One of my bucket list hikes is the Trans Catalina Trail which traverses the entire island. A couple years ago, Jyoti and I did the northern part so this time we tackled the southern part. We chose SOBO so we could spend some time in Avalon after the hike. We used Hiking Guy's guide for much of our planning.
Day 1
We woke up early and drove up to San Pedro to catch the boat. Due to a rescheduled beer festival, we got on a direct boat to Two Harbors. After a smooth ride over, we had lunch at Two Harbors general store, then started the climb up the ridge to Little Harbor. The climb was tough but the views along the ridge were stunning. There was steep decline into camp. We setup the tent and explored the harbor a bit. We then had dinner and started a campfire since we opted for a wood delivery. We did forget a fire started but bought one from the nice ranger.
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Camp at Little Harbor
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Overlooking Little Harbor
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Starting the TCT
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On the boat
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Day 2
The hike out of little harbor was a long but not to steep climb almost to the other side of the island. Turning north, we encountered a fox that walked right by us, not caring at all. We also saw a small herd of bison. After a dusty road walk, we made a welcome stop at the airport for food, drinks and cookies. After the break, the trail headed down and out of canyon before getting us to Blackjack Campground. We were the only ones at Blackjack to start so Jyoti took an outdoor shower while there was still sun. After an early dinner we went to bed early.
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Looking back to the west
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Airport in the sky hangar
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AVX flight line
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Camp at Blackjack
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Day 3
We left early on our last day hiking. In the morning light we saw several deer and a few coveys of quail. There were a couple of tough canyons to traverse and then a long ridge before we got to the Hermit Gulch overlook. The trail down into town was very steep On the way to the hotel, we stopped at the golf course for lunch.
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Great views along the trail
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Lone bench
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Foxy lady crossing
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Looking down into Avalon
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Last high point
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Avalon
We spent the next day and half in Avalon and had a great time. We picked food at Vons and had dinner on the roof of our hotel, Seacrest Inn. We also took a ecotour with the Catalina Island Conservancy. It was great to see some of the sights like Middle Ranch and learn more about the island.
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Downtown Avalon
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Rooftop dining at Seacrest Inn
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| Us in Avalon |
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Avalon Casino
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Cold and rainy on the ecotour
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Eagles Rest Lodge has seen better days
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Avalon at night
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