TRANS CATALINA TRAIL

Gear: 

•  Lowe Alpine Netherworld 70 (Backpack) – Pack in weight 39lbs/Pack out weight 27lbs
•  Kelty Dart 1 (Tent) 
•  North Face Sleeping Bag 
•  Jet Boil Stove 
•  ALPS Mountaineering Lynx (Foot Print) 
• The North Face Hiking shoes with Vibram soles and Heal Cradle Pro

Itinerary:

• Avalon – Black Jack Campground

16 Miles – 5:36:19 – 3,950′ Elevation Gain

• Black Jack – Airport In The Sky – Little Harbor – Two Harbors Campground 

14.54 Miles – 6:38:06 – 2,877, Elevation Gain

• Two Harbors – Parsons Landing – Starlight Beach – Parsons Landing

16.81 Miles – 7:06:18 – 4,267′ Elevation Gain

• Parsons Landing – Two Harbors 

7.5 Miles – 2:09:27 – 778′ Elevation Gain

THE PLANNIN’

On Monday June the 7th I was supposed to be on family vacation in Charleston, SC. I ended up not going but still had the freedom to take the rest of the week off of work. This thought stayed on my mind all day long. After work that day I went out for a few drinks at Fiesta Cantina in Hillcrest. We were having a great time that night, you could even say that we were “on a good one”. It was in that moment that I decided I would take the rest of the week off and do some kind of adventure. I wasn’t quite sure what it was yet.

I woke up around 5:30am Tuesday morning in an exceptionally great mood, so I continued with my plan. I e-mailed my boss reminded him that this was the week I told him I needed off for vacation when he hired me 2 weeks earlier. Once everything was fine and dandy I hit the internet to find out what I was going to do with my week off. Eventually I came across the Trans Catalina Trail, my search was then over that was what I was going to do. I went on to book all my reservations, lets just say with all the reservations that Catalina is not the cheapest place to hike. $75 Ferry ride round trip, $24 bucks each for Black Jack and Two Harbors Campgrounds and Parsons was booked. I didn’t pay for a hiking permit or camping permit that night, I was just going to wing it. After all reservations were booked I headed out to REI to grab some grub for dinners, then stopped at the 99 Cents store to grab some nabs and lunch.

 

MY JOURNEY BEGINS – Day 1

I woke up around 7am took a shower, cleaned up and packed the last little necessities that I need for my hike. My ferry was leaving out of Dana Point at 9:45am and they wanted us there an hour early and Dana Point was an hours drive from my house as it was. June Gloom was in full effect that’s for sure. The ferry ride was a bit chilly but that was ok because I made friends and chatted about stuff. I was a bit hungry and I knew that I need the calories and carbs for the hike ahead so of course I had to get a coffee cake and a ICE COLD BEER. It went down rather well and very satisfying.

 

Once we arrived to Avalon I grabbed my back pack and headed to get my hiking permit and trail map. I was already getting a late start and had 16 miles ahead of me for the day and there was no one at the booth for me to get my permits so I skipped that step, grabbed a map and headed off to start my journey. I started exactly at 11:45ish.  <—– see what I did there? Yeah I chuckled as well. I look ahead of me in the direction that I was heading and thought to myself “Shit, what did I get myself into” . The trail read was about a 1.5 mile hike from town which was all up hill. Every turn and hump that I could see over excited me, I just knew that I would get a break from the up hill and be able to enjoy a more level surface. Boy was I wrong, the first few miles were a continuance climb. The good thing about it was every few steps and around every bend there was a beautiful view of the sun shining down on the town or the very ridged coat line in every directions. The higher in elevation that I got the less my visibility was do to June Gloom. There were points where I could only see about 20 fat in front of me. It made for a cool hike rather than the sun beating on me all day, but the whole reason I chose this hike was for the scenery. After sometime of hiking I got a call from the belly saying “hey bud, you mind feeding me? Help me help you”. I found a spot to have lunch which was 2 Whole Wheat tortillas, a bag of BBQ Tuna, peanut butter and a bag of trail mix. After inhaling lunch I set off back on the trail. Finally the trail began to level out with some decent and rolling hills. My feet and legs sure were happy. As I descended the marine layer started to disappear and the sun would show itself here and there which gave me some hope, encouragement and energy. All around me were evidence of Buffalo (bison) but I had yet to see any. Some where around the 9 or 10 mile mark the trail come to a fence, I wasn’t sure which was to go being there was a small trail on both sided. Be sure to go through the gate. This was probably the best part of the hike for the day, the sun was semi out and the trail was fairly flat.

