Bryce and I decided to visit Kyle and Danielle in California. Kyle goes on tour soon, and I had some extra time so we decided to join them on their mini weekend trip to the Channel Islands. While it was a short trip, we still had a lot of fun.
Keep on reading for my day-by-day adventures!
Day 0, June 25: Arrival Day
Since we didn’t want to miss any work, we scheduled a flight to LAX for 9:40pm. It didn’t help that the flight was delayed, and we didn’t end up taking off until around 1:00am. I felt horrible because I was so tired. Thankfully, Kyle and Danielle set up our bed, so once we landed, we just took an Uber to their place and crashed.
Day 1, June 26: Los Angeles
When we woke up, Danielle had left for work so we took Kyle out to breakfast at the Breakfast Republic. It was a solid breakfast choice, and I liked the chicken that poured out the syrup for my pancake. We ran some errands with Kyle and picked up some last minute supplies for our camping trip. That evening, we drove into Koreatown to try Seong Buk Dong. Before we left, we grabbed some Boba tea for the car ride home.
Day 2, June 27: Channel Islands National Park - Santa Rosa Island
We barely made it to the harbor where we would take our first ferry to the Santa Rosa Island. While we were waiting to get onto the ferry, we saw a bunch of crabs and a lobster swimming in the harbor.
We got onto the ferry and got settled. Although we felt less sea sick outside and we also got to see some of the marine life. On our way to Santa Rosa, we saw some dolphins as well as a humpback whales and California gray whales. We were able to see it blow water out of its spout and saw the whale flip its tail before heading back under water. As the ferry approached the island, we got to see the water calm down as well as some Torrey pines. We were unable to hike the Torrey Pine trail since it was a difficult and long hike and we only had 3 hours before the next ferry came, but we got to see some from the ferry. These pine trees are a critically endangered species of pine, and the Pinus torreyana var insularis only grows on the Santa Rosa island.
Once we arrived on Santa Rosa Island, we decided to hike the Cherry Canyon Trail. Even though this was the “shorter and easier” hike, we still ended up hiking just under 4.5 miles.
On our way back to the mainland, we saw Risso’s Dolphins. These dolphins mainly feed on squid and we could see the many scars on their bodies. We also made a trip to the Painted Cave, which is the second-largest sea cave in the United States. The rest of the ferry ride was abundant with more dolphins. Once we made it back, we set up our tent, cooked some dinner, and went to sleep.
Day 3, June 28: Channel Islands National Park - Santa Cruz Island
On Santa Cruz, we opted to hike the Pelican Bay trail, a 4.3 mile out and back trail. It’s actually through the Nature Conservancy so we had to sign a waiver since we would no longer be on the Channel Islands National Park property. Bryce and I didn’t walk to the end of the trail as we ran out of water and wanted to make sure we could get back on time for the ferry. We were able to make it just over 3.5 miles on 2 liters of water though, and still got to see some amazing views of the water and lots of wildlife and marine life on the island. We saw the Santa Cruz Island Scrub Jay, which is endemic to the island and is not found anywhere else. There is a related California Scrub Jay, but this one is found on mainland California coast. While waiting for the ferry at the end of our hike, we saw a sea lion swimming, some sting rays, and even multiple leopard sharks near the shore. These sharks prefer waters around 300 feet and we were easily able to see them as the waters were clear enough for us to see through.
We thought it would be a relatively quiet ride back on the ferry. However, we were able to witness a superpod of more than 1000 common dolphins feeding on schools of fish. There were also birds that would fly down to eat the fish too. This was an amazing sight to see. Overall, we got to see common dolphins and bottle nosed dolphins on our way back. Once we got back to the campsite, we cooked up some dinner, made a smore, and then went to off to sleep in our tents.
Day 4, June 29: Ventura, California
On Sunday, we decided to explore Ventura. We started off with a cute coffee shop near the Ventura Pier. Then we walked on the Pier, which used to be the commercial Ventura Wharf. It is actually the largest wooden pier on the coast of California and even on our short morning walk, we saw many people fishing off the Pier. It was clear enough out that we could make out the outlines of the Channel Islands in the distance. Afterwards, we went to the Ventura Botanical Gardens. Bryce and I are part of the American Horticultural Society so we were able to get free admission. It was a 2.4 mile out and back trail. I knew it would be hot and sunny, but I was not prepared for the 400 foot elevation gain that was part of the Gardens. Overall, we got to see plants from Chile, California, the Mediterranean and South Africa.
We stopped at the Channel Islands Visitor Center but it was very small and didn’t take much time. While at the Pier, we all realized we needed to rest and get some water. We decided to eat at Brophy Bros. where I ordered clam strips and calamari. The idea of the beach was thrown out there, but we all finally agreed we just wanted to get back, shower, and rest for the rest of the day.
All good trips have an end, and our time camping in California had come to an end. I was glad to pick up Nico and finally be back home. It was wonderful to explore two different islands, see amazing marine and island wild life, while enjoying time with family!