Day 1-San Pedro to Avalon
We can literally see Catalina Island from our window, but it's taken us over a decade to finally tackle this 38 mile trek across the entire island from south to north. This has been one of the most complicated treks we've ever planned, but we picked the perfect time of year and it was an incredible experience.
Our journey began at San Pedro harbor where we boarded the ferry for the 26 mile journey out to Catalina Island.
Not a typical way to begin 5 days of trekking, but the harbor is a really interesting place to spend some time.
Massive cargo ships were loading and unloading all morning.
Once we arrived on Catalina, we rented bikes and rode up to a nice viewpoint of Avalon.
Only two towns exist on Catalina Island, Avalon and Two Harbors. After a nice ride, we spent the night at a hotel in Avalon.
Day 1-Avalon to Blackjack Campground
Starting out early in the morning on day 1 of our trek. Avalon is fun because most of the cars are actually golf carts. The few normal vehicles feel like giants rumbling around town.
We began early because we had a steep climb and we wanted to get that out of the way before the sun came out strong.
These small and sometimes hard to see mile posts marked the way. We actually missed mile 1, so I couldn't do a series of all the posts.
Cactus and flowers everywhere.
Once we reached the top of the climb, we were on mostly rolling hills and sometimes fire roads. The views were incredible from the very beginning.
Bison were brought to the island in the 1920's for a movie, and ended up flourishing on the island to this day. They can be dangerous, so you really have to keep an eye out and be sure not to disturb them.
Everything was green. During most of the year Catalina Island is pretty dry and brown, so we chose to hike in March when the wildflowers were in bloom and the grass was green.
The trail is marked very clearly by these sign posts when you come to any side trails.
On day one we came across the herd. Normally we would see one or two at a time, so it was a surprise to see this many in one spot.
The higher you get, the more you can see of the island.
In the valleys everything was so lush and green. Often at the very lowest points we would hear the croaking of what sounded like hundreds of frogs, which signaled that we were nearing one of the many small lakes.
Campsite number one. We decided to stay at Blackjack campground which was about 11 miles from Avalon. It was a long and tiring day, but we arrived early enough to be able to stretch out and relax.