At mile 10.5 I took a sip of water and low an behold that was my last sip, I was out of water and still had 6 miles to go. What could I do? I just kept trucking knowing it would suck but that I was hydrated well enough to make it. Just a minute later I came over a hill and to my surprise there’s a little picnic area. I pulled out my map and saw that it had potable water. I WAS SAVED. It was just a ¼ mile hike or so away. My energy had started running low so I filled up my water bladder then my Nalgene bottle. I added me Thrive Active to my Nalgene bottle to give me a bit of extra energy.

I also ate some snacks and stretched a bit before getting back on the trail. There was a lot of steep inclines and declines for the last 6 miles. This part of the trail headed more in land waking its way up and down eventually working its way into a somewhat of a valley where Black Jack Campground was.

As I came around one turn I was greeted with one BIG OL’ lone Bison. It was only about 10 ft. off the trail and it didn’t look like it was moving anytime soon. I preceded on the trail towards the big guy and as I got closer he stood up. Thinking to myself “uh-oh, I hope he’s a good boy”. He kept his eye on me and I kept my eyes on him until I was safely past him. From there, there was a couple more steep inclines then a decent into camp. I could feel that the heel of my right foot was probably blistered and raw but I was almost to camp and would asses the situation when I got to camp. The marine layer had started to move back and it started to get misty and chilly. I made camp and then made dinner and broke out my 5 airplane bottles of assorted liquors. My service was rather good so I decided to do my first ever Facebook live video. Check it out by clicking this  Catalina Live Video .

TRAIL TO SUNSHINE – Day 2

I woke up at 5:30 to the sounds of a big olé’ crow doing what it does best, you guessed it CROWING, right out side my tent. That was fine by me I like to get a early start. I got up put on my flip flops and went outside in my popcorn printed boxers to take a very enjoyable morning pee in good olé mother nature. Don’t worry everyone else in the camp site was still asleep. I made a pot cup of coffee in my Jet Boil and then boiled some water for my dehydrated eggs. I was not a fan of the eggs at all but I still ate them along with a bagel and peanut butter. I then put on my bathing suit and took a nice cool shower to wash off all the sweat and gunk from the day before. I brought my bottle of Dollar Shave Club Wanderer Awakening Mint Cedarwood Body Cleanser. I just bought this stuff about a week before and I really enjoy it. It was a nice refreshing smell to help you wake up in the morning and you don’t need much of it. A little goes quite a long ways. After rinsing off and cleaning the dishes I packed up my campsite and headed of on the trail at 7:55.

It wasn’t but a mile into my hike that that I noticed another lone buffalo off in the distance grazing on a hill top, this time far enough away not to worry. I admired the beast for a few minutes, took a few pictures and headed on my way. The first 2 miles of the hike towards The Airport In The Sky was fairly easy and relaxing. Part of the Trans Catalina Trail included the Airport Loop Trail which included a Soapstone quarry and some information about Soapstone and what the inhabitants of the island had used if for.  The Airport had just opened and had a gift shop, I had to stop and check it out and it seemed like a great excuse to rest my legs. I was the only person there besides a couple workers which were all super kind and helpful making sure I knew where I was going and that I didn’t make any common wrong turns on the trail. I looked around the gift shop for a bit and ended up leaving with a few more magnets for my collection of magnets that I try to get on all big adventures.

