We decided to spend the last few weeks of 2024 away from San Francisco. Not unlike last year, when we headed down to Death Valley, we found ourselves back in Southern California, this time on the island of Catalina. This was our first time there, and I’m glad we finally made it!
I only started planning for this backpacking trip at the end of October, but I was fortunate enough to find available campsites spanning December 22 through December 27. I’m sure the Christmas holiday had something to do with the ease with which I was able to make reservations. With all my ferry and campground bookings in hand, we packed up the car and drove down to LA right before Chris’ company shutdown for the end of the year.
Photos don’t really do the scenery justice so hopefully you’ll enjoy this video of our hike.
Trans-Catalina Hike Table of Contents
- Our Trans-Catalina Backpacking Itinerary
- When to Go
- Important Logistics: Costs, Travel and Booking Campgrounds
- Food, Fuel and Water
- Detailed Day-by Day Description –> page 2
Our Trans-Catalina Backpacking Itinerary
The original plan was to hike the length of the Trans-Catalina Trail over the course of 6 days, starting from Avalon and ending in Two Harbors, including a day hike to Starlight Beach. However, we had a medical emergency on the first day we arrived on the island and had to go back to the mainland. We ended up missing the first two sections of our hike (Avalon to Blackjack and Blackjack to Little Harbor), but were able to resume our hike from Little Harbor.
A lot of people do in the entire trail in 3-4 days, but we didn’t want to rush. Also, because we wanted to go all the way to Starlight Beach, and not kill ourselves doing so, we allocated two days at Parsons Landing to allow ourselves a dedicated day to make the trip to Starlight Beach. As a side note, if you like beach camping with a healthy dose of solitude (there are only 8 sites), Parsons Landing is definitely worth spending an extra day or two.
Our itinerary ended up looking like this, so as you can see, we were able to salvage most of it, and (luckily?) missed the hardest section of the hike which is Day 1.
| Day | Original Plan | What We Actually Did |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Take ferry to Avalon in AM. Hangout and overnight in Avalon. | Ferried to Avalon in AM. Returned to San Pedro in PM. |
| 1 | Hike from Avalon to Blackjack. | Played in Universal Studios (after medical emergency). |
| 2 | Hike from Blackjack to Little Harbor. | Hiked from Two Harbors to Little Harbor. |
| 3 | Hike from Little Harbor to Banning House Lodge (Two Harbors). | As planned. |
| 4 | Hike from Two Harbors to Parsons Landing. | As planned. |
| 5 | Hike to Starlight Beach. Second night Parsons Landing. | As planned. |
| 6 | Hike from Parsons Landing to Two Harbors. Take ferry in PM back to San Pedro. | As planned. |
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When to Go
We went in December where we experienced cooler but shorter and foggier days. The tradeoff between more variable weather, however, is fewer people on the trail and at the campgrounds, which is always worth it to me. While we were never the only ones at the campgrounds, we rarely encountered anyone on the trail at the same time as us. In this day and age, I can’t even begin to tell you how priceless it is to be able to have a place to yourself.
Obviously, I don’t know what it’s like to hike on the island any other time of year, but being there in winter really wasn’t all that bad, considering all the other advantages (cooler weather, easier booking, fewer people). Out of five days, it was pretty foggy on three days, but even then, you could argue that hiking in the fog and gentle mist creates its own magic.
The images below show roughly the same coastline between Two Harbors and Parsons Landing. On the left is what it looked like when we were hiking to Parsons Landing. On the right is what that same coastline looked like blanketed by fog on our way back.
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Important Logistics: Travel, Costs and Booking Campgrounds
Because it’s an island, and one that is also privately managed, there are some things to keep in mind when planning a backpacking trip there
Catalina Express is the ferry that serves the island, with two departures a day if you are leaving from the berth at San Pedro. Unless you have your own boat or plane, or want to take a helicopter, the ferry is the most common and probably practical way to travel there. The ferry from San Pedro doesn’t operate everyday so keep this in mind when you make your campground reservations. Travel time on a direct sailing to either Avalon or Two Harbors is about an hour and 15 minutes otherwise, although one sailing makes a stop which doubles the travel time. The ferry is not cheap – it’s $84 per person for a roundtrip fare between San Pedro and either Avalon or Two Harbors.
Like the ferry, the camping fees are probably also more than what you might expect to pay compared to at a state park. We paid $60 plus a reservation fee per night per site. You are paying for the entire site regardless of how many people you have in your party, as long as you don’t exceed the maximum occupancy designated per site (which ranges from 8 to 30 people).
Campsites can be booked through the Catalina Island Company’s reservation system. You need to find and book each campground one at a time and add it to your cart. Do this by putting the start and end date for where you plan to camp first, check the availability and then add the specific site. Then go back and enter the start and end date for your next campground, see if it has any available sites and then add the site your cart. Don’t put the start and end date of your entire trek. It will not work.
Parsons Landing, with only eight sites, is probably the most difficult one to book. I would reserve this one first, and then plan the rest of your hike around it. Staying here also requires reserving a locker which consists of 2 1-gallon jugs of water, a bundle of wood and fire starter. You have to reserve a locker because there is no potable water here. Unless you are doing a day hike to Parsons Landing, or drink like a camel, there is no practical way to avoid paying the locker fee if you are overnighting. A locker costs $27.70 plus tax. I bought 3 lockers for the two nights that we camped there. Better safe than sorry when it comes to water.
People don’t always use up all the water they order so when we were at Parsons Landing, we found several extra gallons on the shelf that people had left behind. We actually ended up using more water than we we had ordered so were quite lucky, but I wouldn’t count on there being extra water (or fuel).
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Food, Fuel and Water
How much food to bring really depends on how much you want to pack in or spend. It’s quite feasible to backpack a lot of the trail while carrying minimal food supplies and simply buying meals along the way or taking advantage of the gear haul service. We tried to strike a reasonable balance between bringing our own freeze-dried food and snacks and only buying a few meals and supplies when we were in the Two Harbor. Otherwise, you can also see how this adds up quickly from a cost standpoint if you buy everything on the island, where prices are marked up.
So how does the food situation work if you really don’t want to pack and carry a lot? Suppose you start in Avalon, then presumably you would have had breakfast before catching the ferry. Once you arrive in Avalon, pick-up a sandwich or to-go meal from one of the many restaurants, or Vons supermarket, for lunch. You could also buy something to have for dinner when you reach Blackjack, or this is where you would plan to bring your own food. From Blackjack to Little Harbor, you can stop at the Airport in the Sky for breakfast and then buy something to eat for lunch. Likewise, you could buy something for dinner, or bring your own. Alternatively, you can also use the gear haul service to take any supplies you need to Little Harbor. For the hike from Little Harbor to Two Harbors, wait until you reach the town to have a proper meal. There is no gear haul service to Parsons Landing, but at least you can wait until you reach Two Harbors to stock up on supplies from the Two Harbors General Store. They carry all sorts of freeze-dried camping food and then some.
Technically, you are not supposed to bring any fuel canisters with you on the ferry, although I’m pretty sure many campers sneak them onboard inside their packs. We were only asked once whether we were carrying fuel (we weren’t). I’m sure there’s good reason why the ferry service doesn’t want those things onboard, especially if you leave it in your backpack down in the hold where it might accidentally leak, get punctured, etc. and…you see where this is going. Yes, they charge a lot more for a canister of isobutane on the island, but I’d rather make it to the island safely. We bought a canister of fuel from the Two Harbors General Store when we arrived back on the island. Since we knew we weren’t going to use it all up, we were pretty liberal with boiling water and making hot drinks for breakfast and dinner.
We carried about 3 liters of water each day and that was enough to get us between points. There are is no water along the way (other than at Airport in the Sky). Temperatures are milder in the winter, though, so I imagine during the summers you’ll want at least that much water.