Our recent trip to California included 1 stunning day in Channel Islands National Park! This park requires some planning and early reservations for your ferry, so plan ahead. We visited Santa Cruz Island after a lot of research and would suggest you do the same! Read on to see our best logistics and hiking tips for your next trip to Channel Islands National Park.
We chose Santa Cruz Island because it gave us a chance to get away from the ferry dock and hike to some special destinations and experience the island. It had a more frequent ferry schedule, felt more substantive than Anacapa Island, and once I heard about the Island Fox I was sold, as foxes are one of my favorite species of animals. This island has a good chance to see them and we saw multiple in our time there, but the first sighting was in the campground near the ferry dock. The Island Fox is a unique subspecies that is a descendant of the gray fox and is the largest native mammal in the park, though still rather small.
Ferry Ride
To get to any of the Channel Islands, you have one of two choices. You can take a private boat or schedule a ferry ride with the park’s concessionaire, Island Packers. The earlier morning ferries tend to fill up quickly, so we suggest purchasing early so you can ensure you have enough time on the island if you are not spending the night.
Admittedly, visiting one of the Channel Islands was the part of our California road trip that made us the most anxious. We were worried about an ocean ferry ride and the variability of weather and wave height on the day of our trip. Like perhaps many of you, we get seasick and we worried we would get sick and have a truly horrible time. We bought some homeopathic meds that were non-drowsy and wore sea bands as well. We highly recommend the homeopathic med, as a lot of the normal meds will make you drowsy. We also recommend you check out this post for other tips of what to pack for a day out hiking. Those two things, combined with a fairly calm day, made for a smooth boat ride to Santa Cruz Island. We were also unaware that the ocean depth between the harbor in Ventura and Santa Cruz Island is just 400-800 feet. The other side of the island and areas to the west get as deep as 2000-5000 feet. The shallower depth knocks the waves down more and provides a smoother ride than being in the open ocean.
The boat ride itself was uneventful at first. We chose to sit outside in the back close to the prop but facing forward. They suggested this spot if you were worried about seasickness. What we didn’t know was that this seat would also give us a great view of the huge pod of dolphins we saw jumping across our wake partway out to the island! It was unlike anything we had ever seen before and definitely a memorable part of our visit! There were something like hundreds of dolphins jumping and following us out to the island!
Hike to Potato Harbor
Upon arriving at Scorpion Ranch, we began our primary activity – a hike to Potato Harbor. This is a 5 mile hike that includes both the trip out to Potato Harbor itself but also a return trip through and past Cavern Point. I should point out that you don’t actually get to sea level at Potato Harbor, but instead look out over it from above and can see the snorkelers and kayak groups. We began through the campground, which is the suggested way to do this hike. The other trail up, near the bathrooms at the Ranch, are steep switchbacks that you will want to go down and not up.
It was in the campground and then further up on the trail that we saw multiple Island Foxes. Keep your eyes out for them as they are fairly prevalent but also like their privacy and will skitter off into the brush.
Once you get up at elevation you will be on a ridge line that climbs a bit more to Potato Harbor and also to Cavern Point. Most all of the elevation gain to Potato Harbor is all visible at that junction, so if you can do that part, the remainder of the hike is along the ridge on the North Bluff Trail. If your kids are small, you will want to keep an eye on them as much of this hike is right along the edge of a tall cliff.
Arriving at Potato Harbor was a treat as we could hear seals on one of the rocks down below and were able to just sit, relax, and soak in the views. As we sat there, the fog that was over the island lifted and sadly just as we began to need to head back to get on our boat it became clearer and clearer. By the time we got to Cavern Point the sun was fully out and we ended up getting sunburned and realized that we probably should have put sunscreen on even with the fog.
Cavern Point and Scorpion Ranch
After stopping at Cavern Point and enjoying some more time relaxing we returned to Scorpion Ranch and explored the buildings, used the restrooms, and walked along the beach. Other people on our ferry had spent their time on the island kayaking, simply playing at the beach, snorkeling, and some hiked the Smugglers Road to Smugglers Cove.
We were not disappointed with what we saw and did, but the variety of activities and number of people simply heading out to the island for a day at the beach was surprising!
Visitor Center
On the mainland, there is the park Visitor Center and we returned there to complete the kids’ swearing in as Junior Rangers and purchased a few keepsakes. The Visitor Center has some exhibits but if you are thinking of stopping in but not going out to one of the islands it is not worth the time as you don’t get to experience or see any of what makes this Park special.
There is not a dedicated parking lot at the Visitor Center and it does get very busy as the parking around it is for the beach and marina, so be mindful of that in planning the time you will need to get there for your boat tour and other activities in that area. Both times we went, we were able to find parking spots just fine. However, if it is busy, you might have to park a decent distance from where you need to be.
We had a truly stunning 1 day in Channel Islands National Park and to this day it is one of our family’s favorite memories in a national park!
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