Update

With the exception of the Ben Weston hike on 26 July, all of the hikes that I've described in this blog were completed before I began "A Hiking Diary of Catalina". Every hike is labeled with a date of for the hike and you'll notice that some of them date back to March... well, the backlog of hikes is gone and I won't post any new items until I've completed a few more hikes!

Look for an update soon from a short hike Hubby and I took at the Wrigley Marine Science Center! Thanks for reading!

Airport Loop Trail

Date: 5 June 2009

Who hiked:  me

Hike route:  Loop beginning and ending at the Airport in the Sky

Time:  about 11:20 AM to 1:00 PM

Estimated distance: about 2.1 miles

Weather:  overcast and cool 

I decided to do this hike on my way to Avalon for a grocery-buying trip.  Catalina's Airport in the Sky is on top of a mountain, flattened for just this purpose (see photo of flat-topped mountain?  that's the Airport!).  I parked at the Airport and walked across the road to the trailhead. There is a sign near the start of the trail indicating that there is an old soapstone quarry only a short walk (about 0.2 miles) down the trail.   It's a short walk down the slope to a T-junction, but there was no sign indicating which way to the quarry.  I thought that it would be interesting to see the quarry earlier in my hike rather than later, so I guessed that the quarry was to the right.

I was wrong about the quarry.  The trail took me to the west of the Airport, then crossed the Rancho Escondido Road and turned north.  There is some nice geology here -- interesting crystal formations in rocks, volcanic rocks containing vesicles where gasses escaped during their formation.  Good lichens too.  And a fair number of Uta stansburiana, a common ground lizard on the island.  In the bushes, there were chipping sparrows singing away.  The trail generally hugs the contours of the mountain on which the Airport is located, so it's a nice flat walk.  

I passed a pond shortly after the trail turned east.  It was at the bottom of the slope; using my binoculars, I spied several bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) in the pond, so I went down to get a closer look.  These were the first bullfrogs I've seen on the island.  An introduced species, little is known about their effect on native animals.  I was keen to see some frogs, even if they were "bad".

Cattails lined one part of the pond but the edges were mostly open.  There was evidence that bison and deer use it -- water is a precious commodity on the island for everyone.  I saw hummingbirds -- probably Allen's hummingbirds, since that's the most common species on the island -- hovering over the water trying to catch insects to feed their young.  At least one pair of killdeer were also at the pond and they would fly, then land a short distance away from me, as I walked around the pond.  I looked around a bit for a nest, but had no luck.  No surprise there -- killdeer nests are hard to find and the movements of the parents do nothing to help the seeker!  Also at this pond I saw and heard a common yellowthroat.  At first listen I always mistake the witchety-witchety of yellowthroats for songs of Carolina wrens -- at least a Carolina wren with a sore throat.  Which is silly for me to do on Catalina -- there aren't any Carolina wrens on the island!   Yellowthroats are one of my favorite warblers... ever since my first glimpse of one in the reeds that surround Lake Mattamuskeet, a fabulous birding spot on the coastal plain of North Carolina.  I was just learning to watch birds and this was one of the first species I had identified on my own.  Not that a bird with a bright yellow throat and a black mask is so hard to ID!

I headed back up the hill to the trail after satisfying my curiosity about the pond.  It's tough to keep to the proper trail on this hike because there are so many animal tracks in this area.  The animal tracks and the cloud cover on the image made it hard to trace my route in Google Earth too, so the map I've included with this hike is my best guess.

The trail continued east and soon I reached a second pond.  There was a female mallard and five chicks on this pond.  The mother quickly led her brood to the safer end of the pond, away from me.  More killdeer were beside this pond and a black phoebe perched on some emergent vegetation.  It was fun also to watch barn swallows swooping over the pond, catching insects and taking drinks.

Here the trail is particularly hard to follow-- there are a lot of animal tracks, especially past the pond where there is a water tank.  It was empty today, but is probably used to supply water to bison later in the dry season when water becomes scarce at ponds.  I walked up a slight slope, then to the Old Airport Road, which wraps around the northeast end of the airport. From the road I saw some great island bush poppies and watched an airplane zoom in low overhead for a landing on the airport's only runway.  

