Loose End Tie Up on Catalina Island

I cook for preschoolers at an Early Learning Center. Once I had a retired doctor I met on trail comment, "Isn't that just cutting up carrots?" after I told him that is what I did for a living. So no, it's not a job that gets you very big bragging rights or money. But I enjoy it, and feel at home in a kitchen; especially when they let me put up pictures of my past hikes. 

There is a tiny Janet on the horizon

Though when I hung my Trans-Catalina hike canvas, I promised myself I HAD to finish it. (Original Story here ) While cutting up those carrots, I loved to look up at my friend Janet's tiny silhouette ahead on the trail, and every time I did, it was a reminder that we had to go back. And this past Mother's Day, that's exactly what we did!

Janet met my husband and I at the San Pedro Catalina Express ferry dock bright and early on Sunday morning. I had purchased the permits and airfare way back in January, and then panicked when I realized the ferry didn't run on Tuesdays- the day we had to get off the island to catch our plane rides back home! But thankfully, more routes are added in May, so our plans were saved.

Speaking of plans, they are a bit complicated with having a non-hiker along, so I'll give those details below with my trail log. But what a blessing that our original plans of thru hiking this trail fell through, because a second trip to Catalina Island is never a bad thing. 

Speaking of thru hiking fails, my Timberline Trail canvas hanging next to the sink is still making me feel guilty... but until then - happy "better later than never" trails!

TRAIL LOG

Day One: 7.6 miles/757 ft elevation gain. Ken and I flew into Orange County late on Saturday and stayed at The Guest Harbor Inn so we could easily get to the ferry in the morning. Janet's sister lives close by, so she stayed there. The boat stops at Avalon first, so that cut into our hiking time, but because the first day CCW miles were super easy, it was no big deal. We even had time to hike with Ken to his campsite at Two Harbors and help him settle in. "See you tomorrow... unless we get abducted by aliens!" we teased as we left. (Parsons Landing, our night's campsite, is known for it's UFO sightings. An underwater extraterrestrial station in the area is highly debated.) When Janet and I reached the spot where we knew we could cheat through Cherry Valley Summer Camp, we both agreed it was totally worth it since we went the long way around last time. "Who's going to yell at two old ladies on Mother's Day?" we surmised, though thankfully there was no one there to prove us wrong.

At Parsons Landing you need to either carry ALL your water, or pay for a locker where they deliver it for you - with gas for your stove and firewood too, if you choose to pay for those as well. I cheaped out on the wood, but because you can't fly with gas I bought that and the one gallon of water.  I was a little stressed I would lose our locker combination, or that the lock wouldn't work; but as we finally got the locker open what I ultimately stressed about was that there was no gas in there!  TWO gallons of water, and firewood...maybe somebody was drunk on the job? Oh well, at least we can make fire to boil our water for dinner - though maybe somebody has left behind their gas in the food storage boxes at each site? JACKPOT!!! 

Day Two: 7 miles/1900 ft elevation gain. All of the elevation gain is earned the first couple miles, so this is a push. The marine layer was lasting until the afternoon, so we took a very leisurely morning. Our timing was perfect, as the last of the clouds cleared just when we made the ridge. 

They give you this map when you get your locker combo at the dock

Janet saw him at the top

We ambled into Two Harbors just as the bar was closing...but thank God the outside bar was open until 4 pm because we had to order the famous Buffalo's Milk drink to celebrate! 

After putting up our tents with Ken at his campsite, we all walked back to town when the restaurant was open and stayed until it closed playing pool. A blazing fire for all of us back at camp rounded out a perfect day. (FYI, they deliver the wood to this campsite as well, which is a good thing because it's a good quarter mile from town. It will cost you $12 though.)

Day Three: Thank God for the added ferry that heads back to San Pedro at 11:45 am. We felt bad for the ladies who got distracted having one last round of Buffalo's Milk drinks while waiting for departure and ended up missing the boat. FYI, the boat will not turn around, no matter how much you wave your arms and yell. Uber drivers are plentiful in the San Pedro area, so getting back to the airport was easy peasy. 

And you know Sammy had to come too!

Making the Effort on Mount Si

Mount Si has never been on my list - except maybe my "not to do" list. It's known as the most popular trail in the state; I've even heard they have a shuttle from Seattle to the trail during the summer. I know I said I enjoyed the "communal feel" of Ancient Lakes on my last post...but I imagined Mount Si to be more of a "swarmed" vibe, especially on a Saturday.

A rare moment of no people!

But my friend, Heidi, is back to preparing for her Mount Rainer summit. Unfortunately her trip was canceled last season due to weather, so she's back at it this year. And Mount Si is training central. Two hours up is supposedly the litmus test to prove you are ready. So Julie and I both said we'd come with in solidarity; as long as Heidi didn't mind waiting for us on top.

On Friday Julie informed us there was quite a buzz about the missing zebra and maybe even a warning to stay away from trails in the area. Ummmm...missing zebra? I'm not much of a news watcher, but I knew something was up when I kept seeing memes of Bigfoot riding one. Turns out an actual escaped zebra had been eluding capture and roaming those neck of the woods for almost a week! But the last sighting was quite a ways away from Mount Si, so we figured we shouldn't be in any zebra corral-ers way by clamoring up the thing. 

Though the whole zebra hype did get me thinking it would be fun to play a little joke on Julie. I looked all through my grandkids toy box the night before, but no zebra. Not to worry - my husband improvised for me. "This is the stuff that makes hiking fun," he mused as he painstakingly drew on the stripes, God bless him. 

The hike up is a grind, as we knew it would be, and of course Heidi was was out sight five minutes after we started. At about a half mile before the summit, Julie wanted to take a rest, so I knew it was my chance. I hurried up to find Heidi (who had been waiting for over an hour) and told her my plan. "Get ready for my acting skills," I warned her as we waited for Julie to appear. 

This little video of me trying to sell that we had spotted the zebra proves that Julie wasn't really buying it - but it got a little chuckle; and a cute photo shoot for Sammy, so I say it was worth the effort.

FYI, I think it's also worth the trouble to scramble up a little ways from the lunch spot to the top of the rock pile - it's a better view. The true summit is the top of the Haystack which you can see from there; an effort we all decided tipped the "not worth it" scale. 

The four miles back down made all our old knees scream "WHY?" but a stop at Little Si Restaurant and Lounge's happy hour made us believe once again that doing Mount Si was worth the effort. But I'm sorry, not sorry to say that I will never be doing it again. Happy "a dumb joke is always fun" trails. 

"You mean I didn't really rescue a zebra?"...poor Sammy ;)