Bridgelandia: Channel Islands Day 1

After our epic journey to Ventura, which involved a ride from my coworker to the Caltrain Station in Redwood City, catching the train to San Jose, walking to the Greyhound, a 7 hour bus ride, where we overheard conversations about warrants out for people's arrest, where it's best to be homeless how smart the two people behind us were and how dumb everyone else is, and perhaps the most telling "I've been on this bus since noon yesterday (it was 12:30 pm at the time)." "Oh? Only a day? That's not bad!", a walk through Santa Barbara, some semi-decent pizza, and a local commuter bus to Ventura, followed by a cab to the Motel 6, where people were checking in and paying with cash, but didn't have enough cash so had to go back to the car...we woke up to find out that Everett Brendan Johnson had entered the world...Meghan and Matt are parents! We were super stoked for that news, and I was glad I didn't have to worry for the next 4 days when I'd be out of cell phone range.

We breakfasted at a nearby McDonald's where we surreptitiously filled our water containers with at least 10 liters of water through the fountain (thanks, McDonalds employees, for not asking questions and/or caring!), caught the same taxi to the pier, and boarded the boat.

Brett took this while we were waiting for the boat to take off. Don't zoom in; it's creepy.

Many boats in the harbor at Ventura. Some looked more seaworthy than others.

After we got rolling, we almost immediately got a great view of a lady carrying her own barf in a clear plastic bag. She had gotten seasick at the front of the boat. Then two minutes later, a youngish woman totally passed out...her legs went limp and it looked like all muscles just completely relaxed. Luckily her husband and an employee were able to carry her down the stairs and she recovered.

About halfway across the channel, Brett spotted a whale straight ahead! We were one of the first to see it...every 10 or so seconds you would see a huge splash coming out of its blowhole! The boat actually stopped so we wouldn't scare the whale and everyone got a couple of sightings before it came up for a finale...I guess they really pop out of the water before they take a deep dive! It was really cool to see...my first time seeing a whale the ocean!

Not 10 minutes after that, we saw a couple more whales, but further away. THEN came the dolphins! They were absolutely stunning, playing in the wake of our boat, coming up alongside the boat. They seemed to always jump in twos and threes. Brett managed to catch a couple in the photo below, but for the most part we were just enjoying the display!

As we got nearer the island, we did see a few seals, but nothing too close. This is not me complaining, by the way...it was the most amazing boat ride of my life! Well, second most, after the three days on the River Niger fighting the scurvy with PON.

Some people brought their own kayaks on the boat with us...this is them getting to shore

Most of the people got dropped off at Scorpion, where there is a beach, a kayak rental, and a historic building. We stayed on the boat until Prisoners Harbor -- our final destination would be Scorpion after our 16 mile hike!

We ran into an NPS employee who happily took our photo before we took off. It's rare to get us both in a picture while backpacking!

There were some gorgeous flowers, as usual. Channel Islands actually has a bunch of indigenous species that only exist on the islands. They were actually never attached to the mainland. However, I have no idea which flowers are special and which are just pretty.

Beginning of our route. At the perhaps bad advice of the boat employee, we took the road instead of the Del Norte Trail to the campground.

The whole island used to be a sheep ranch. There were fences everywhere.

We went all up the first day!

A house which seemed to be inhabited, once we got closer to it. Talk about a view.

Our first campsite. It looks peaceful now.

But let me tell you about our night! We had seen a fox earlier in the day, and apparently he was used to finding treats near tents. This fox was INSANE and circled our tent all night long! We had a tarp down that stuck out slightly from underneath the tent, and his little feet on the tarp were so loud! I was really freaked out and just couldn't get to sleep for a few hours. Finally I did, but every time I woke up in the night I could still hear him prancing about our campground. He had a lot of energy!