[Day 3] North Island

I was awake to an exceptional morning on the Catalina beach of Parson Landing. I had it in my mind to see the northern part of the island off the official Trans-Catalina Trail. There was a bit of a climb out of Parson Landing, and I had an idea there would be some solid gain on this northern part of the island.

I followed West End Road beyond the gates that were up. Quickly, the road should little evidence of traffic. I made the mistake of following the Old West End Road cut, which brought me through a mile or so of off-trail navigating. Apparently, this road had been entirely washed and eroded out. I came across a large rock slide field with a 3-foot wide, 30-foot deep crevice — quite the fissure. A little leap of faith and uphill bushwhacking got me through it all.

A couple more miles after merging back with West End Road brought me as far northwest as a path could. I decided to go off-trail in hopes of reaching West Point Peak and the most northwest prominence of the island. Following the skinny ridge towards the tip of the island, I hit a sign forbidding further unauthorized travel due to bald eagle nesting territory. Disrespecting the bald eagle is worse offense than spitting on the star strangled banner, and as such I turned back towards Starlight Beach. Another mile or so brought me to Starlight Beach, or so I thought. It was a cliffed-out alcove — excellent nonetheless. Upon hiking out, I took a look at the wooden sign pointing to Starlight, finding the arrow had a big “x” etched in. I was satisfied with the view, so I decided not to pursue another route further to the correct location of Starlight Beach.

Out of Starlight, I had a 1,700-foot climb up to Silver Peak, the highest point north of the isthmus. The route had some excellent views, climbing, and more washed and eroded out road.

After Silver Peak, the trail followed road along a crest of the north island, hitting Granite Peak along the way back to Two Harbor.

I rolled into Two Harbor quite pumped on the trail. The north island was quite excellent, and the remaining miles for the day were back to Little Harbor. After a couple hours bumming around the general store, I made the miles back to Little Harbor — boy, were they doubly appreciated.

I made it into Little Harbor in time for another exquisite sunset over the Pacific. Making my way to camp, I passed by an old bison friend. I was camped the night in Shark Harbor, a directly adjacent beach to Little Harbor. My campsite had a free stack of firewood placed by the ranger. Supposedly, there was a dead seal around causing a smell (hence, the free firewood I guess), but it must’ve been cleaned up. After a dip in the ocean, I dried off around a fire and took in a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Signing off,

Zeppelin