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Backpacking the Channel Islands: Santa Cruz to Santa Rosa on Foot, with Foxes, Ravens, Seals, Heat, Rain, Wind and a Whole Lot of Water

  • Writer: Kristin Jones
    Kristin Jones
  • Dec 4, 2025
  • 9 min read

Getting to the Channel Islands


Just getting to Channel Islands National Park was its own puzzle. Between landing flights, lining up train times, booking the ferry, and snagging campsite reservations, it felt like every moving part had another moving part attached.


I had to have recreation.gov for Channel Islands open alongside https://islandpackers.com/ to ensure that the camp site reservations worked and there were ferries running the right days to get there.


I booked a flexible roundtrip flight to Burbank so that if my ferry back to Venture got delayed, I could change my flight. Additionally, I chose Burbank because there is an Amtrak train that you can take from there to Ventura, California - versus if you fly into Los Angeles (LAX) you would have to rent a car or book a very expensive taxi.


I also booked a hotel that was walkable to Island Packers for the night before and after so I had plenty of time to make sure I was there and didn't have to rush to get anywhere.


But it all came together, and this trip would take me across Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands with nothing but my pack, my legs, and the hope that the weather didn’t strand me at the end.


Day 1: Landing at Santa Cruz – Choosing the Long Way, Obviously


Stepping off the boat at Prisoner’s Harbor, Santa Cruz Island greeted me with warm weather, calm skies, and a full pack of water and fuel.


Instead of taking the straightforward 3.5-mile trail to Del Norte Campground, I opted for a more adventurous 6–7 mile route with some extra vert. I wanted to see if I'd get more views down into The Nature Conservancy’s side of the island as well as see across the island to the other side.


The “scenic” route came with a surprise that I hadn't researched - it’s all Navy Road. Wide, exposed, not exactly thrilling as a hiking track… but at least there were no ticks and plenty of wide-open views.


Eventually I reached the edge of The Nature Conservancy boundary, tagged the viewpoint (or as close as I could get without bushwhacking), and followed the trail back toward Del Norte. A thin layer of fog hovered just below me, rising cool air up the hillside - a small relief after a long, hot climb.


Del Norte Backcountry Camp


Del Norte is small and simple with 4 official sites with tent pads, picnic tables and fox boxes to secure your food. There is also a nicely maintained pit toilet at the camp. I set up camp, tucked my food safely into the fox boxes, and hung my sweaty clothes up on branches to “dry” (a very generous term), and settled in.


After I had crawled into my tent for the night to read, the foxes finally showed up - which my camp neighbors thankfully alerted me to! There was something at the tree in my campsite that they were all about so they were climbing on the tree and my picnic table which allowed me to have a close up view.


Day 2: Crossing Santa Cruz – Long Trails, Big Views, and Too Much Honesty About Wag Bags


I woke to cricket white noise and a surprisingly good night’s sleep. After coffee and a very simple breakfast, I packed up for the day: 11–15 miles across the island to Scorpion Cove depending on which route I chose.


The trail choices were:

  1. Shortest: straight across the island

  2. Most scenic: the north route skirting the bluffs

  3. Longest: 14–16 miles along the south side, potentially dropping to the water


My goal was the longest most scenic variation.


Within the first few miles, I passed old ranching structures, naval radar installations, and wide open hills reclaimed slowly but surely by nature. The landscape here changes fast — one ridgeline would be dry and scrubby, the next coated in moss-draped trees that looked almost enchanted and as I crossed the ridgeline towards the otherside of the island it looked more like Mars with red lands below.


Eventually I reached the final junction that was either four miles to Scorpion Cove or the additional detour to Smuggler's Cove with the hope of a beach there. With my legs feeling strong and still plenty of daylight left - I headed to Smuggler's.


Smuggler’s Cove: Blue Water, Beachcombing, and Trash Cleanup


When I first got down to Smuggler’s Cove, it was cold, the wind whipping off the ocean and sun behind the clouds so instead of dipipng my toes I decided to do some beachcombing - and unfortunately a lot of trash pick up. One piece in particular, was a laundry basket that had washed ashore, which actually came in handy to pick up more garbage and large debris. I couldn’t realistically pack out the trash myself - so I stashed it into the basket and put it above the surf line for easier removal later by the island rangers.


The weather did improve while I was out there so I was able to finally dip my toes, but it was a really rocky beach with strong waves so I didn't go in far. I enjoyed my lunch there, found some seashells and also crossed paths with another fox.


To Santa Cruz Lower Campground, Site 11


After a break on the beach, the climb back up was no joke - full sun and no breeze. I drained the last of my 5 liters of water, so that was important for me to calculate that the next day I’d need to carry 6 liters into Santa Rosa - heavy, but necessary with two back-to-back big mileage days.


I returned to Scorpion Cove and watched the ferry loading up the last boat off the island for the day. I topped off water, found my camp site and started to get setup for the night.


Suddenly, the wind started blowing as I was staking my tent which only has two poles in front and one in the back, and it was starting to get flattened. So, I had to stop and rotate it, pointing the strong side directly into the wind. That small adjustment made a huge difference so that my tent wasn't whipped all night long.


