Santa Cruz Island - Channel Islands National Park

Channel Islands National Park is a group of five islands off the coast of Southern California. The two closer islands, Anacapa and Santa Cruz are popular for day trips, because it only takes about 1-2 hours to get there by boat. San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Barbara probably make more sense for overnight trips since it takes several hours to get there by ferry.

The ferry, operated by Island Packers, left from Ventura Harbor. Santa Cruz Island is the largest island in the group and it has two harbors and we were headed to Scorpion Ranch. The boat ride was also a wildlife cruise, just outside of Ventura Harbor, these sea lions were hanging out on the channel marker and in the water.

We were on the lookout for whales, but didn’t see any, but we did find a large group of dolphins who swam alongside us for a couple minutes.

And then we landed on Santa Cruz island at Scorpion Ranch. There is a small visitor’s center and a small rocky beach. I’d say the main activity on the island is hiking or hanging out, although there was a group of people doing a snorkel and kayak tour, which I think would have been fun because the water was very clear.

Our hike started on the Scorpion Canyon Trail, which starts uphill right beyond the NPS Visitor’s Center. It was quite dry and open, but there were great views over the water and on to Anacapa Island. We walked up for awhile and then looped down through the canyon and into the campground.

Where I caught a glimpse of the resident island fox.

After a short break we continued our hike uphill from the campground towards Potato Harbor. Although it’s not possible to hike down to the beach, the trail and the view at the end is beautiful. From there we walked back to the Scorpion Cove and the ferry back to Ventura.