the point in this picture.

Cavern Point
Taken from the Bluffs Trail. We hiked to Cavern Point with a national park volunteer guide then continued on our own to Potato Harbor. Note the different coloring of the cliff rocks.

Potato Harbor
We could hear seals or sea lions barking here but never could see any.

Santa Cruz Ranch
This is a picture of the main ranch house that has been preserved from the days when the island was home to a working sheep ranch. The trees are Eucalyptus trees planted by the ranchers, not native to the island.

Comments

[Shayna]

The Channel Islands are wonderful hiking and camping areas! Santa Cruz as well is my favorite island! The biggest and has the most to offer (at least for me!) I really love the hiking and views here and the kayaking is a great time if the w
eather calls for it. If you ever make it to the mainland (Santa Barbara) they have some great hiking and places to check out there. A good hotel to look into on your next trip would be the Sandman Inn (www.thesandmaninn.com). Cheap and one of the best stays in town!

[Christina]

Santa Cruz island has excellent hiking and the wildlife is so cool to see up close. I've been there a few times and all the photos are just reminding me how I need to go back. I love the mainland too. Santa Barbara is so gorgeous and a lot
of fun to visit to. Did you go there as well? I hope! I love going there-always have a great time. Love staying at the Sandman Inn (www.thesandmaninn.com). Budget friendly and by far the greatest place to stay for those weekend getaways in town.