In a short distance, the Old Airport Road meets up with the new Airport Road.  I crossed here and headed south.  Again here the trail can be a bit tough to follow, though it is lined with rocks for much of its distance.  I crossed a small creek at the bottom of a hill, then headed up a bit to the quarry.  Only about 2 miles later than I expected, but find it I did!  The quarry is small, with several unfinished bowls (or ollas) sticking half in and half out of the rock face.  I walked up the hill, which is steep but short, and back to the T-junction.  I headed back to the Airport in the Sky and ate lunch.  I highly recommend their bison burgers, which one can eat on the patio overlooking Black Jack Peak and Mount Orizaba .  Today it was a bit chilly, so I ate inside facing the picture window of the cafe, then I continued on my way to Avalon and the Von's!

Other birds seen:  House finches, Northern ravens, Catalina quail (and babies! -- it's that time of year), Mourning doves, European starlings, Northern mockingbirds

Mammals seen:  Beechey's ground squirrel, mule deer

Following the Old Coach Road

Sunday, 14 March 2009

Who hiked:  me

Hike route: Trailhead across road from West End Bison Corral on Little Harbor Road, ends in Two Harbors

Time:  approximately 2.5 hours

Estimated distance: ~4 miles, according to the Catalina Island Conservancy map

Temp:  low 70s, overcast

I did this hike before I started thinking about my hiking blog, so I don't have as much information from the hike as I normally would. 

I began this hike right after we had finished with our aid station for the Catalina Island Marathon.  Boy, the walkers and runners in that race have some guts... that is one tough race!

I started the hike at around 9:00 AM. Hubby and the Things drove me to the trailhead, which is directly across from the Bison Corral.  The trail heads up from here, past the microwave tower, through a gate, then down the other side into Two Harbors.  I also hiked the 0.9 mi spur trail (Cat Harbor Overlook) that goes out to an -- yes, you guessed it -- overlook at the mouth of Cat Harbor.

The Bison Corral is a good place to see shrikes, though I did not see any on this day.  About one-third of the way up the trail I did see a Catalina Island fox, which would turn to look at me, then run a bit further up the trail, then turn to look at me again.  It did this a few times, then crept off into the underbrush.  The trip up was a bit tough, but not too bad.  I stopped a couple of times for breathers...  The trail that goes up and over the ridge (excluding the spur trail to the Point) is an old road.  A hundred years ago, tourists would travel from Little Harbor to Two Harbors in stagecoaches along the Little Harbor Road.  At that time, the road then turned up this mountain and then down the other side into Two Harbors.  It must have been really exciting to be in a stagecoach drawn by six horses, careening down the Old Coach Road into town!

At the ridge, there is an intersection with the Trans-Catalina Trail.  It is a bit confusing here about where one should go, and I walked a bit toward Little Harbor along this new trail.  I figured out my mistake quickly, however, and reoriented myself toward Two Harbors without much time lost.  I walked back toward the microwave tower, turned on the left fork (northwest) instead of heading up toward the tower, and proceeded along the ridgetop.  I passed through a gate for the fence that transects the island here, then walked toward Ballast Point.  To go straight to Two Harbors, one merely turns right at the next fork and walks down, down, down the mountain and into town.  I decided to walk out to the Point, so I headed up the small rise along the Cat Harbor Overlook trail.  I've hiked this part of the trail several times; it is a ridge of small rolling crests.  None of them would be particularly challenging but for the fact that one has just hiked straight up to reach this point!  But I walked out to the Point and sat down to take in the view for a while.  

I don't see the point in hiking if one is not going to stop and look at things, regardless of if those things are birds, insects, plants, or views.  Sometimes I don't make very good time because of my penchant for stopping, as Hubby has reminded me on more than one occasion, but I do enjoy myself much more than I would if hiking was merely how I got from here to there.  Besides, thinking about what kind of time I'm making on the trail makes if feel competitive, and I don't need that!

I retraced my steps along the ridge to resume the trail down into Two Harbors.  It is more or less straight down, past a settling pond for sewage treatment and a perennially green patch of eucalyptus and shrubs that are watered with the sewage effluent.  This is a great place for hummers, though one can mostly only hear them as they squeak and whirr about scolding and chasing each other through the grove.  About the time my knees were threatening to give out from the relentless downward slope, I was at the Banning House.  I then walked past the Little Red Schoolhouse, the playground, and up the small hill (which felt much bigger now) and to my home for lunch.

