[Day 2] Isthmus

I awoke to my favorite territorial bison bothering some fellow campers. He decided to show them down a few feet away from their tent, eventually chewing the grass the way towards my camp.

Leaving Little Harbor, the eye was greeted with a picturesque view of the coves. North from Little Harbor, trail hopped up on another ridge towards the town of Two Harbor. More of island spectacles ensued.

The island comes to an isthmus at Two Harbor. A skinny land bridge connects the two parts of the island with harbors on both sides (hence, Two Harbor). After dropping to the “town” of Two Harbor, I took the straps off for a while and ate some expensive chips and salsa from the general store. I did ask myself many times over why exactly I was buying overpriced snacks on a 3-day hike. Then, I remembered I was hiking an island off the coast of Southern California. Life is pretty good — who cares.

Parson Landing is the most remote campsite on the island on a northern beach. There’s two ways there from Two Harbor — up the ridge of the north island or along a road of inland-facing coastline. Either route would get me there in similar mileage. I decided upon the coastline route to get over with the flat road walking and to set myself up for additional northwestern miles tomorrow.

The road walk to Parson Landing winded in and out of private coves, following the topography of a hard-packed dirt road. So far, the island’s miles have been fair and easy. I arrived to Parson Landing quite early — around 3:15pm. Given the private beach, it was an appropriate early arrival. Along the way in, I collected some prickly pear fruits off a cactus and ate them as a precursor to dinner.

The jutting mainland point of Palo Verdes felt within arms reach over the San Pedro Channel. Surprisingly, the beach was amazingly clean. Sunset came after quickly dipping my legs in the water. With these views, I might be in search of another semi-remote coastal hike in the near future.

Signing off,

Zeppelin