After a quick snack of charcuterie and making dinner and hot chocolate, I crawled inside, read my book, and fell asleep early.


Day 3: Santa Rosa Bound


The next morning I lingered in my tent until almost 7:30. But with my ferry leaving at 9:15 I needed to get packed up and hike the short, quarter mile trail to the pier.


The weather was still holding great and we had a smooth trip out to Santa Rosa and I was able to get a breakfast sandwich from the snack bar to supplement my food.


Once on Santa Rosa, I checked in with the ranger to review my plans and camping options for the South East quadrant backcountry beach camping - as it's very remote with limited water sources. I literally was the only person heading out there.


I found the potable water and topped off all of my bladders and bottle for a total of 6.5 Liters (14.3 pounds) to support two full days of 10-14 miles each.


At this point, it was already after Noon, so I was worried I'd be hiking into the dark and it would be hard to find a camp site so I started to hustle.


Backpacking to the Beach


While Santa Rosa has similar terrain to Santa Cruz - it's even more diverse with the canyons carved into the sandstone and feels more rugged and remote, yet has additional amenities like flushing toilets at the camp ground that is only 1.5 miles from the pier.


The trail out to the South East quadrant, was gradual climbs up and over a ridge, dropping into canyons filled with water or cat tails and then finally arriving at the high bluffs with access to some of the beaches below.


I kept a steady pace, knowing I was racing daylight to try and find a camp site on a beach. I passed old ranch infrastructure, including corrals and remnants of roads, and many eroded sections as nature continues to take back what is hers.


As I arrived at the beaches, I was greeted by seals. A LOT of seals. I had to slowly walk between seals on the first beach to keep going as there was no way I was turning around at that point with it being close to sunset and already 10 miles in. The second beach I passed only had 3 seals that I could see but they were massive and I also was questioning how high the tide might come in and was stressing out.


I then started to scope out places up on the bluffs, even on the trail itself that I could make up camp. I knew there might be one more official beach spot near an old building called Johnson's Lee Shop - but all I found was an old road that fortunately had some gravely spots at the end that were big enough for my tent and soft enough that I could stake it down. That ended up being home for the night, with the waves crashing below me and the honking of the seals.


Day 4: Back Across Santa Rosa to the Water Canyon Campground


While I didn't sleep well due to the heavy crashing of the waves, I did get some beautiful sunrays while I broke up camp. While the wind was starting to increase, I fortunately didn't have any rain yet though it was in the forecast.


I had hoped for a leisurely hike back across the island, but as I headed up my return route on an old road, I was heading into the fog and the wind started to really whip. I had to put layers on and ended up hustling back after all as the visibility was only 50-100 feet.


As I got a few miles out from the campground, the weather did start to improve and views opened up to the ocean and the harbor where the pier was below. Additionally, the geography was really cool as the rocks seemed to change every 100 feet or so with something else to see. I ran across a couple more foxes, some torrey pines, small flowers and ravens along the way.


Water Canyon Campground


Upon arriving at the campground, I was greeted with flushing toilet and running water in the bathroom which was such a treat and a wonderful wind and rain shelter at the camp site. I got setup and then ventured down to the beach - where there were NO seals on this side of the island.


As I was relaxing at the beach looking for seashells, it started to rain, heavy! I quickly headed back to camp but quickly found that the road had turned to a heavy clay mud that stuck to the bottom of my shoes. I had to try and wipe it off in the grass, and then be strategic about where I stepped to not keep getting stuck or sinking into the muck.


Back at camp, I moved my tent further into the shelter out of the rain, had a quick dinner and snuggled in again for an early night.


Day 5: Final Hike and Heading Home


Despite all of my fears of getting stranded out in the Channel Islands due to the weather, it fortunately was not severe enough to have to stay an extra day or two, but they did move up the boat to pick folks up at Noon instead of 3 p.m. - which I was completely okay with.


While, I didn't have time to go out and back to Lobos Canyon, I did hope to do a shorter 5-7 mile hike in the morning to the Torrey Pines. It was raining off and on during the morning and when I finally headed out it was raining steadly again. And this mean more mud. I attempted to do the hike, but it was truly too mucky and I would have been on my butt in the mud had I kept going as there were steep heels down and up some of the canyons with no where to escape the mud like grass on the sides of the trail.


I made the tough decision to turn around, head back to camp and huddled under a shelter with a picnic bench and read my book until it was time to catch the boat.


Fortunately, the sun came out in time for the 1.5 mile back to the boat (though I still had to deal with a ton of mud) and I had beautiful views of the ocean.


On the three hour boat ride back to Ventura - there was a large pod of Risso and Bottlenose Dolphins, which I got close up views of at the front of the boat.


It was an epic week long adventure backpacking Channel Islands National Park and it was so cool to have all of the wildlife experiences as well. Even with the weather - it didn't put a damper on how cool this experience was.


Check out the full video on my YouTube channel - I hope you enjoy the nature and wildlife as much as I did: https://youtu.be/ltapGC4bXpA


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