One other thing: If you enter the park from the town of Joshua Tree, Coyote Corner (gift shop) on the park entrance road is a good place for hot showers. Probably also a good place to buy pot, but I never asked.
We are driving so probably taking pot with us. The reservable campsites were sparse for our days so we have one day at Jumbo Rocks and one day at Indian Cove. There werenât two consecutive nights at the same campground for our two nights there which kind of sucks.
The only upside is we are very light gear campers so moving isnât much of a pain.
2 Likes
Natural Sisters Cafe right across from Coyote Corner has good smoothies. And thereâs a health food store right next door with great snacks etc. These are also probably good places to buy pot.
1 Like
Jumbo Rocks is the best campground in Joshua Tree if you can reserve it. If youâre coming from Saguarro you can take a little detour to check out Slab City, Salvation Mountain, and the Salton Sea. See if the Ski-in bar in Bombay Beach is still open. Itâs other-worldly out there.
If youâre at Sequoia the drive into Kings Canyon is cool (one way Canyon).
The slightly longer way from Sequoia to Death Valley through Lake Isabella is super scenic - unless itâs snowing, then avoid. I think that altitude it late March should be fine.
Furnace Creek (might have a new name) in Death Valley is a good centrally-located place to camp. And you can use their showers. Telescope Peak should still have snow. You can drive up to the kilns then hike some from there. Ashford Mine is kind of a neat out of the way hike if there are crowds. Might be tons of wildflower peepers at that time. But maybe thatâs a little too late.
1 Like
In Sequoia the area around the Giant Forest Museum is very cool. Many of the biggest trees are nearby and are close to the road, but there are also miles of mellow trails through the Sequoia and Douglas Fir forest. In late March there will almost certainly be snow on the ground at this elevation so be prepared for that.
The road down into Kings Canyon that suzzer mentioned will probably still be closed for the winter - it normally opens in April.
1 Like
It probably wonât work for this trip because of covid, but I had a great experience near Joshua Tree at this perfectly acoustic wooden structure where they do sound baths. It sounds really tree-hugger, home-made granola, prius-with-bumperstickers, but completely worth it.
2 Likes
Iâll be going tomorrow - camping just outside of Big Sur. Either camping isnât open anywhere in Big Sur or they are all full. Weâre meeting up with microdaughterâs boyfriend and sheâs leaving home for a while again.
(always giving the covid report on these trips - she got tested to make pretty sure weâre not sending covid back with her)
If youâre the only oldish person camping with young people (Iâm with 3 people not far from 20 on one side or the other) you should keep in mind that they sleep a lot.
2 Likes
Will be van lifing it tomorrow night. Most likely we will be at some elevation and it should get down below freezing at night.
3 Likes
Camping for a few days. Itâs a little chilly so I put some foil on the grill part hoping it would reflect the heat back to me. Seems to work, TBH. 
Itâs 59 degrees and I havenât put my jacket on yet.
6 Likes
get that fire roaring!
1 Like
Normally I would but Iâm conserving the wood for heat lol.
Santa Rosa Island in Channel Islands NP was bad ass. I might do a full writeup later if anyone is interested but it was one of the greatest places I have been to on earth period. Saw whales, dolphins, foxes, seals, sea lions and much more. The flowers were in full bloom and being out there for 5d/4n was so therapeutic. The hiking was great. The beaches were beautiful and because zero people live there completely empty. Lying around naked smoking a joint on an untouched beach chilling with sea lions is something I wonât forget. Highly highly recommend.
Campsite view:
Beach:
Tame af foxes giving no fucks:
Campground:
King crab the birds had eaten:
Flowers flowers everywhere:
Fresh mussels:
Seems like my videos of whales and the like are too big.
17 Likes
Must be a whale of a video.
6 Likes
Yes to the full write-up, please.
1 Like
+1, please include details of how you got to/from the island. Would also be interested in hearing about restrooms. Finally, please include any future visits youâre planning so I can not encounter you naked.
1 Like
The naked part was quite brief and the island is 53000 acres so the odds of ever encountering me naked (especially given how far away from the campsite I was) would be quite slim.
I am still working my way back to home. Iâll have a full write up done in the next few days.
Here is the full writeup. Spoilers since it is pretty long. If it reads like a blog thatâs because it is excerpted from our travel blog. If you would just prefer a link to that (it has all the pictures although only part 1 is up) send me a pm or let me know here.
Summary
There have been few places I have been over the years that left me with the same feeling. That the place was so magic it risked ruining me for travel to most places. The Azores, Outer Hebrides in Scotland and Chiang Mai are a few other places I had this same feeling. After the last five days Santa Rosa Island in Channel Islands National Park easily joins this list.