Not a bad way to spend a morning.

Ben Weston Beach and back again

Sunday, 26 July 2009

Who hiked:  me, Bill, Thing1, Thing2

Hike route: Trailhead on Middle Ranch Road to Ben Weston Beach and back

Time:  2-5:20, with time to play on the beach

Estimated distance: 3.6 miles round-trip

Temp:  mid 70s, mostly cloudy, light wind

So Thing2's birthday is coming up and he has been requesting a trip to Ben Weston Beach.  Today we decided to make this wish come true...

This hike is a great one for folks who like flat routes -- and not many of these exist on Catalina!  The trailhead is at a pull-out on the road to Middle Ranch; there is a sign for the trail.  It is 1.8 miles to the beach (according to the sign) and the trail follows a dry streambed for much of its distance.  You descend very briefly from the road to the floor of Ben Weston Canyon and hike along the valley floor until you reach the beach.  You cross two or three intermittent streams and one permanent stream in the first half-mile and all are easy to cross.  I've hiked this trail several times in both wet and dry seasons and the permanent stream has always held water.  There were Pacific treefrog tadpoles (Pseudacris regilla) in the water and interesting plants alongside the streams -- horsetails (aka scouring rushes, genus Equisetum -- see the photo), monkey flower (Mimulus sp.), cottonwoods...  I think that Equisetum is one of the coolest plants ever.  They are an ancient group, arising in the Paleozoic, and are common in coal deposits from the Carboniferous -- only 350 million years ago!  Any group of organisms that survived the Permian extinction and the extinction of the dinosaurs must be doing something right.  We saw a spotted towhee here too.  There were a lot of lizards (Uta stansburiana) along the trail, including small ones about an inch long.

We were probably about  75% of the way to the beach when suddenly we came upon a bison.  It was dust-bathing along the trail.  The bison really like Ben Weston Canyon as evidenced by the number of dust-bathing sites along the trail and the amount of bison dung strewn along the path.  Check under dried bison patties for organisms -- we found an endemic Catalina Jerusalem cricket under one earlier this year.  But back to the bison at hand...  All four of us stepped off the trail about 10 feet onto a game trail that led to the dry streambed adjacent to the trail.  The hubby walked down the creek bed (no mean feat, given the brush overgrowing it) a bit until he was behind the bison where he made lots of noise in the bushes.  The bison proceeded to walk up the trail (toward us), stopped to look at us through the brush, then meandered further up the trail away from our location.  Thing2 nearly had a cow he was so scared.  But while bison are really freakin' huge, they generally want to get on with the business of eating, pooping, and making baby bison.  As we weren't stopping the big guy from doing any of these three things, he just moseyed on by us.  Actually he wasn't a particularly large bison, so he probably was a young male who wasn't getting much action in the making baby bison department.

Ben Weston Beach is probably my favorite beach on the island.  Usually we are the only people there, the beach is wide, the surf is good, and the area is quiet.  We hung around the beach with the Things playing "Sanderling" -- they run down the beach as a wave recedes, then race back up the beach as a new wave comes in.  Just like a sanderling.  Unlike a sanderling, they often misjudge the wave and end up getting walloped.  Especially at Ben Weston where the waves can be big.  And so they were today.  It was fairly brutal, actually as the waves carried sand with them that scoured your legs and feet as they washed over you.  We also had some fun digging mole crabs out of the sand.  You find them in the swash zone -- the area of the beach that the waves wash over, but up from where waves initially crash against the beach.  Patches of sand with mole crabs are easy to identify by the "V" shapes of their antennae that are visible for a few seconds as the wave recedes.  You have to be quick -- the crabs are exposed by the wave, then furiously dig deeper in the sand so they aren't pulled out to sea.  They feed on particles in the water as the waves pass over them and move up and down the beach in synchronization with the tides.  Pretty cool, eh?

It was not low tide, so no good intertidal organisms to see on the rocks at either end of the beach.  There are offshore rocks at the west end of the beach where I saw about ten sleeping sea lions.  Another rock had at least a dozen brown pelicans perched on it.  While at the beach I saw double-crested cormorants, western gulls, brown pelicans, and house wrens.  

