Don and I have had the idea to check out the hiking trails on Catalina Island for several years, but our timing wasn’t quite right till this year. We were going to be in CA for the month of January and if the weather cooperated we might just be able to pull it off.
First was getting a permit for the campgrounds. On the Catalina visitor website it stated that the campsite reservations will open Jan, first and the recommendation was to be ready when the site is up. The advice was that campsites fill quickly and one should have a plan. Then I noticed a note that said call the Two Harbors visitor center if you want to reserve sites in January. We found out that January is not a busy month and we would have our pick of sites. Knowing that getting a camping reservation wouldn’t be challenging we started to look at the ferry schedule.
The ferry has a limited schedule for the winter months and trying to figure out how to accomplish a round trip route from Dana Point took some research. The ferry from Dana Point only goes to Avalon and back. Most hikers will end their hike at Two Harbors and catch the ferry back to San Pedro or Long Beach in the winter. Ideally we didn’t want to leave our vehicle at either of those two places as parking our van there for 6 days would be over $200.00. We then discovered that there is a van shuttle that will take you from the Airport in the Sky back to Avalon. Problem solved! We would add two more days of hiking by retracing some of the trail and Beth and Ryan would drop us off and pick us up at Dana Point.
We started watching the weather with interest as winter time can be a time of rain and wind. In fact the week before our planned departure the ferry to the island had been canceled several times due to wind.
Finally the day for our departure arrived and we felt blessed as the marine forecast was for calm seas.