From the moment we got dropped off at the pier by the boat to the time we got back on to go home, the place is pure magic. The island itself has a full-time population of zero and is stunning beautiful in every direction. There are 15 total campsites. So you get to experience being fairly alone with nature while on the island. There is drinkable water at the campsite but besides that you have what you hike in on your back the 1.5 miles from the campsite to the pier.
There is a ton of nature to experience in every direction. We saw two different types of whales, sea lions, seals, tons of small foxes that would stroll through the campsites as if they owned the place and all kinds of birds. Coming in spring the wildflowers, succulents and cactii native to the island were all in bloom. If you need some shade there is a part of the island that has a small forest of Torrey and other variety of pine trees while most of the rest of the island is treeless.
The nearest beach was absolutely stunning. Miles and miles of relatively untouched sand. Sand so soft and fine that it was hard to get off of you. Large undamaged shells everywhere. The water while clear was freezing cold. We frankly lucked out with the weather as it ended up being much warmer every day than forecasted. The downside is we didnât take any swimming suits because it looked too cold to even consider it. This didnât stop us though. The warmest day we stripped down to our underwear and beyond and enjoyed sunbathing and getting partially in the ocean to cool off. There was no one around for miles so why not! We had a few seals come by to curiously check us out, reminding us that we were likely somewhat of an oddity and curiosity to some of the crestures that lived there as well.
The campsite itself was quite nice. Each spot had basically a small 3 sided shelter to protect your tent from the wind. It had a built in food storage box to keep the food away from the foxes and mice that inhabit the island. And a picnic table. There was also potable water and flush toilets as well as a small sink to rinse dishes. It really was a very nice setup and made going 5 days without a shower much more bearable. The campsite sits over a canyon overlooking the ocean and the views from our campsite were spectacular. On the calmer nights you could easily hear the ocean repetitively crash into the ocean as you went to sleep.
As I mentioned earlier we lucked out on the weather. Originally a week out it looked like we were looking at 60h/40l types of weather days. By the time we got there that was more like 70h/50l. What a difference those 10 degrees make! There was one night everyone was worried about where 35 mph winds were forecast and it did not disappoint. The winds howled down the canyon all night with some gusts surely into the 50s and 60s. We put our tent back in our wind shelter and survived unscathed with only a tent full of dirt to show for damage. Some others, especially one pair who mysteriously decided to pitch their tent next to the shelter instead of in it, did not fair so well and had their tent completely destroyed. I have never camped in wind like that and all I can say is I was so thankful there was some shelter from the wind as it was miserable enough as is.
For hikers this island offers a lot. If you want to climb to the top of a mountain, hike along the beach for miles or hike down a beautiful canyon this island offers all of that. Over our 5 days I hiked a bit more than 30 miles. I think most people here hiked more than that with a few people logging nearly 20 mile days.
Letâs touch on how to do this trip if you are interested and some tips. This trip is an incredible value, especially if you already have backpacking/lightweight camping gear. The campsites are $15/night and must be reserved through recreation.gov, the official park service site. We used Island Packers to get out here as did everyone else we were with. It is a 2.5-3 hour boat ride each way to get out here from Ventura Harbor. It cost $60 each way per person to transport us and our gear. You can also arrive by private boat or plane (there isnât an airport or anything but a really rough looking dirt landing strip does exist here for the adventurous) but it seemed like everyone all took the same route we did to get out here. So if you are looking for a big adventure and donât want to break the bank this is a good way to do it. Drive to Ventura, CA like we did or fly to LA for cheap and head over.
The biggest other tip I can give is to pack as light as possible. Light and ultralight weight sleeping bags/pads/tent save a lot of weight. You are going to need to save weight for essentials like the two boxes of wine (well the bags out of them anyways) we took. You are going to be dirty so take as little clothing as possible. I wore one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, three shirts and then clean underwear/socks for each day. It was enough. Make sure you take warm clothes as the nights can be cold. We both took a lighter jacket and our winter coat and it was more than enough.
For food we brought our JetBoil tiny water boiler and brought things you can cook with boiling water. Ramen, instant potatoes and freeze dried backpacker meals. For snacks we brought calorie dense food like nuts, jerky and chocolate. For water we just brought our one liter reusable water bottles. It was enough considering the available water. We saw some people bringing giant 5 gallon jugs of water out here. It is just asking to have a bad time getting to the campsite. You do pack all your own trash off the island so one durable trash bag is needed.