After about 1.5 hours, we headed back to the truck.  I had forgotten, but hubby had not, that the US v. Mexico soccer match (Gold Cup final) was being re-broadcast at 5 PM.  So he wanted to get home for a hot date with Fox Soccer Channel (no reason to hurry -- it was a very frustrating game that the US lost 0-5).  Anyway, we brushed the sand off our feet, put our hiking shoes back on, and headed back up the trail to our vehicle.  

The trip back was uneventful except that Thing2 (hungry, tired, and chafed) complained almost incessantly and Thing1 stopped a number of times to pick lemonadeberry fruits.  They taste like (yes) lemonade.  You suck on them for a few seconds, then spit the fruit out.  They are sour, but tasty!  We were nearly back to the truck when we ran across our bison friend again.  This time he was tougher to budge from the trail.  Encouraging bison to move out of your way is a fairly delicate process but Bill crashed about in the thicket next to the trail while the Things and I waited several yards off the trail.  Soon enough the bison moved far enough away that we could comfortably walk past him.  We sent each Thing in turn with instructions to run until they got to the road as the bison was still looking at us, a touchy situation.

We were on the road to home by 5:20, another successful hike under our belts.  We don't see many birds when on hikes with the Things, but singing hiking songs, discussing bison poop,  and having Thing1 pretend to be an Tongva guide make it worth it!

Hammocks hike to Silver Peak Trail

Thursday, 7 May 2009

Who hiked:  me

Hike route:  Loop up hammock hike from WE Road, cut over to Silver Peak Trail and back down

Time:  9-12

Estimated distance: ? miles

Temp:  mid 70s, sunny, light wind

I headed out from Two Harbors along the West End Road at 0900 -- it's sunny, the sky is blue, and there are almost no clouds in sight and I have to think, "What a great day for a hike."  Along the road, I saw or heard the usual assortment of birds: Northern mockingbirds, western gulls, European starlings, Northern ravens, and orange-crowned warblers.  It's funny how these birds have become part of the background for me.  About five minutes later, I was at the base of the trail that headed up the ridge.  We call this climb "Godhilla".  

I think a word about trails on Catalina is probably appropriate here.  Most trails on the island were not designed for hikers, at least as far as I can tell.  Some are roads (designed for motorized vehicles), some are firebreaks (designed to prevent the spread of wildfires), and the rest are animal tracks ("designed" by deer or bison, mostly).  So "switchback" is not part of the lexicon of any of these trailmakers...  those babies just head UP and don't stop until they get to the top!  While this does make for the shortest distance between the top and the bottom, it is not usually a pleasant situation for the two-legged walker.

Now I've hiked part of this route before (in January -- see the photos on my Facebook page!) and so I knew that the initial uphill part was steep and fairly long.  We don't call it Godhilla for nothing. It was tough for me in January, but I was sure that it would be easier this time.  I was four months farther down the road on my recovery from surgery last October after all.  So I get off the road, and begin to climb.  And climb.  Stop to breathe.  Climb some more.  Pretend I'm looking for interesting rocks while I stop to breathe.  Climb.  At about 0930, I'm almost to the top, but I'm not feeling great.  So much for the sentiment that I'd do better in May than I did in January!  I'm really sweating by this point and decide that I will sit to watch the barge that has come into replenish the goods in the Two Harbors General Store (Food, Souvenirs, Fishing and Boating Supplies, and Booze.  Lots of Booze).  I always assumed that it went to the dock and had the containers taken off with a crane, but apparently they pull up to the beach and offload there.  At least I think so -- there's no activity in the five minutes or so that I sit and watch.  It's hazy today.  I can see the outline of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the mountains beyond on the mainland, but I can't see much detail.  In the other direction (SW) I can't see San Clemente Island.   Soon I decide that I've rested long enough -- I have a lot of hiking left to do if I'm going to finish my planned route before Thing2 gets out of school.

