Channel Islands National Park: Hiking

There is so much I want to share about our seven hours in this amazing Park that I have to blog in two parts.

Channel Islands National Park encompasses five remarkable islands and their ocean environment, preserving and protecting a wealth of natural and cultural resources. Isolation over thousands of years has created unique animals, plants, and archeological resources found nowhere else on Earth and helped preserve a place where visitors can experience coastal southern California as it once was.

Our destination, Santa Cruz Island, is the largest and most diverse of the eight Channel Islands. It has a long and varied history that is tied closely to its physical attributes. Its vast grasslands, coastal scrub vegetation, oak woodlands, and rich coastline sustained the Chumash for millennia and they maintained a number of villages and seasonal settlements on the island. For most of the nineteenth century, mariners found shelter in its coves and hunters and fishermen exploited the marine life. Immigrant ranchers grazed livestock, and the military took advantage of the island’s strategic location.

Since the waters surrounding the Park are home to many diverse and beautiful species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) our hopes were high that we would see something. About one third of the cetacean species found worldwide can be seen right here in the Santa Barbara Channel. The 27 species sighted in the channel include gray, blue, humpback, minke, sperm, and pilot whales; orcas; Dall's porpoise; and Risso's, Pacific white-sided, common, and bottlenose dolphins. Audible aahs were heard when this minke whale greeted us.

The dolphins delighted in putting on a show for us (on our way back).

One hour each way, $60 round trip, priceless memories... what a boat ride!

We actually came to kayak and that will be tomorrow's post. We began our visit by exploring nature. Because of their isolation and remote nature, the Channel Islands support fewer native animal species than similar habitats on the mainland. Species that reached the islands were aerial, such as birds and bats, or rafted across the water on debris and other material. Over time some vertebrate species evolved into distinct subspecies on the islands. For example, the deer mouse and island fox are recognized as distinct subspecies on each of the islands they occur. A total of 23 endemic terrestrial animals have been identified in the park, including 11 land birds, that are Channel Island subspecies or races.

Our goal was to see this guy who happened to practically great us once we disembarked. The island fox only lives on six of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of southern California--they are found nowhere else on Earth. Each island population is recognized as a separate endemic or unique subspecies. This adorable fox, a descendant of the mainland gray fox, is the largest of the Channel Islands' native mammals, but one of the smallest canid species in the world. He's about the size of a house cat. Wild.

The human history is extensive. Native peoples, Mexican land grants, private ownership. Farming was solidified by Dr. James B. Shaw, an English physician, who built the island’s first ranch house by 1855 and is thought to have brought the first French Merino sheep to the island.

The Civil War significantly increased the demand for wool and by 1864 some 24,000 sheep grazed the hills and valleys of Santa Cruz Island.

Shaw’s island sheep ranch was well known by 1869, the year he left Santa Cruz. He imported cattle, horses, and sheep to the island and erected one of the earliest wharves along the California coast at Prisoners Harbor by 1869. He built corrals and houses for himself and his employees and expanded the road system. Shaw was the first rancher to ship sheep to San Francisco by steamer, some selling at $30 per animal. The press frequently praised the quality of sheep and wool coming from the Santa Cruz Island ranch.

The military forces of the United States took notice of Santa Cruz Island during World War II, and since that time have constructed and maintained strategic installations in the name of national security. Like all its neighbors, Santa Cruz Island served as an early warning outpost watching for enemy planes and ships during World War II. The Cold War brought the communications station as a part of the Pacific Missile Range. This station remains in operation, although not at the levels of its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s.

While Santa Cruz Island did not attain National Park designation until 1980, visitors and previous owners of the island have understood the resource values of the island and contemplated preserving the property as a park for perhaps 100 years. Interestingly, Channel Islands National Park owns and operates (only)approximately 24 percent of Santa Cruz Island. Today, a combination of organizations which includes The Nature Conservancy, the National Park Service, the University of California Field Station, and the Santa Cruz Island Foundation work to protect the island’s natural and historic resources.

Our guided kayaking tour wasn't until 12:30 so Cindy and I set off to explore some of the interior of the island on the Cavern Point Trail.

The Island features a diverse array of plant species, including over 70 endemic taxa found only on the California Channel Islands. Key native vegetation includes chaparral, island oak woodlands, and coastal sage scrub. Key species include Santa Cruz Island buckwheat, island ironwood, island barberry, and various manzanitas, alongside several rare and endangered Dudleya species.

The hiking trails are on a plateau that affords 360-degree views of the ocean and across the island. Trails also dip into canyons and meander up peaks. Wow.