What a difference two weeks makes! When Daniel (my roommate) and I first floated the idea of visiting all 59 National Parks, it was purely hypothetical- in fact the only reason we knew that there were 59 National Park was that I Googled it on our drive back from Pinnacles.
Now, two weeks later, we know the locations of all 59 Parks and have sorted out the exact logistics of getting to the next dozen and the general logistics of getting to an additional 40. We also have discovered that we’re going to need to seriously skill up in Survival skills if were going to A) Even attempt the remote Alaskan parks B) Not go broke visiting these parks- so look forward to future blog posts about us attempting to become Bear Grylls!
Anyways- as the title indicates, today’s post is about the Channel Islands National Park, which is located off the Southwest coast of California. There are technically 5 islands protected by the National Park service, but the main island that people visit is Santa Cruz Island- know for its sea caves and dramatic mountainous landscape:
There’s also all kinds of unique wildlife on and around the park: over the course of two days, we saw giant 30 foot basking sharks, seals, sea lions, island foxes and lizards (both endemic to the Park), pelicans, dolphins, and giant demon-like crows that stalk the campsites looking for food.
The easiest way to get to the park is to catch a boat from Ventura-which is roughly 15 minutes south of Santa Barbara. There are no entry fees to the park itself, but the boat ride does cost about $50 round trip and takes about an hour to get to the Island.
Also- currently the pier on Santa Cruz Island is unusable (storm damage), so the only way to reach the shore is by tiny 6-person boats called “Skiffs”. This slows down the transit process considerably- so figure if you visit the park, it will take about an additional 30-45 minutes to get to shore once the big boat anchors.
Anyways- we visited the park for two days- here’s a breakdown of both days:
Day #1: Hiking
Santa Cruz Island is full of awesome hikes and we started our day by hiking from Scorpion Anchorage (where we skiffed ashore) to Smuggler’s Cove. This hike goes over the cliffs surrounding Scorpion and follows a path to Smuggler’s- which is a small cove on the other side. From there- we could see some of the other islands including Anacapa:
As indicated by the photo, weather wise the day started grey and gloomy but by about 2pm, cleared up and became sunny and beautiful:
After hiking to Smuggler’s, we finished day one by cutting back across the Island and walking along the Sea Cliffs near Potato Harbor:
Day #2: Kayaking
On Day #2, we signed up for a Sea Kayaking tour with “Santa Barbara Adventures”- they were awesome and we highly recommend using them if you visit the islands.
The tour is awesome- we travelled along the sea cliffs and went in and out of these massive sea caves on the island. Unfortunately due the fact we were constantly being drenched in water (thankfully the touring company gave us wet suits and “splash jackets”), I did not taking any pictures while in the Kayak, but here’s a quick photo of one the areas we kayaked through:
Unfortunately the one thing we did not get to do on the island was go snorkeling- we were told the visibility was terrible on the day we visited, so we ended up not doing it. That said, next time we visit we are definitely doing it because the underwater “kelp forest” around the island looks stunning. Here’s a photo that another photographer took of it:
Channel Islands: Under the Sea
All in all- we both loved the park and had an awesome time. Next up we are heading off to Utah to see the epic Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks!
So long for now!
-MB
PS- one last image:
