Channel Island NP

2/27/25

Before we hit our next National Park (Channel Island), we visited the LA area for a few days and went to the Los Angels Arboretum & Botanical Garden. Then of course a WB Studio tour, checkout Hollywood area and the La Brea Tar Pits.

One note to our pilgrimage friends, we found a new place to practice long walks and hill climbing.  Griffith Park and the Observatory in LA.  Sure brought back memories of walking through Italy last year.  Good practice for the next walk.

3/1/25

Then off to the Channel Islands.

Channel Islands National Park off California coast.  It was sunny and little cool, great weather for boating and hiking.  We were wowed by the number of whales, dolphins and seals in the area.  There were over a 100 dolphins playing around our boat and trying to race us.  Hiking on Santa Cruz Island was special as there were only about 50 people on the whole island.  We found a number of very rare island scrub jays but only saw evidence of the unique foxes that populate Santa Cruz Island.  Thanks to high winds and seas, we didn’t get to return a second day but are grateful for the experiences we were given.  Given the chance, we would definitely return to visit the other 4 islands.

Since we had to cancel the second trip to Channel Island NP we had an opportunity to check out the some beach areas. And of course the sea lions and other critters one finds on the sea shore.

3/4/25

Finally we headed out to a planned few days of rest at Big Bear lake. Being up in mountains they still had a little snow in town even at the beginning of March. As a matter fact, they were still celebrating Christmas. Our plans were cut short here as they were calling for a snow storm in the coming days so we headed out a day early on our trip to Joshua Tree NP. But not before we enjoyed some of the towns atmosphere.

Check out the Channel Island NP video below or go to the “Travel Videos Pg”