This post is just a bit late, but it’s finally getting posted! I have “un”officially started my journey and I was lucky enough to do it with two of my best friends and my favorite Little Man!
Kelli, Megan, Wyatt and I drove out to Camarillo on Friday night and took a boat out first thing Saturday morning to go towards Channel Island National Park. The National Park consists of 5 islands off the coast of California as well as six miles around the islands. The five islands are San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Anacapa, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.
We decided to go to Santa Cruz Island, which is the largest island in California at approximately 24 by 6 miles. Santa Cruz has over 60 endemic species. And was home to the first unaided bald eagle chick hatch on the Channel Islands in over 50 years.
During the (1.5hr) boat ride over we saw blue whales spouting and some other ocean life. Wyatts favorite part was the waves crashing on the side of the boat. Once we landed there was a quick update from the ranger and we were off on our own. My first stop is almost always the Visitor’s Center. Below is a picture from the beach looking back towards the Island. The building on the far right is the visitors center. This was my first time to any of the Channel Islands and from what I’ve heard we were very lucky to see all this green!!
There are many endemic species some of which have had difficulties staying around. The fox pictured below is an island fox, it had gone down to less than 110 total. They captured, bred, and reintroduced the foxes, who now flourish on the islands. We were actually warned that they are so smart that they can actually open zipped bags with the their noses to get to food. The bear box on the end of the picnic table is referred to as a fox box on the island!
One top priority was to get my cancellation stamp for my passport. Growing up I owned multiple of their base version. We would get to a National Park or monument, realize we left it at home and buy a new one so I could get my cancellation stamp. For Christmas this year my parents bought me the explorers edition for the passport which comes in a weather-proof, zip-up, 3-ring binder and we got additional pages! Megan took this photograph of me stamping my first cancellation for the first National Park of my trip!
It was crazy to listen to the grass in the sound of the wind. As we walked towards the trail we walked through a campground which had quite a few spots filled. I think next time I go out to one of the Channel Islands I will camp, kayak, and snorkel!
Megan took my camera to get this great picture of my favorite Little Man Wyatt!! I am definitely going to miss him a lot during this trip but FaceTime will be my savior!!!
The picture above is of the first part of our hike. We started down below and to the left of the trees! Lots of up hill climbing and Wyatt did a pretty good job for a 2.5 year old with walking most of it and having his mommy carry him for a little.
It was way too gorgeous and perfect not to mess around with my camera and Wyatt. 😍
Parts of the second trail we took were slightly over grown. At first I didn’t realize why Wyatt was walking like he was getting arrested and then he explained that “the grass was tickling his hands” 🤣
We stopped at quite a few different lookout points. this was my favorite shot from one stop I’d love to kayak there! And of course, gotta have those selfies 😊
We finished up the last of our hikes back down towards the visitors center and the pier. After all the walking, the heat and the day in general, we all thought we’d be sleeping on the boat ride home.
Shortly after we were on our way back, the captain got on the load speaker and told us what we were about to see. We weren’t going to be sleeping….
Hopefully you can see how excited Wyatt was to see HUNDREDS of dolphins. I have a couple pictures here and at the bottom of this post you can go to my Facebook to see the rest of my pictures from this trip!!
We ended the trip exhausted and I was a bit sunburnt but so happy and content.
As most of you know this is my first blog so I am definitely still learning and adapting along the way. If you have any constructive criticism, suggestions, or want to hear about specific things let me know and I’ll start doing that on here.
To see most of the photos I took on this trip feel free to check out this Facebook album
Loved reading this! Never thought of Channel Islands as a great place to visit but you’ve changed my mind. I’m for sure going to drag my bf out because I wanna see the pretty scenery and dolphins too!!!! Can’t wait for more posts to come
Wyatt “the grass was tickling my hands” kids are the best! Keep the adventure going!!!