My husband Mike and I didn’t know what to expect when we booked our two night camping trip to Santa Rosa Island in late March. Would it be too cold? Windy? We had read about severe winds on the Channel Islands and were bracing for the worst.
Our first sense of foreboding was when the charter boat company, Island Packers, emailed us the night before that the trip was delayed due to high winds. Driving down Hwy 101 that morning, we wondered what wind? But as we rounded the corner into Ventura, the wind was whipping, palm trees were swaying to and fro, and dust was being kicked up all over the road. Uh oh.
The boat crew told us it was the Santa Ana winds and they were hoping we could escape them when out in the Channel. Thankfully they were right and once out of the harbor, the winds died down a bit and our captain started pointing out wildlife.
First up were some Risso’s dolphins, which could be distinguished by their spotted heads and necks. Next were two groups of humpback whales. One group was obviously feeding as the flock of birds in pursuit attested. The others were taking a little nap, a mother and a calf. We pulled up to a safe distance and saw them floating on the surface, which is the only way they can get any sleep, the captain told us. It was already a magical trip and we hadn’t even arrived yet.
The Channel Islands are part of a National Marine Sanctuary that protects 1,470 square miles of ocean waters around the five Islands: Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara islands. Santa Rosa Island is the second largest after Santa Cruz, with over 53,000 acres. We were drawn there because the island boasts some of the best hiking, with promises of rolling hills, deep canyons, and hidden beaches.
Once to the island, the ferry nosed in at Bechers Bay and we unloaded from the front of the boat. This precarious loading maneuver is why many trips get cancelled. When the seas are too rough, the captain can’t hold the boat next to the dock safely to let passengers off.
Once safely on the pier, we got a quick overview of the do’s and don’ts of the island by the local Park Ranger. As the boat left the dock, we realized we were on our own. A quick glance at our cell phones showed us we had no service, which made me realize we were truly going to relax on this trip. We hefted up our backpacks and started the 1.3 mile walk to the campsite with about 20 other rag tag campers, some fully prepared with backpacking equipment, others lugging duffle bags and dragging ice chests. We were truly a motley crew.
The island is breathtaking, completely quiet and serene. We walked along the shoreline path with views of the beautiful white sand beach below, mesmerized by the solitude and the feeling like we were the only people for miles. Photo credit: Tim Hauf-timhaufphotograph.com.
The camping on Santa Rosa is located in a small canyon about a half mile up from the beach. Each of the twelve sites is equipped with a giant lean-to (for the wind), and a food locker to keep your stores safe from the many critters around like crows, mice and the island fox. We set up our tent as close to the lean-to as we could, following the lead of the others, stowed our food and headed out on our first hike.
Walking back down the canyon toward the beach, we turned right toward the rare grove of Torrey Pines. Lavender Cudweed Aster and California Poppies were blooming throughout the fields to the left and right, making a splash of color everywhere we looked.
The Channel Islands are home to 14 threatened or endangered plants, some existing only here. Once cattle were removed from the island in 1998, many native plants and animals were able to thrive again. Removal of non-native species by the Channel Islands Restoration group as well as studies and restoration work done by a partnership with Cal Poly and the USGS have also contributed to the long-term health of the island eco-system.
We took a right at the first sign marking the trail to the Torrey Pines. These beautiful pine trees are the rarest pine in North America according to the Nature Collective, and are only found on Santa Rosa Island and on the sandy bluffs of northern San Diego. Needless to say, the Pine forest is amazing. The steep hike takes you through the trees with many beautiful overlooks of the deserted bay below in both directions.
As the many piles of scat on the trail attested, we were closing in on the Island Gray Fox. This small fox was brought back from the brink of extinction by a captive breeding program begun in 2000. As of 2015, there are approximately 874 foxes on Santa Rosa Island and many more on San Miguel and Santa Cruz Islands. Photo credit: Tim Coonan.
When we did finally spot a fox, he was not bothered by our proximity at all. As he sniffed and hunted for food along the trail, he glanced back at us casually, with no move to clear the path. Finally, we had to shoo him off the trail so we could get by, only to encounter another two foxes, this time, peeing on the trail to mark their territory while making sure we saw them. We had a good chuckle at their territorial behavior and kept going.
That night the air was so still and warm, we ended up moving our tent further out of the lean-to to catch a little breeze. The next day we tackled a 15-mile hike out to Lobo Canyon. The map showed it to be 9 miles round trip, but our legs felt differently. The hike started on a fire road across the western half of the island with beautiful views of the ocean and San Miguel Island in the distance. After several hours we reached the mouth of the canyon which was amazingly lush and otherworldly.
The Coreopsis or Tree Sunflowers were blooming all along the path and provided a strange Dr. Seuss-like landscape as we made our way into the canyon. The many Oak trees were draped in Spanish Moss and sandstone canyon walls rose up on either side, showing thousands of years of erosion in strange undulating shapes and shades of pink and orange. It was truly a magical hike. Photo credit: Samantha Smith.
Once through the canyon, a beautiful secluded beach opened up to us, but alas, another couple had gotten there first. Instead, we passed the beach and made our way up the bluff to another section of coastline with tidepools and beautiful crashing waves. We sat and ate our lunch and stared off at the distant Santa Barbara coast, feeling like the only people who had ever set foot in that spot.
That night we finally experienced the whipping winds that the island is famous for. The tent shook and flapped violently all night, keeping me awake, wondering whether it was going to break apart. The next morning the wind had died down and we enjoyed our last few hours on the white sand beach at Bechers Bay, reachable by a tall metal ladder from the pier.
The boat trip home was a special bonus sightseeing tour as we stopped at Santa Cruz Island to pick up passengers, cruised the shoreline and explored one of the unique caves the area is known for (Painted Cave). We also spotted more whales including Humpback, Blue and Fin Whales while also stopping to pick up some plastic trash that included mylar balloons. The Captain gave a very impassioned plea for people to please stop buying these balloons and letting them go into the air. As fun as it seems at the time, many end up in the oceans, caught on or ingested by wildlife.
All whales are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and about one third of the cetacean (whales, dolphins & porpoises) species found worldwide can be seen in the Santa Barbara Channel, making it a unique and amazing wildlife viewing area. Photo credit: Samantha Smith.
California is truly a special place, made even more so by the fact that we can take a short boat trip from the crowded coast and see so much wildlife and wild places, off the grid and unspoiled. This trip was a great reminder of what is truly at stake as we tackle environmental damage and climate change. So many plants and animals live in this special place with us and deserve our help to keep them safe and allow them to thrive.
Resources:
https://thenaturecollective.org/plant-guide/details/torrey-pine/