California’s “Galapagos” — plus Adorable Foxes
Channel Islands National Park is a less-visited archipelago for kayaking, snorkeling, diving, hiking, and oh-so-fun animal watching.
Story by April Orcutt
Tell me a place has adorable, furry wildlife with big eyes, button noses and fuzzy pointed ears, and you’ve hooked me. Tell me I’ve got a good chance of seeing the cute critters in the wild, and I’m there. Thus, the charming little endemic island fox lured me to Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park, 20 miles off Ventura on the Southern California coast. The islands are known as “California’s Galapagos” because of their 145 endemic species, including the foxes, which did indeed make many appearances — especially at night when their eyes glowed all around the campsites.
My husband, Michael, and I joined friends to take a ferry from Ventura to Scorpion Harbor on Santa Cruz Island, walk nearly a mile to our group campsite and hike, kayak and snorkel on this isolated offshore refuge. A sign in the Island Packers’ ferry office said they had seen six blue whales, six humpbacks, one minke whale and about 200 dolphins the previous day; but on our crossing of the Santa Barbara Channel our marine mammal sightings were limited to a couple sea lions and a few dozen common dolphins — still pretty cool.
Island style
Off-loading the boat along the narrow dock involved bucket-brigade-like line with people handing backpacks and ice chests down the line. Before anyone could leave to walk to campsites, Dustin Waters, a park ranger, told us about safety (no fires), regulations (no fires) and how to protect foxes, ravens and other animals from eating human food and garbage by keeping all food and trash locked in the metal boxes at each campsite.
“Where’s the best place to see the foxes?” I asked.
“Your campsite,” he said. “Be aware they’ve figured out how to open a tent when the zipper on the tent door is all the way down. They work their noses into the space, open it up and check your tent for snacks.” Waters told us to close tents by pulling the two zipper pulls up to the top, out of reach of the wily foxes, which we did see almost as soon as we arrived at the campsite. And they were indeed adorable.
Cool snorkeling and kayaking
After settling in at our campsite in the chaparral — and watching three foxes watch us — we pulled ourselves away from the cuties and carried snorkel gear and wetsuits back to stony Scorpion Beach to snorkel through lissome forests of balletic kelp and look for purple starfish. (Warning: Water is cold!)
Because the Channel Islands are known for their abundance of sea-level caves, the next morning we headed back to the harbor to go ocean kayaking. While our friends took the five-hour heavy-duty guided kayak trip west to Potato Harbor, Michael and I joined another group for the less strenuous three-hour tour. Amy, our official guide, first gave safety instructions, including how to get back in a sit-on-top kayak if you fall off. Useful information I hoped not to use. Our group paddled east from the harbor, kayaking into caves at the base of the cliffs. Sunlight reflected off light-colored sand on the sea floor of a natural tunnel and bounced up into the cave creating the illusion that we were kayaking across a liquid emerald. No wonder it’s named Emerald Cave.
Amy led our group west of Scorpion Harbor toward larger caves. This also meant larger swells. Harbor seals napped in one cave, and a sea lion scooted by near the mouth of another.
That afternoon Michael and I hiked along the Potato Harbor Trail, which starts near the group campsites. It climbs nearly 400 feet in elevation, past chalk-white escarpments and, in May when we went, through fields of yellow mustard flowers. At two miles we approached the overlook of Potato Harbor, so named because some imaginative person thought it was shaped like a potato. A short detour along the North Bluff Trail offered views of orange and white cliffs, teal bays and massive offshore rocks.
In others’ tracks
The next morning, we explored the two-room visitors center not far from the beach. Chumach Indians plied the Santa Barbara Channel, leaving behind grinding-stone metates, fish hooks and shell beads. A replica of a sign from the dining room when the island was a self-sufficient ranch says, “It is forbidden to scorn your soup, throw away nutritious food . . . or annoy your companion.”
The center also told how the darling house-cat-sized island foxes were brought nearly to extinction. In the 1950s, fish-eating bald eagles disappeared from the islands because the shells of their eggs were too thin from DDT-poisoning. No eggs — and thus no chicks — survived. With no bald eagles around, golden eagles, which hunt mammals, moved in. By 2007 non-native feral pigs and sheep had been removed from the island so the goldens preyed on the foxes. Only about 100 foxes survived on the islands. The goldens were relocated to northeastern California and bald eagles brought back in, with the first successful chicks hatching in 2006. The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service worked together on a successful fox captive-breeding program.
Now the foxes number around 1,500 — most, it seemed, living around the campsites. At night when we shined a flashlight around camp, dozens of pairs of their glowing eyes looked back. I loved it.
If You Go:
How to get there:
Island Packers’ ferry: 1691 Spinnaker Dr. #105B, Ventura, Calif.; +1/805-642–1393; www.islandpackers.com. Because ferry reservations fill faster than campground reservations, make ferry reservations before making campground reservations.
Where to stay:
Scorpion campground, Santa Cruz Island, Calif.; +1/877-444–6777; www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/permitsandreservations.htm; Campground has picnic tables, tap water, animal-proof food-storage boxes and composting toilets. Bring your own tent, sleeping bag, etc. It’s a half-mile walk on a dirt road to the first individual campsite and nearly a mile to the farthest group campsite. The campground is the only area with water.
Where to eat:
No cafes or stores so bring your own camp stove and food.
What to do:
Channel Islands Adventure Company: +1/805-884–9283; islandkayaking.com. One-day or multi-day guided ocean kayaking trips. Also snorkeling. Reservations must be made before you get to the island.
Channel Islands Expeditions: +1/805-899–4925. explorechannelislands.com/. Guided kayak and snorkel trips. Make reservations ahead.
More information:
Channel Islands National Park: nps.gov/chis
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April Orcutt’s Channel Islands story ran under different titles in the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, and San Francisco Chronicle. The story won First Place in the Outdoor Writers Association of California Craft Awards for Best Outdoor Newspaper Feature.
Find more of April Orcutt’s stories at Medium.com/BATW-Travel-Stories, Medium.com/Travel-Insights-And-Outtakes, AprilOrcutt.Medium.com, and AprilOrcutt.com.