Other miscellaenous stuff we took included a ultralight solar light, solar chargers, a lightweight speaker, some cards and some actual paper books. There is no phone service or electricity so plan accordingly. A towel or two to put down on the beach to sit or lay on is probably not a bad idea also. For dishes we brought one reusable plastic bowl/fork each and ate every meal out of it. Try and plan out your food day by day so you take the right amount of food plus maybe a day or so extra just in case. We ended up with almost everything consumed by the time we left which made our backpacks considerably lighter by the time we left.
As for us our itinerary went like this:
Day 1 - Arrival at Santa Rosa Island (Saturday)
The alarm went off at 545am. Ugh. Way too early. Trista and I slowly got up and around and took our final showers for the next several days. We had packed our packs the night before so it was just a matter of dragging ourselves out of bed and out to the car. We needed to be to the harbor by 7am for our 8am departure with Island Packers. For $120 round trip they were going to take us out to the island and back as well as transport our main packs. It is about a 2.5-3 hour ride to get out there. The boat ride itself ends up being something else. We stop multiple times along the way to whale watch and see several humpback and grey whales at different stops along the way. Amazing! We eventually reach the pier and are met by a park ranger who is there to give us some ground rules. All of it is pretty straight forward and we are on our 1.5 mile hike to the campsite.
My backpack is heavier than it should be as I have two boxes of wine sloshing around in the bottom of it. The journey out there is a walk along a cliffside with a spectacular ocean view that is set to become the norm. It is mostly uphill as the campsite sits in a valley to try and protect us as much as possible from the wind. I have to admit the hike to the campsite with all our stuff was probably the least pleasant part of the trip but very doable. We wind our way along the path and eventually find our campsite. The view is spectacular. We pitch our tent and store our food and decide to hike down to the beach. The beach about a 1 mile hike to get to and then extends for miles. We find a place to sit, alone with the beach to ourselves, it is completely peaceful. Of course we brought some wine and I felt like the luckiest person in the world to be where I was, with who I was soaking it all in. Before long it was time to head back to the campsite and eat dinner. We were treated with our first sighting of a fox loafing his way through the campsite. The fox brought a smile to everyoneâs face. Tired from a long day we went to bed early and read before falling asleep.
Day 2 - Beach Hike (Sunday)
The plan for the day was to go down to the beach and do about a 5-6 mile hike. For breakfast we had a staple of our camping trips, Ramen. A nice hot bowl always helps to warm us up on a cold morning. This day was odd because there was almost no wind. 70 degrees felt fairly hot with no wind. The bad news is that the forecast for that night and the next day was wind and cold so we wanted to enjoy the sun as much as we could.
We walked down the beach for a couple of miles. Being the only ones out there on a pristine beach was an odd feeling. Eventually we found a nice spot to relax and lounged around for a few hours. We had assumed we wouldnât get a day this nice and did not bring swimsuits. The nice thing about being alone is it really didnât matter. We stripped down as far as we felt comfortable. The water itself was ice cold but felt good to get part way in every once in a while to cool off. At some point Trista noticed some heads popping out of the water checking us out. After a minute or two we realized these were either sea lions or seals. They seemed just as interested to see us as we were then.
As the tide receded we explored a little farther down the beach. Mussels and sea urchins started to appear above the water line on previously submerged rocks and in tide pools. Seeing a mostly undisturbed ecosystem work was one of the more intriguing parts of the trip and this was a perfect example.
As the day wore on the wind started to pick up. There had been fog in the distance all day but it started to creep over the mountains behind us, back in the direction of the campsite. Knowing the weather was supposed to turn for 24-36 hours or so we headed back.
By the time we got back it was quite windy and cold. A few rounds of cards, some music and some Kathmandu Curry from the JetBoil rounded our our day. That night was really windy but little did we know the worst on that front was yet to come.
Day 3 - Torrey Pines/Zero Day/Wind Storm (Monday)
The original plan for this day was to take a zero and hide out in the campsite. It was supposed to be in the 50s, 35 mph sustained wind and cloudy. When we woke up however it was sunny, warm and fairly low wind. Odd. The other interesting thing happening is that the campsite was mostly turning over. This time of year the boat to Santa Rosa Island only runs every other day. So you can book your stay in two night increments. Most people were staying two and so people were mostly packing their gear and we were largely getting new neighbors.
With the weather improved I decided I was going to hike, Trista decided to stay at the campsite and read. After another bowl of Ramen and some jerky I set off for Torrey Pines. It is basically a hike up to the top of one of the mountain features through one of the only groves of Torrey Pine trees that exist in the world. Itâs a flat hike out there and then a pretty steep path up and down. I managed to only lose the trail once and enjoyed the peace of being in a place like that all by myself.
