Travel tips and authoritative accounts of the trails and routes available on East Santa Cruz Island enable the hiker to enjoy this remote and beautiful island to the fullest.

What is Special About Channel Islands National Park?

Channel Islands preserves five of the eight California Channel Islands lying just off the coast of southern California. These islands contain superlative natural and cultural values. The legislation which established the Park in 1980 gives a little more detail – the park has outstanding breeding grounds for seals and sea lions, fabulous habitat for sea birds, thousands of archeological sites, plants and animals found nowhere else, beautiful and productive tide pools and kelp forests, and more. What is really wondrous about Channel Islands National Park is the solitude – the complete change of pace from the urgent urban lifestyle so common on the adjacent mainland.

If you visit the islands you really should manage to stay at least one night. Then you will really sense the different pace of the islands, while at the same time you will see the reflected afterglow of the bright lights of Los Angeles and environs in the distance. The calm of the largely undeveloped islands, their natural setting – simply looking at the night sky and seeing stars instead of smog – will convey the spirit of the islands more than my words ever can.

Although adjacent to sixteen million people Channel Islands National Park is the third least visited national park in the country. This isn’t because it is not worth a visit; the islands are either very difficult or very expensive (or, occasionally, both) to visit. This guide attempts to make your visit easier, safer, more fun, and more interesting.

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