Bikepacking Catalina Island: 2 Days, 1 Night, 65 Miles of California Adventure

Catalina Island. Just an hour and a half ferry from Long Beach and one of the coolest places to explore in Southern California. Beautiful coastline, rugged mountains, crystal clear water. What more could you ask for? It's too early. So many bike people. My final hurrah solo trip before my wife and I had our first baby was a bikepacking overnight to Catalina Island. I booked the 8am ferry from Long Beach to Avalon on Sunday morning, snagged a campsite at Two Harbors that night, and had to make it back on a 4pm ferry home on Monday afternoon. The perfect 36 hour adventure. So last order of business before our adventure starts. Stopping in at Catalina Island Conservancy to get our little bike permit. As is the case with pretty much all of my riding, we're not in a hurry today. It's like 25 to 30 miles across the island. We've got all day to do it. Any kind of dilly dallying, any kind of side quest that I can find, we're going to go for them all. All that's left to do is get breakfast. The plan is pretty simple. Bike across the island one day and bike back the next. There are five main sections of riding on Catalina. The initial 1400 foot climb out of Avalon to the East Summit, the relatively flat Middle Ranch Road across the interior island to Little Harbor, the not quite as bad 700 foot climb and descent to Two Harbors where there's a bar and grill and we camp for the night. The next day we do the pretty flat out and back to Parsons Landing before making our way back across the whole island and tackling the biggest climb of the entire trip. 1600 feet up to the airport in the sky. And then, of course, the well-deserved descent back down into Avalon. Whoo! Just no warm-up at all. Not a gradual incline. It just throws you into it. I forget how many miles this climb is, but I don't want to know. It doesn't matter. We're going to go up it until we're at the top. Howdy. The e-bike would be sick right now. Yeah, it's hot. Long-sleeve is nice for your sun protection, but... Whoo, it's sweaty right now. If memory serves, this is the top right up here. It doesn't. It looks as if I was quite mistaken. It is not the top of the climb. God, why did I say something? I'm exhausted. I've barely begun. Now that is actually the top, and I know it. Oh, yeah. Wow, this view. Holy ----. Just a few hours ago, we were there. We're in it now. Welcome to Catalina Adventure. Whoo! Dude, I will watch for foxes. I hope we see a fox. That would be so cool. A few of the wildlife we're on the lookout for. The Catalina fox, the American bison, and then down at the water, it would be pretty cool to see some otters or seals or something. Oh, it feels good to be, like, moving. We rode out across the island's interior, which rewards our climb with a nice long descent. We kept our eyes peeled for wildlife, and it wasn't long before we spotted our first animals. What the heck are bison doing on a tiny island off the coast of California anyway? In 1924, they were brought over for a Western film production. When the company wrapped up, they realized it was cheaper to just leave the bison there rather than ship them back to the mainland. Nature took its course, and pretty soon, there were hundreds of bison running around Catalina. As the ranger truck rolled up, I assumed I was going to get a lecture about bison being wild animals and not to get too close. That was incredible. Do you guys see that, like, every day? Not every day, but it's more common, actually, than you would think. I might just flip around for safety purposes. I can flip right here and just drive next to you. Cool. Yeah? Because they scare me. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. They're huge. No lecture, just kindness. Thanks for the escort, Catalina Island Conservancy. I'm like, I don't see them in the bushes. Feels much better to have a car between me and them. All right. Cool. Have a good one. Thank you. That was so cool. Wow. I feel like I have a delayed emotional reaction to that. Today, the herd is monitored and maintained by the Catalina Island Conservancy. They keep it around 150 animals, which is what the ecosystem of the island can support. Mostly flat on Catalina does not mean zero hills. This is really steep. It doesn't look very long, but I've been wrong before. Presumably, the other side is a little harder. It's 1.20 in the afternoon. I forget exactly when we took off from coffee. I think sometime around 10.30. I might need to reapply sunscreen. I mumbled delusionally to myself the rest of the climb and was brought back to sanity with incredible views of our next stop, Little Harbor. I soaked my feet, dunked my head, and let the cold California ocean give me a second wind. I even saw a seal, but he was sleeping. I've got just enough life left to conquer the last hill. It's about 2.30. I'm pretty sure the restaurant opens at 3.00. Final climb of the day. That's enough of that. I'm ready to be done. The descent into Two Harbors was super bumpy, and things kept getting rattled off of my bike. Break this time. That looks pretty