Trans Catalina Trail - Too much fun
The Trans Catalina Trail has been on my list for years. It’s the perfect winter or spring adventure and it’s always been top of mind whenever the winters in Tahoe start to drag and the idea of running on dirt pulls hard. It’s about 42 miles with 8k feet of elevation gain. It seemed like the perfect long but not too long adventure for a day. But I rarely found myself in Southern California in the winter and I’m not a big ocean person so it’s not been a priority to make it happen. That was until my new job decided to have an offsite in LA the second weekend of January. The gears immediately started spinning as the idea of making this finally happen started to be actualized.
At first I was set on running it in day. But with partners and logistics I settled for a two day run staying in hotels. But when no partner seemed interested in that I decided to pitch it to Corbin as a backpacking trip. Logistically speaking Catalina is not easy. It involves a plane ride, a ferry ride, permits, hotels, etc… I figured if I’m going to go through all the logistical trouble to plan a run making it a backpacking wasn’t actually that much more difficult. Plus Corbin and I did a backpacking trip last August in the Wind River Range and it was by far the highlight of my year. It was finally a sport that Corbin and I could enjoy together that didn’t feel like one of us was much more advanced than the other.
I relied heavily on this blog post https://hikingguy.com/hiking-trails/best-la-hikes/trans-catalina-trail-tct-hike-guide/ to help understand all the logistics that I needed to take into account. One of the things I learned from this blog post is that they don’t allow hiking after dark. That would make a run a little more logistically challenging especially when the days are so short. This helped justify the backpacking nature. I also learned that there are two campsites that are right on the beach and so planned to prioritize those two campsites. We would do Avalon to Little Harbor then Little Harbor to Parsons Landing then Parsons Landing to Two Harbor. The mileage of each day gets shorter. But I booked the campsite permits, hotels, plane tickets, and ferry tickets a month in advance and was ready to go.
That was until atmospheric river after atmospheric river hammered California. Many of the Catalina trails were closed due to mud and the real concern that it wasn’t going to happen set in. But as we neared the exact dates a 3 day weather window showed up and we lucked out.
We traveled from Reno to Long Beach on a Friday. Ran a few errands around Long Beach buying extra things we couldn’t fly with and stashing some of my luggage because I’d be staying for work afterwards. Then we took an Uber to the Long Beach ferry station. It ended up being the ferry station for the cruise ships and after some confusion we ended up walking a mile to find the correct ferry building for Catalina. Once we got there we realized the ferry was taking off in 15 minutes so we quickly bought tickets, got some food from a taco truck, and jumped on to the boat. There was a 15 year swell in the water and the ferries hadn’t run the previous day because of rough oceans so they warned us that it might be rough. The hour and half ferry ride took forever. I got so sea sick that I was vomiting in a trash bag 45 minutes in. I was so ready to be back on land.
Avalon is a really cute little town. It feels like a different country. There aren’t many cars but lots of golf carts. It looks like everyone travels by golf cart. So much so that the parking spaces at the grocery store are sized for golf carts not cars! Corbin and I walked around town, got some groceries for the hike, got a nice dinner, and watched the moon rise over the ocean. It was so cold that night in Avalon we got worried we wouldn’t be warm enough at night. Corbin ended up buying a jacket in town because he forgot his and was sleeping in a half sleeping bag. We stayed the night close to the water in a little hotel called the Glenmore. We set an alarm for 6 am the next morning to get started on the adventure.
The first day was 19 miles from Avalon to Little Harbor. We were a bit worried that it could take us a long time so we wanted to get an early start. We headed to the local coffee shop and then were hiking from town towards the trail as the sun was rising. It was a big climb up and out of Avalon but it went quickly. When we topped out we saw a beautiful sunrise and some deer watching us. The next section undulates on fire roads and single track heading towards the Black Jack Campground. This section went quickly and we stopped to eat snacks every once and awhile. It feels more interior so you don’t get the nice sweeping views of the ocean like the first climb.
By the time we reached Black Jack we realized we were making great time and it wasn’t going to be any issue making camp before sunset. We sat at a table eat a snack and filled our water bottles. It was a short section up to the airport and then a long downhill to camp. We shuffled along to the airport in the sky where we stopped and head lunch, met a cute cat, and watched the airplanes land and launch. What a cool place to land an airplane. After leaving the airport we headed for the long downhill to the beach. The downhills felt much harder than the uphills especially with the backpack on. We could see Little Harbor for a long time as we approached it and it never felt like it was getting closer. Thankfully there are a bunch of picnic table shade structures all over the trail and we stopped often at them for breaks.
When we got to our campsite we realized we were right on the beach. We quickly shuffled out on to the ocean and explored the sea cliffs and washed our sore feet in the ocean. This was our first bison siting he was just grazing in camp. Everything was soaking wet and muddy from the recent storms so we found an okay place for the tent and set it up. We made dinner and started a campfire. We hangout at the campfire until dark trying to stay warm. The ocean breeze was really chilly that night and we were glad to have our extra layers. We stayed at the fire until the very last light playing cards before turning in. We even got to see a fox scurry through camp looking for food. We didn’t set any alarm because our next day was a shorter 11 miles to Parsons Landing compared to the 20 that day.
The night was cold but the morning was lovely. We had a relaxed morning on the beach drinking coffee before packing and heading up the trail. The trail winds up the western cliff edge with amazing views of the coast and ocean. This section is one of the best. We made quick progress and were heading down into Two Harbors just before lunch. There we saw another Bison lounging about in a grassy field. They look to have a great life on the island. In Two Harbors we discovered that the restaurant doesn’t open till the evenings so we got some groceries from the store and a couple of day old breakfast burritos to eat. We figured out the logistics for the next days departure via ferry and explored the very very tiny town of Two Harbor.
You head back to the western coast before heading up the next big climb. The climb up to the ridge is a bear. It goes straight up to the top of the ridge quickly and then straight down the campsite just as steep. The views of the northern end of the island are incredible but the desire to be at camp was strong. In this section you can see both the west, north, and eastern coasts. It was incredible. The downhill into Parsons Landing was the worst. Not even the trekking poles could take the pressure off of my knees as we dropped straight down into camp.
Parsons Landing was amazing though. You are camping directly on the beach with the waves crashing so close by that each campsite has a water break. We settled into our campsite and Corbin even took a swim in the ocean. We didn’t stay up as late at camp this night since we had a 11 am ferry to catch the next day and 8 miles of hiking to get there. We set an alarm for sunrise and turned in early after sitting by the campfire.
It was substantially warmer that night and even rained a little bit. We knew there was weather moving in on Monday so we were in a rush to wrap up the journey before it fully came in. We packed up in the morning and hit the trail. The last day is 8 miles of fairly flat hiking back to Two Harbors on a dirt road. The road winds in and out of the coves which seemed to drag on forever. We made quick progress of the road though and were back at Two Harbor with plenty of time to catch our ferry and subsequent flight home.
In Two Harbor we paid for a shower and rinsed off the previous days of hiking. We put on whatever seemingly cleanish clothing we had and jumped on the ferry. The ferry ride back was substantially less bumpy than the ride there and I was able to combat any sickness that time. When we landed in San Pedro Corbin headed for the airport and I headed for the hotel. The rains started to pour on the coast and we got so incredibly lucky to have nailed that weather window. It was truly luck that everything went so smoothly. Having done it with a backpack in essentially two days I can confidently say that running it in a day or even just hoteling in Two Harbor for one night would not be a problem at all. 10 out 10 stars would recommend.