Putting my pack back on I headed back to the trail which was heading slightly down hill. I looked at my map just to be sure that I didn’t make that common wrong turn. I came up to a couple of ponds called Buffalo Springs. I believed I chuckled out loud and said “so much for that name I don’t see any Buffalo”. I look up from the map and felt like quite the dumb ass, there were dozens of Buffalo right in front of me. One I had to get a little to close for comfort, but hey no worries I’m writing this story your reading so I obviously made it out alive. It was fun watching the beast roll around in the mud, grunt at each other and fool around. This ended up being the last of “easier” part of the hike. I had no clue what was instore ahead of me.

Leaving the springs was all upward but I was rewarded at the top of the mountain with a beautiful 360 view of the island. I could see little harbor in the distance where I was stopping for lunch. Only problem was, was that it was way down there at sea level and I was well above sea level. “lets do this” I said out loud to myself. Yes I talk to myself quite often when I’m out hiking alone. It made me think me think about a few thing and I even came up with a quote. “It’s one thing to hear our thoughts in our head but sometimes its much more effective to talk to yourself and actually listen to your thought”. Also had me thinking “are people that talk to themselves really crazy or are they listening to their thoughts out loud? The only thing that truly makes someone crazy is someone else’s “professional” opinion.”.  Let that sink in for a bit, don’t let someone else chose who you have to be.

I started the decent into Little Harbor, nice right? Not so much it was such a steep grade that it was unpleasant, I would rather be going up it. My toes were beginning to hurt due to the constant and continence of then pressing again the wall of my boot. It was so bad I knew that I would loose a few toe nails due to this part of the hike. None the less I proceded into Little Harbor. When I got to Little Harbor I for a picnic table, took my backpack off and stared off past the beach into the open ocean for a bit. There was a group of boy scouts there as well running around excited that they caught a small rock fish off the cliff. Then a catamaran came in to pick them up and take to out further to go fishing. I boiled some water and made Ramen Noodle Soup with tuna. I also ate a beagle and made a glass of Active to get me through the next 5 miles to Two Harbors Campground.

Starting back on the trail it onward and upward to the top of the cliff that overlooked the harbor. This was the only part with switch backs which was nice. It stayed pretty flat for a couple miles until I came to a point where I had to practically look straight up to see where I was going. It was another looooong steep graded incline that I had no choice but to tackle. Stopping maybe every 50 meet or so to give my body a few seconds to rest and enjoy the scenery. At the top there was a bench where I could see two harbors and Little Harbor, I really wish it was clear skies but hey what could I do. I ate some of my trail mix and headed back on the trail. I got to my final decent into Two Harbors, another steep grade but I did it. Talking to myself and others that I passed on the trail helped ease the pain. Finally I reached Two Harbors, which was nice and flat. There were absolutely no signs directing me to the campground and I was getting very hungry. I found my way using the mad and was not happy to see a steep hill I had to take to get to the campground. I got to my site and dropped off my bag and headed down to the visitor center to check into the campground and also see if they had any open reservations for Parsons Landing. They didn’t but I was still able to buy a key for a locker at the camp site that has water, firewood and a fire starter in it. That set me back another 20 buckaroos.

Of course after 14 miles I could use a cold one. The sky had completely cleared and the sun was shining down upon me. I went over and sat down at the outside back and started off with a refreshing ICE COLD BUD LIGHT and a water. Then I walked over to the Café and got a delicious Bison Burger. The weather was to amazing not to take advantage of it so because I was also on a remote island I ordered what any man would order, a Pina Colada. After that I had one of there signature drinks, it was another delicious drink. I left my phone at the bar so that it could charge and headed back to the camp site so that I could set up camp and shower so i would be super stinky for dinner. I headed back to the restaurant, had a few more bud lights with my burger and fries and called it a night.

 

THE KNEE TESTER – Day 3

Good knees or bad knees this stretch of the hike will definitely test them. It was Friday morning and my eyes opened right around 5:55. I was very surprised to open my tent and see a completely clear blue sky so early in the morning. At this time the marine layer is usually in and you cant see the sky at all. As always I wanted a good head start and a nice lead on the other hikers so that I could enjoy the nature and the views without other human noises and interruptions. For breakfast I had my Thrive shake as I do every morning, a cup of coffee and a bowl of Apple Cinnomin oatmeal. Boy did that hit the spot, I didn’t need much more being I was still somewhat full from the bison burger the night before. I packed up camp, took a shower and got my backpack in order to tackle the days journey ahead of me. Right as I was about to head out my neighbors were waking up and moving around so I took that opportunity to ask them to snap a couple of pictures with the harbor in the background. They gladly did then I set off for the trail.