broken. Fixable? Just adding broken things to my little collection in here. There's the campground. I can see the campground. So ready for the campground. Oh, it's going to be so steep coming back up here. We had made it to Two Harbors, and I gotta say, I probably got the best campsite in the entire place. Right on the ocean. Crazy views. The sound of waves lulling you to sleep at night. This place is paradise. It's time for food. Oh, it's so steep. This is the very downside of choosing the site that I did. Maybe if you stay down there, you go to town first. Oh, man. I got nothing to prove. Why is the end of the day I'm tired? It's a quick jaunt from the Two Harbors campground over to the town, but it would be a long walk, so don't plan on making multiple trips unless you really want the extra credit hills at the end of the day. I devoured that burger, got some snacks and breakfast items for the next day, and sat by the ocean, contemplating fatherhood and watching an epic sunset. Catalina is a really special place for me. It's actually where I did my first bikepacking trip. I had no idea what I was doing. I just strapped bags onto my bike, and it worked, and it was an awesome trip, and it got me hooked on bikepacking for years. Back in 2023, I hiked the Trans-Catalina Trail over four days with my wife. Later that same year, I took my first kayak camping trip with some friends. There's so much to do out there. It's so unique, and it took me 10 years of living in Southern California before I ever ventured to check it out. Don't make my mistake. Go check it out sooner. The next morning, I ate a cookie for breakfast, one of those protein ones. Don't yell at me, Mom. Then packed up camp, and got ready for another full day of riding. Look at this trail. I think we have a little bit of time today. We're going to head out and park this landing strip. Let's go see the end of the island. What happened next was so quick that if I hadn't been paying attention, I would have missed it entirely. We had spotted the elusive Catalina Fox. This morning was shaping up to be all time, which means something had to go wrong. If you're doing any kind of adventure riding, or honestly any riding, period, you should know how to change a bike in or two. Getting a flat doesn't need to be a ride-ending inconvenience. In this case, I was lucky enough to find a nice shady spot off the side of the road, and was back on track in under 10 minutes. That was as pleasant a place as any to change a flat. Much better. I made pretty good time out to Parsons Landing until I found myself staring up a massively steep climb. Oh, man. This looks insane. We're looking at the map. That is worth it to go up this. Okay, we're at the end of the road. We did it. We headed out to Parsons. We could do this little loop here, but I'm looking up it. It looks super steep. I know to get down to actual Parsons Landing, the camp is super, super steep. I think this is the end of the road for us. We're going to turn back. All right. We're at the furthest point. We're 35 miles in. I think we're about 35 miles to go. It is just after 11 a.m. We are departing Two Harbors. We got two big climbs today. Can't say I'm really looking forward to either of them. There are all kinds of variations you could do for this trip. One of them is just ride here and then take the ferry out of Two Harbors. Skip this entire second day of riding. Still see the whole island. We're riding our bike across a freaking island, and it's like 70 degrees and sunny. Can't complain too much. It's steep and hot. I'm sweating my eyes. Maybe I'm through the worst of it. Maybe that's the top, though. I really do think this is the top. I've been wrong, but I really hope I'm not. It seems to be the top. Catalina is steep, dudes. We are passing by Shark Harbor. We made pretty good time on that first section. Now we hit our real work for the day. Way up there. This is just par for the course. Nothing special about what we're doing right now. If I tell myself that, maybe it'll feel easier. It's not working so far. It's hot. It's steep. I am just settled into a groove. Keep the pedals moving. Oh, my goodness. There it is. Wow, that really sneaks up on you. Cool. Oh, man. The biggest challenge of the ride was done, and I soaked up the AC, inhaled yet another cheeseburger, and then hit the dusty trail again back toward Avalon. Catalina adventure is coming to a close. What goes up must inevitably come down. We're about to do the final descent down into Avalon. All right. The climb that had taken me the better part of an hour yesterday morning turned into a 12-minute descent. But, man, those 12 minutes are all time. Insane views, hardly any traffic, and a full sense of accomplishment after riding across an entire island. I made it back into town with just enough time to take a final dip in the ocean before catching the ferry back to the port. It feels so good. I did not see an otter, but I did spot this cool rattlesnake, so that's got to count for something. As always, thank you so much for watching, and if you want more car-free adventures in Southern California, you know what to do.