Ten minutes later, I've almost made it to the summit of the first hill, where there is a trail headed off to the left that goes to the hammocks -- a lovely spot to sit and relax with a great view of the Isthmus and Cat Harbor and the mainland.  But today, my plan is to forge ahead into uncharted (for me) territory -- to climb the rest of the ridge and get to the trail that cuts over to the Silver Peak/Trans-Catalina trail which is on an adjacent ridge.  So I head up the rest of the mountain and find a USGS geodetic marker with a lizard (Uta stansburiana) on top.  Now I can find that (a) I don't really see where I need to go -- makes me a bit nervous and (b) this ridge is not very flat.  Five minutes later I've moved along the ridge and can see San Clemente Island now -- its a long, low hump that rises out of the haze, without a clear beginning or end.  I feel really crappy, but I'm proud of myself -- I'm a long way up from where I started!  On the way, I have heard a spotted towhee singing; the song is similar to the Eastern towhee, but with more intro notes and a trill that is buzzier and less musical.  Seen more orange-crowned warblers in the scrub, barn swallows feeding on the wing overhead, and another spotted towhee scratching under the bushes near the trail -- I even get a glimpse of this one. 

I'm a bit torn at this point.  I've been hiking about an hour and I'm not very far along.  And I don't really know how far or how tough the rest of the hike is.  Will I be able to get back by 12:30?  That's when I need to get Thing2 from kindergarten...  Should I turn around and go back on the hammocks route?  I decide to keep moving -- there will still be time to turn around if I need to.  

About a half-hour later, I'm over the third or so peak on the ridge and I can clearly see the trail that cuts across a saddle to the Silver Peak Trail.  I decide to go for it.  Thankfully the trail skirts the summit of the next peak -- small mercies!  The plants along the hike include the usual:  scrubby oaks, Opuntia, lemonadeberry, and other plants I don't know yet.  There are some lovely small purple primrose-looking plants and some small yellow lily-type plants.  They look like yellow Stars of Bethlehem.

There are lots of Uta up here -- small lizards that live on the ground.  The males have very handsome orange sides.  I don't know if it's the weather or the habitat, but they're everywhere!

By 1045, I've reached the trail that cuts over to the Silver Peak trail.  The trail I'm on makes a T-junction with the trail up from Lion Head.  Going right takes you down to the West End road, at Lion Head, past Cherry Valley.  Going left takes you over to the Silver Peak trail, which is also part of the Trans-Catalina Trail.  I went left; it was deceptively flat-looking from a distance, but up close it was rolling up and down and at that point, I was pretty tired of up.  On this part of the hike, there is actually some shade!  And in the oaks along the trail, I see warblers -- Townsend's warblers and a hermit warblers -- new life-listers for me!  I get great looks at them -- they're beautiful.

By about 1100, I've intersected the Silver Peak trail, then I headed down.  Fairly steep down.  Remember -- no switchbacks.  By this time I'm tired and paying less attention to my surroundings, but I still hear and see mockingbirds, ravens, some swallows, and a few lizards.  By 1120 I'm at a flat section of trail above Wells Beach -- almost there!  And it's flat!  Hallelujah!!  The mockingbirds are in full-force here, flying about and scolding everything that moves.  The flat part ends (sigh), but I reach Wells Beach at the base of the trail around 1135.  The walk home from here is a flat road along Catalina Harbor -- good birdwatching for terns, western gulls, and ravens.  I see house finches in the scrub along the road.  I'm home by five minutes to noon! I even have time for a shower!

Eagle Nest Road

Saturday, 3 May 2009

Who hiked:  me, Bill, Thing1 (8), Thing2 (5)

Hike route:  Loop from Eagle Nest

Time:  about 1:30 - 4:30 PM

Estimated distance:  5 miles

Temp:  low 70s, partly cloudy

The hike headed uphill first.  Lots of good rocks here -- many crystals, interesting colors and types.  Found three velvet ants -- looked at them with Thing2's bug sucker.  Birds:  chipping sparrows (singing too), ravens, mockingbirds, quail (heard)  Good views of Little Harbor, Shark Harbor, vineyards at Rancho Escondido.  Get back on road before fence before Ben Weston.  Here road goes up, down, then back up and down.  About 2 miles on the road (measured in truck later).  Best route seems to be to go from Eagle Nest and up, rather than starting down the road first -- the uphills are then broken into smaller, more manageable pieces and the big hill is down into Ben Weston Canyon instead of up from Ben Weston!