back to the channel islands... way, way, way back

After seriously spraining my ankle earlier this year hiking on an island, you'd think I'd be hesitant to go hiking again on another, farther away island. I would've thought that too.... except Island Packers only goes to San Miguel Island once or twice a year. So I wasn't going to pass up this trip in October!



Neither was my friend James, who sprained his ankle a week before and was wearing an ankle boot to protect his injury. He was a total trooper considering there is no dock on San Miguel Island... you get to the island via one of two tiny motor boats loaded on the back of the big boat.

Yet, halfway into the literal 3-hour cruise to San Miguel, I started wishing I had passed up the trip for a while... that was the roughest boat ride I'd ever been on. Seeing two pods of dolphins didn't make up for getting as close to puking off the side of a boat as I've ever been. Ginger candy didn't work. My motion sickness bracelets didn't work. And five other people puking off the side of the boat next to me definitely did NOT help. It was bad. (Adventure organizer Linda has given me motion sickness patches to try on the next trip :p)

However, once we finally got out to the island, and my stomach settled, the fun of the adventure set in. We made it to the shore without getting drenched (although on the return trip to the boat we were not so lucky, as a wave washed over us while we were loading).








You can only hike with Island Park Rangers because San Miguel Island was used for military tests in the past. (We had to sign a waiver saying we wouldn't sue Island Packers or the government if we stepped on a bomb.. I'm not kidding.)  So Linda and I joined the hike that was supposed to go to the Caliche Forest (James stayed on the beach with his ankle boot and a book). But after hiking through the sand and up stairs built into the side of the hill....



.... and then up the path and around the bend, our volunteer Ranger guide missed the turn-off for the forest and didn't realize it until we'd gone about 30 minutes in the wrong direction. We tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and followed him for a while longer in the correct direction. But when it became clear we would never get to the Caliche Forest in the limited time left before the boat had to leave, we turned back and visited the Cabrillo Monument on our own and look photos of all the vegetation. It was quite a contrast to the pretty green-ness we saw on Santa Cruz Island in March.... everything was dried out from the hot summer and fall. But it was still cool to visit one of the first islands explorers discovered when arriving on the west coast.

Remnants of an old windmill

          

Loading back up on the big boat

We stopped in a nearby cove on the way home to see the elephant seals sleeping on shore. 

We had a great sunset view on the boat ride home, which was MUCH smoother than the ride out. 

wildflowers, scenic views and sprained ankles

Back in March, my Channel Islands crew (aka Linda and James and I) decided to hit the high seas and head out to Santa Cruz Island to see the wildflowers in massive bloom after all the rain Southern California received this winter.

It was a foggy boat ride out to the island, but cleared just as we got near the island's coast. And our hike was beautiful and awesome for about two hours before klutz-o me, while walking on what I thought was a flat path looking at a field of pretty wildflowers, turned my ankle on a little dip off the path. I heard it pop, and thought it was broken. Luckily it was not and I was able to walk back the three miles to the boat. Unluckily, that probably wasn't the best idea, as here we are six weeks later and I'm in physical therapy and getting MRI results back on Tuesday because the "sprain" still hasn't healed.

But seeing un-disturbed nature in full bloom and pretty green-ness was still worth it... check out these gorgeous pics. You'll think we'd gone to The Shire :)

A wild island fox, looking for crumbs...

A long, thick layer of fog clung to the Ventura Coastline all day. The boat had to use the foghorn on the way back to make sure other boats knew we were there. 

In happy times, pre-sprained ankle

                

 

sunday funday: santa rosa island

A few weekends ago, I had a BBQ and my friend Linda mentioned wanting to go hike out on one of the Channel Islands. I have only ever been to one of the eight Channel Islands - Catalina - but have wanted to visit others since high school when I learned all about them from my TOHS biology teacher Mr. Wucherfennig, who was an expert on the islands. So I immediately said I was in! Linda booked a 3-hour cruise with Island Packers out to Santa Rosa Island at the end of August for the two of us and our friend James. 

Here are all the photos from that super fun and gorgeous day. I will definitely be visiting again!

The 3-Hour Cruise

On my last boat ride, I almost puked when I started eating lunch. So I played it safe and ordered motion sickness bracelets for this trip. Best idea I could've had, because it was not smooth sailing. But we saw awesome "nature" on our windy trip out to Santa Rosa.

There were hundreds of dolphins and baby dolphins swimming near our boat. I had hoped to see a whale or two too, but I can be content with baby dolphins :)  

To get to Santa Rosa, you leave from Ventura Harbor and sail in between Anacapa, the smallest, and Santa Cruz, the largest of the islands in Channel Islands National Park. Then you take a right behind Santa Rosa for another half hour or so. Here is a three-part mini-island covered in "island snow" (aka bird poop), off the Santa Cruz Island coast.

Our first view of Santa Rosa

 Santa Rosa Island

After talking to one of the Island Packers crew members on the boat, we decided we'd take a "moderate" hike out to the Torrey Pines area of the island. He told us it was a fairly flat 5-7 mile hike and we'd have to watch our time (we only had about 3.5 hours on the island before the boat left) but we should be able to make it and there would be a nice shady bench where we could picnic.

Fun Facts About Torrey Pines:

• The Santa Rosa Island subspecies of Torrey pine, is considered one of the rarest pines in the world, the last enduring members of a once widespread Pleistocene forest. 
• A remnant, mainland subspecies of Torrey pine also can be found near La Jolla, California, at Torrey Pines State Reserve. 

WTF! You mean we could have FLOWN here?!?!

Path to the beach... and we hope to Torrey Pines.

And there was actually some water in Water Canyon. We had to cross a little plank bridge over a stream to get to the beach. Then we crossed it again back-tracking to search for the trail to Torrey Pines.

But first.... the beach. Ahhhh.....

Who knew there was water this blue this close to California? I thought I had to go all the way to Hawaii to see this.

Yes! We're going the right way!

This is James and Linda. We're heading towards those (Torrey Pine) trees on that hill waaay in the distance. 

Spotted a little bit of color amongst all the shades of brown.

We made it! (Note the pine trees there on the left) Our boat is way off by that land mass in the top left of the photo.

The Torrey Pines Trail up the hill, in search of the illusive "bench" and a stream of petrified pinecones. 

Me, halfway up the hill, admiring nature.
Our boat is that white speck in the top left of the photo. At this point, we still hadn't found "the bench" so we sat and ate lunch on some shaded rocks. Then headed back to the boat the way we came.

Santa Cruz Island as seen from Torrey Pines on Santa Rosa Island.

The abandoned ranch house near the dock. 

Mosses growing on the wooden fence.

Yay! We made it back before the boat docked so we had time for frolicking on the beach.

Getting to the beach by the dock requires climbing down this metal ladder (left).
The barnacles along the pier's posts were still alive.(right).

The Return Trip 

Our return trip took longer than the trip out to the island because we made two pitstops on Santa Cruz Island. The first was at The Painted Cave. Our boat couldn't fit all the way inside, but we got as close a look as we could. You may recognize this cave from a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. 

My video of the cave. If you listen closely, you may be able to hear the captain's commentary.

Then we stopped to pick up a bunch of artists and volunteers who'd been staying on the island all weekend. They had a ton of stuff... "because there's a truck on the island to carry it back and forth between the ranch house and the dock," one of the conservancy volunteers told us once on the boat.

Oh, and on the boat, Linda also found two hikers who'd gone past us on the Torrey Pines Trail and asked them if they ever found "the bench." Yep... about five minutes after they passed us. Oh well.. next time ;)