By the time I got back Trista also reported enjoying some time to herself. We also had an entire crop of new neighbors. It turned our our closest neighhbors, Dan and Sarah had quite a bit in common with us. They love to travel, and have been or are going to several as the same places we have been recently so we made easy conversation about those experiences and tips for our respective upcoming trips. Sarah is a nurse and Dan works in Radiology so they had plenty to talk about with regard to that as well.
As the day turned to night the wind returned. This time with much more force. The wind storm we thought we maybe avoided was finally here. Before it was even dark our neighbors tent got completely destroyed. I wondered how bad it would feel to have your only shelter destroyed with a cold night of high wind coming and literally no way out of the situation. They ended up putting large rocks in the four corners of their tent and sleeping inside the tent with broken poles anyways. I guess they really had no choice.
The night was completely crazy. Continuous wind of 30-40mph and I would guess the highest gusts were 50mph+. I have never camped in wind that bad. Not even close. Thank god for the wind shelters. Even with them and our tent as far into it as possible every single huge wind gust would wake me up and make me wonder if the tent was going to survive or if we were going to face the same fate as our neighbor. Luckily our tent survived.
Day 4 - Attempt at Reaching East Point (Tuesday)
We awoke after a fitful night of sleep to no wind and another beautiful day. The plan for the day was to hike as far as we could handle out to the eastern most point of the island. We knew ahead of time we probably werenât going to make it as it is around a 15-16 mile round trip and it being our last full day did not want to torture ourselves too much.
The hike itself was fairly uneventful. We had a fox walk right up to us like we were an old friend and literally stop right in front of Trista. I was amazed every time we saw one how tame they were. The first stop on the hike was to take a small detour to Black Rock. It is an outcropping of volcanic rock that juts out into the ocean and is surrounded by small sea caves and a beautiful cove. It was a good place to take a break and soak it all again. Our sea lion friends were back playing in the ocean with each other.
From there the next stop was to get as close as allowed to Skunk Point. Skunk Point is a massive sand outcropping. It is home to a ton of sea lions and seals. Unfortunately it is also not currently legal to hike all the way out there as there is an endangered bird in the middle of nesting season. We got as close as we could and continued on. As we started going uphill traversing one of the spines on the island we started to talk about how much farther we wanted to go. When we still couldnât see the ocean after 5 miles that direction we gave up and headed back. We ran into one of our new camp mates Tom on the way back. He was a school paychologist from Sacramento and he was also attempting to make it to East Point. We found out later that night that he had actually made it most of the way there but personally didnât think the payoff was worth finishing it.
We got back to camp. Because it was the last night it was time to finish as much of the food and wine as we could so we didnât have to hike it out. We had Chana Masala mixed with instant mashed potatoes and the rest of the wine. I could barely finish the food but there is really no option when you have to hike all your trash out. We played a few last rounds of cards and settled into bed for the night.
Day 5 - Adios Channel Islands, Whales, Sea Cave
The worst part of camping is packing all the gear into the tiny bags. That is doubly true when you have to get it all in a backpack and hike it out. Luckily we did a good job planning food. All we have left are two freeze dried meals and two kind bars. We pick out Kung Pao Chicken for breakfast and after eating it slowly pack all our stuff up. One thing I am amazed by is our trash sack hardly has anything in it. Less than one pound. It made me think a lot about how much waste we normally have at home. Even though we recycle it made me think about how we could do better.
The walk back to the pier is easier than the walk there. We ate and drank 20 pounds out of packs. Our legs are stronger after all the walking and itâs mostly downhill. The stunning views make everything tolerable out here anyways. I run into Tom on the way there and we spend a long time chatting about all kinds of things. One thing I thought was neat is basically everyone out there were nice and interesting people. I guess a trip like that is sort of self selecting the same way some othet destinations I wonât name are self selecting for rude assholes.
The boat runs a little late but Trista, Tom, Dan, Sarah and I enjoy some laughs and getting to know each other a little bit more. No one seems to care a bit when the boat finally arrives around an hour late. The explanation from the boat operaters was the most Channel islands thing ever. They saw so many whales that it took longer than expected. Honestly I love the priorities. Island Packers was fantastic all around.
As we board the boat we buy a couple beers and settle in at the very back of the boat outside. Once again on the way back we saw whales. Humpback whales in a small group. I donât think I would ever tire of watching them. We also went in, on the boat, one of the largest sea caves in the world. It was really impressive and the skills of navigating a not small boat through that was through. Eventually we reached the harbor. It was time to say goodbye to our new friends and goodbye to Channel Islands for now.
I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure. If you have questions or want help trying to plan a trip out there I would be happy to help.
7 Likes
This sounds about right.
2 Likes