The first mile was flat and brought me to the base of the mountain I had to go up. Again this was quite the incline. It was a few miles of climbing in elevation, it was challenging and at times discouraging but I knew that there was a beach waiting for me on the other side. Some time during the climb I took a short snack break and enjoyed all the scenery that the island had to offer. I don’t believe I can put into words the beauty of it. After many stops along the way to rest and enjoy my surroundings I finally got to the top and was ready to descend down to the beach where I was going to set up camp. What I was not ready for was at the rate of decent it was. I thought coming up was bad, but going down was worse. Most of the way I had to take baby steps to ease the impact on my knees and to avoid falling down the trail. Those last few miles to the beach were quite painful but I eventually made it, and but was it great to see the beach again. I sat my bag down, limped over to use the bathroom and grabbed my 2.5 gallons of water because after that 7.5 mile hike I was empty. The lockers were made so that once you stick a key in you cant take it out so I left the fire wood for later when I got back from the last and final stretch of the Trans Catalina Trail. I ate some lunch, drank my Thrive Active and filled my day pack with my water, snacks and other essentials that I needed for the next 8 miles.

With my day pack around my wait I was mentally ready to hit the trail. I think my knees were cursing me though. I read a blog about this stretch to Starlight Beach that it was fairly flat but somehow gained a lot of elevation from some rolling hills. I was happy that the last half of my day was going to be rather easy after the tough morning my knees endured. Heading up the trail and not even a mile I figured out how they had so much elevation gain. This ended up being the most intense part of the entire Trans Catalina Trail. It was straight up and strait down for the 4.5 mile hike in. Boy I was cursing the writer of that blog in my head all the way to the end. On the flip side, for me, this had the best views of the entire hike as well. The trail ended at the cliff with a sign that read Starlight Beach, it was perfect. I stumbled down the cliff to the beach where I could take my day pack off and enjoy. I had the entire small beach to myself with crystal clear water. It didn’t take me long to decided to strip down naked and jump in the water. I tell you what that water was cold son. Everything and I mean EVERYTHAANG either shrunk or disappeared rather quickly so I was not in there long. I then sat down on a warm flat rock and let the sun dry me off. I took my time eating lunch as I still had plenty of time to make it back to camp before the sun went down. After about an hour or so I brushed off the sand, got dressed and headed back up the hellacious trail to camp.

On the way to can the wind picked up and I could see the marine layer chasing me down. It didn’t take long for it to catch up for I only had about 30 min of clear skies when I reached camp. The wind had gotten worse and the temperature had dropped quite a bit. I put on my pants, socks and rain coat and proceeded to heat my water for my dehydrated dinner. I tell ya’ for 8 bucks and light weight these things are delicious. I went to my locker to grab my fire wood and fire starter but my key was gone, I was bummed. I called the park rangers and they said they had came by and replenished the water in the locker and took the key, thinking someone just didn’t use the firewood. At that time of day they couldn’t come back out so they where just going to refund me the money for it. But me and my loud mouth said to much and they caught on that I didn’t pay for a camping permit, they decided that they would just wave that instead so I was like “yeah lets do that, that sound fine by me”. Luckily there were two gals there that I had talked to on the trail and at the campsites. They were pretty much on the same schedule that I was just not at fast paste. Anyways the had wood and a fire log that they weren’t going to use and let me use it. It was only four pieces of fire wood and the wind just wouldn’t allow the starter log to catch fire, the paper just burned off. The was plenty of dead grass though so I just used that to get the fire going. The logs burned slow and hot, I just enjoyed that while sipping on some Evan Williams Whiskey that I had bought from the general store in Two Harbors. I had got a few cubes of ice from a group of people that had toted in coolers. My Ozark Trail Tumbler kept the ice from melting which allowed my whiskey to be ice cold throughout the night. And it only cost me $8, no need to buy Yeti. Ozark Trail works just as well and is $30 cheaper than those big brands. As the fire started to die the days hike started to catch up to me. I needed to wake up early if I wanted to make the 9:45 ferry out of Two Harbors.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN- Day 4

