Trip Date: September 4-5, 2024
Santa Cruz is the largest of the five islands that make up Channel Islands National Park. The island is known for its rugged beauty, diverse ecosystems, and rich wildlife. Santa Cruz offers an unforgettable experience for outdoor enthusiasts and nature explorers. It has been nearly 8 years since my last visit to Santa Cruz Island. This time would be a different adventure, as we would not be backpacking, but rather spending just a little more time on the water. 💦
My friends at Santa Barbara Adventure Company reached out with an amazing opportunity to visit the island and check out their Adventures Sea Cave Kayaking Tour. I’ve been kayaking a few times, but never on the Channel Islands, and have never explored sea caves. It was incredible all that we saw during our ~4-hour tour. We must’ve explored at least 5 different sea caves, seen wildlife, and even explored 500 ft. beneath the island! 🏝
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The adventure started in Ventura, CA at Island Packers. We took the ferry for approximately 1.5 hours to Santa Cruz Island. After a quick orientation, and gear-up, we hit the water. Out of the 4 kayaks in our group- guess who were the only ones to flip over? Yep. Thanks, sis. LOL. It could have been way worse, but we flipped a few hundred feet away from shore. We ended up paddling for 3-miles! My arms were quite sore afterward, but worth the adventure.
After our kayaking tour, we picked up our camping gear from the gear boxes and walked over to our campsite at Lower Scorpion Ranch. Each campsite is equipped with a table, and fox box. Our site (#21) was quite large, and perfect walking distance to the restroom. We set up camp, ate a small lunch, and prepared our packs for a sunset hike to Potato Harbor.
The hike to Potato Harbor is approximately 3.7 miles round-trip from Scorpion Ranch Campground. We left camp around 6:30 PM that evening and made it right on time to catch the most amazing sunset. Using our headlamps for the hike back, was the perfect option for our sunset hike.
The next day, we packed up camp early and planned for a 7-8 mile day hike to Smugglers Cove. It only made sense to plan a long day hike since our ferry was not arriving until 4 PM that afternoon. Prepared with day packs, unfortunately only 1L of water each, lunch, and sandals for the beach- we set out at around 9:30 AM.
The hike to Smugglers Cove was tough. Exposed. No water. Dry. Hot..but, totally worth it. I was grateful to have packed a new sun hoodie, the Amp Lite from Royal Robbins, for ultimate sun protection. We arrived a little too early, high tide and, weren’t able to get in the water immediately as we had hoped. We were there for a few hours before finally getting wet for our long, hot, dry, hike back. The hike would have been way more enjoyable had we been better prepared with sun protection and water. ☀
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Channel Islands is a great place to experience and explore the islands. In my opinion, September was a little too hot for hiking, but perfect for island kayaking. 🛶
