Channel Islands National Park Trip Report

If you find yourself stuck in busy Los Angeles, the Channel Islands make a great day trip. They are located just miles away from the coast of Southern California and are free to visit, as long as you secure transportation to and from the island.

For $88, I reserved a pair of tickets a week in advance with the park's official boat concessionaire, Island Packers. Just one day before our scheduled departure, though, an employee from Island Packers called to inform us the trip to Anacapa Island was canceled. According to the employee, the cancelation was due to rough waters, but I suspect the real reason was due to low turnout. Fortunately, we were able to transfer our reservations for a day trip to Santa Cruz Island instead.

On Tuesday morning, we set out from the harbor in Ventura, California with about 20 other passengers. After a pleasant hour-long boat ride, we landed at Scorpion Ranch on the eastern tip of Santa Cruz. We ate our packed lunches on the beach, and then set out for a five-mile hike to Potato Harbor. The trail hugged the steep coastal cliffs of the island.

Although the views were great, I was really hoping to spot wildlife found only on these islands, especially the island fox. Even though we found numerous fox scat along the hiking trail, we didn't see any island foxes during our 5-hour stay on Santa Cruz. I learned later that overnight campers have the best chance of spotting these foot-long critters, because they often come out of their burrows at dusk.

I left Santa Cruz a bit disappointed, but we were lucky to experience plenty of marine wildlife on the boat ride back to shore. First, we encountered several migrating gray whales. Every winter, these mammals travel along the Pacific coast to warm and sunny Baja California. Interestingly, they travel in pods of three -- typically, two males and one female -- because the males need assistance to mate with their female partners. As our tour guide put it, "it's hard to have sex without any limbs."

We were also lucky enough to encounter a pod of playful dolphins on the way back as well. The captain slowed the boat down, waiting to arouse the curiosity of the dolphins. Then, he'd gun the boat at full speed -- 20 knots -- and the dolphins would race alongside us.