I woke up to no wind around 5:30, relieved myself in the bathroom, drank a shake ate some snacks for breakfast, and packed up camp so I could go-ahead a get on the road back to Two Harbors. I took the road back which was flat for the most part and ran along the ocean cliff. I came across a huge Boy scouts camp ground and they looked like they were either getting ready for summer camp or leaving summer camp. Either way must be awesome to be in the Boy Scouts in Southern California. For summer camp the take a boat to their own private harbor on a island with crystal clear water and great fishing. The 7.5 mile hike only 2hrs, I guess you could say that I was booking it at an average of 17:20 a mile. Round the last bend into Two Harbors I only had 5% phone battery left so I walked into town playing The Final Countdown. I went to the patio to take my bag off, switch my boots out for flip flops and to plug my phone in.  I WAS DONE. The general store had just opened and we were allowed to drink anywhere on the island. Your damn right I popped open a cold one at 9 in the morning. I had deserved it, it was my job well done gift to myself. I sat down and enjoyed my beer while chatting it up with others on the island, telling them about the hike I had just accomplished. I then checked on to the ferry and was heading home.

All in all this was a great hike to do once. It was challenging but beautiful the entire 54 miles, never know what was to come over the next bend or over the next horizon. Would I ever hike it again? No absolutely not, but if you are up for a challenge I urge you to go for it just to say you’ve done it.

 

LESSONS LEARNED

• DON’T relay on blogs alone
• Get a topographical map of your hike
• Wear protection in blister prone areas
• Take only what you need
• But be prepared for everything

GEAR REVIEW

•  Lowe Alpine Netherworld 70 (Backpack)

1. Pros- The pack I got when I was a teenager for a backpacking trip that I never went on so it had never been used. It is like brand new and still my size if not a tad bit to big. The bag was super sturdy and help up fantastically.
2. Cons- My only problem with it is the lack of back ventilation. The pads and bag soaked up my sweat and it got inside of the bag through the fabric. I will be on the look out for a new pack with better ventilation

•  Kelty Dart 1 (Tent) 

1. Pros- The tent is a great tent for buying it used but in good condition at only $25. It’s super light weight and doesn’t take up much space at all.  It’s a bivy so strictly a one person tent. The vents are nice and allow a good air flow if you position it in the right direction.
2. Cons- There’s no room to toss and turn if you need to and it produces quite a bit of condensation.

•  North Face Sleeping Bag 

1. I’m not sure the rating or the model of the bag for the tag has worn out. I held its purpose though, even in the cold of the night I had to sleep with one leg out of it because I am a hot sleeper.

• REI Airrail 1.5 Self Inflating Sleeping Pad

1. Pros- I love this pad. Its only 1lb 10oz and quite comfortable, no matter what sleeping position you sleep in. I’m inpatient so I just blow it up myself instead of wait for it to self inflate. I will be keeping this pad around for a while.
2. Cons- None at the moment.

•  Jet Boil Stove 

1. Great investment. It doesn’t use much fuel to boil water quickly. Its truly non-stick and easy to clean and of course its light weight.
2. Cons- the burner isn’t protected from the wind.

•  ALPS Mountaineering Lynx (Foot Print) 

1. What can I say it held its purpose, lightweight and compact.

• The North Face Hiking shoes with Vibram soles and Heal Cradle Pro

1. Pros- The shoes were quite comfortable and I had high hopes for them. I liked that they were 12.5 which you usually cant find so I have to go with a 13. They seem to be very durable and held up very well
2. Cons- The insoles slipped around which made them a tad uncomfortable throughout the hike. The insole does not have much to it so I will replace them with better ones and give the shoes another chance.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.