Join myself and my friend Joey Coconato on my first backpacking trip of 2024. A 6 day backpack on Catalina Island off of the coast of California. We attempt to hike the Trans Catalina Trail however Mother Nature has other plans. Weather and trail closures alter our route. Watch to find out if we make it work.
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San Pedro, California, the port of Los Angeles. We were about to embark upon a new adventure,
one that required we travel across the Pacific by ferry to a small island off the coast of California,
Catalina Island. With me was my good friend Joey Coconato. Catalina is an approximately 25 mile
boat ride from Los Angeles. The boat would be making a quick stop at the smaller of the island's
two villages, two harbors, before moving on to Avalon. Our plan was to spend a couple of days
relaxing and hanging around Avalon before setting out on a multi-day hike on the Trans-Catalina
Trail. Weather was in the forecast, but more on that later. On the way out, please be careful. Watch
your step. Hold onto a handrail if needed. If you have bags, look at your gear down below. Give the
guys a few minutes to start getting everything brought up. Once they do, please give them
space to work. Let's look at the Seaside Motel. Stayed here the last two nights in town
and now we're gonna start on the Trans-Catalina Trail. Day one would be an easy one. We had a
short 1.5 mile hike to our first camp, Hermit Gulch, just outside of town. Good morning from Catalina
Island where we are setting out today to begin our Trans-Catalina Trail trek. We've actually been
here for a couple of days. We were in a motel for the last couple of nights. It was really nice
just kind of chilling and enjoying the island a little bit. A little bit of village life before
we head out on the trip. I've done this one once before, but I really enjoyed it. I'm looking
forward to doing it again. We've got some weather on the way, so we'll see how that all goes.
Today we only have 1.5 miles to get to the Hermit Gulch camp and then tomorrow
is kind of the official official start even though it is official today as well.
Let's get to Hermit Gulch. You're required to stay in designated campsites on the island
and store your food in fox boxes which look like bear boxes that we're all familiar with
and you'll see why later. Check it out there's a fox in our camp. They warned us about foxes.
This guy came and jumped right up on our picnic table. He's not shy at all.
Good morning from a rainy Catalina Island. Looks like we'll be starting out in the rain today,
but that was to be expected. We knew we had three days of rain. Funny because we planned this trip
in advance and when we planned it we had no idea that we'd pick the only three rainy days within
a week on either side for sure. It is what it is and we're gonna make the best of it.
We're getting packed up. We have about nine miles to do today to get to our next camp which is
Blackjack. It is in the interior of the island and if I recall from my last trip here we saw a
lot of bison through there so hopefully we'll see some wildlife. We saw a fox here at camp last night
and yeah getting packed up and getting ready to hit the trail. Well I just got a notification in
my email that all the trails are closed because of the weather, the rain. They do say that you can
still walk the roads, that that's fine. So we checked the map and it looks like there is
accessibility to all the camps from roads. So that's what we're contemplating doing. It's about
10 a.m now and they're saying the rain's not really gonna let up until noon and it's raining
pretty hard right now. We'll figure it out and keep you updated. So currently we have moved on over
into one of these little cabins. The ranger said it was cool. She even said we could stay here
tonight if we needed to but I think the plan is to wait for the rain to die down and we're
gonna do the road walk to our next campground. It should still be really nice. The rain is supposed
to subside within about half an hour or so. We looked at the radar. It looks like it passes over
us so we are gonna go for it and give it a try with the road walk. Just trying to dry my gear out as much as possible
while we're waiting on the rain since we have the space. The rain wasn't letting up anytime soon so
we decided to make a go for it. A ranger allowed us to use the trail system for a short time
All right I think we've made it up to our trail junction slash road junction and they got this
little somewhat covered overhang here. It's not gonna do as much good and we also have a warning
for buffalo. Forgot about that. There are bison here and we got to watch out for them at this point.
We made it to the top of the hill. The hill that we had to climb out of camp which I think was about
1,200 feet in elevation gain. We've gotten to the road which is where what we're gonna have to walk
now so this is new territory for me. I have not done this road walk. I took the trail last time
but it should be I think maybe a little easier than the actual trail so we'll see. We have about
five miles to get to the turnoff to blackjack camp. How's it going Joseph? Glimpse of the ocean today.
Wow I'm so excited.
We've made it to our site here at blackjack campground BJ1. It's pretty private which is nice
and there are bathrooms here. There is water cache and we are going to get set up because it's
getting close to dark and it's cold. We've been wet all day so I'm gonna get set up pretty quick here.
Yeah I feel way more relaxed now.
Isn't that crazy? The weather. Waking up to warm sunshine on day three was definitely a morale
booster. We moved up to the upper campground to try to dry our things out. We were getting
dripped on by the trees above us. We've got everything hanging up hoping to dry it a little
before we hit the trail. My shoes had about quadrupled the amount of mud on them yesterday.
I'm already beginning to scrape it off. They weighed uh had a little extra weight on them.
Not too far into the start of the day's hike we saw our first real glimpses of the ocean
which was very exciting. Well good morning. We have hit the trail and so far it's turning into
a beautiful morning. I'm so thankful that we could see the ocean this morning.
We are heading straight down to the beach Little Harbor. We are on I think it's called Upper
Cottonwood Road. We're just going to take this road all the way to the beach. So we've
definitely made some adjustments because of the trail closure and the fact that you can hike the
Luckily there are roads that lead to the beach however they're pretty rough roads. I mean in
terms of unmaintained just dirt roads. So it's really not like you're on a road for the most
part and there are some beautiful views from here. See how muddy the road is. Pretty hard to walk
right now. Seeing Shark Harbor and our camp at Little Harbor was just breathtaking. For sure one
of my favorite spots on the island. Here's the first buffalo of the trip. Kind of surprising
not every day that you see a bison right along the ocean but there are a bunch of them here
and we've seen them like way far off on open slopes but this is the first close one we've seen.
We had arrived at camp number three Little Harbor. We've made it to camp and it is epic.
This is our view. We're going to get set up. We're letting things dry out. I think we still had some
wet gear and it's drying out really fast. This is going to be a nice night here. Little Harbor
Campground is located on the back side of the island or the west side of the island which sees
much fewer visitors than the east side.
Just sitting here enjoying the ocean. I love it. So relaxing.
We just relaxed dried out and enjoyed our beach side camp for the rest of the evening.
Day four we were once again waking up wet after some overnight rains. Good morning. It's raining
here at Little Harbor this morning. It looks like the rain is going to taper off at about
eight nine o'clock and maybe potentially not rain the rest of the day which would be fantastic.
It got pretty heavy at times overnight but not too bad. We're going to probably wait until about
nine when hopefully the rain will have ended to get hiking and just enjoy the morning here. Have
some coffee. We have about five miles approximately to get to Two Harbors today. The sun has come out.
It's gorgeous. You can see how muddy the roads are and the trails are going to be the same way.
That's why they're closed because it's just really steep and slick and when you're on mud like this
that's just a good way to get hurt. So they have the trails closed. We can still walk the roads.
We're headed out this way. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. This day was a slog in the mud,
mist, and rain. It was a get from point A to point B kind of a day.
All right we have made it here to Two Harbors campground. It's raining on us.
You can see the water and right now we're dropping down to our campsite. We have spot number one
should be as close to the water as we can get. So we're going to drop down and set up the tents,
get dry for a little bit, and then probably go to town. The rain had stopped once we got to our
Two Harbor camp and thankfully that was the last of it for the remainder of the trip.
We're going to town for some pizza. Mud is the theme of the day. First little bit of sun in a while.
All right we've made it to the camp store here which is open. We have ordered a pizza
and also bought some other stuff. They're open nine to six or nine to five. Good morning. Waking
up to a clear morning. Very excited. I think we're done with the rain finally. Today we're going to
hike about a little under eight miles to another one of my favorite camps, Parsons Landing. So
these last three camps have been on the water, on the beach, which I love. Last night it was almost
a full moon. Tonight it's going to be a full moon. So full moon last night on Parsons Landing. It's
going to be awesome. I'm sure we'll still be walking in some mud because the road that we'll
be walking will be dirt so that's okay. It's going to be beautiful. We should be walking along the
water the entire time. It's a choose your own adventure type of a trip with the wrenches thrown
into the works of the trails being closed, but we are making the best of it. We've already hiked from
Avalon to Two Harbors. It's been awesome. Heading down to Two Harbors. Get some coffee.
More coffee. We've had coffee and tea already. And maybe a sandwich to pack out. Maybe a few more
snacks. It's just gorgeous today. Coffee. Fresh coffee.
Backpacking Catalina is definitely a unique experience. You have more interaction with
civilization and an opportunity to eat pepperoni pizza on the beach and have wood delivered to
your campsite. However, it is one that I would recommend and really enjoy.
Night and day between yesterday and today. It's beautiful. We modified this part of the hike to
take the road to Parsons Landing. It was in the sunshine and mostly along the coast on an
absolutely gorgeous day. We're on the final approach down into Parsons Landing. This is
where our camp is going to be. You can see there's some nice beaches down here. And we're headed to
campsite number one, which is supposed to be the nice private spot. And then we're going to get set
up and then go find our water and firewood. Pretty awesome. Site one. Looks like we're already in the
shade, which is a little bit of a bummer. But we can walk down and get by the water to be warm.
We have made it here to Parsons Landing in our own private little cove here in campsite number one.
The sun has already dipped behind this ridge and it's only about 2 35 or something like that.
But we're watching a little baby seal try to climb this rock behind us. And he's already fallen once.
So he's making me very nervous. Hopefully he just gives up and gets back in the water.
Anyhow, it's going to be a beautiful night here. We've got an awesome fire pit.
Head down to the beach and get some sun. Soak in some sun. Last night here. Today's hike was
really nice. Very mellow. Absolutely beautiful. Great temperatures. Great last full day.
Firewood and water are delivered to these lockers, which you are given a code to
for a fee, of course. All right. I don't see any wood. See a fire starter. Dinner was that sandwich I had
packed in from the general store with a pretty epic view. Our final morning waking up to cotton
candy skies and seals frolicking in the surf. We are back on the trail after waking up there
and Parsons Landing and just enjoying the morning there. Taking our time. Didn't leave till about 11
a.m. because we have a little bit of time till the ferry gets here today. It's the last day.
So we're just going to enjoy the walk back same way we came yesterday and get back over to Two Harbors.
We made it back to Two Harbors. We're gonna go grab some pizza and that's pretty much gonna be
the end of this trip except for the boat ride back to San Pedro. The rain, fog, mud, and modifications
of the route only added to the adventure. It was one to remember. As I sit here recording
this narration, I miss it already. Thank you Catalina.
