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A Guide to East Santa Cruz Island: Trails, Routes, and What to Bring by Morris Don 69 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0428; ISBN 1-4120-0065-3; US$12.50, C$14.00, EUR10.50, £7.50 Travel tips and authoritative accounts of the trails and routes available on
East Santa Cruz Island enable the hiker to enjoy this remote and beautiful
island to the fullest.
Read more!
about the book
about the author
sample excerpt
catalogue info
About the Book
Channel Islands National Park, immediately adjacent to millions of southern Californians, sees relatively few visitors because of the logistical and physical challenges involved in visiting any of the islands. This guidebook provides detailed advice on planning a trip, what essential items to bring, expected weather conditions, sketches of the natural and cultural history of the island, and detailed descriptions of possible walks on the island, ranging from strolls of a few minutes to overnight backpack trips. The author describes several routes that are not listed among the official maintained trails on the island. Routes are rated by relative difficulty and safety measures and skill levels are described for the prospective visitor.
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About the Author
Don Morris retired in 2001 from the National Park Service after serving for sixteen years as Park Archeologist at Channel Islands National Park, his final posting in a forty year National Park Service career. While holding the world's best job, he had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the park on foot, by kayak,by plane and helicopter to acquire the knowledge presented in this guidebook. In his spare time he is an avid outdoorsman; he enjoys hiking and backpacking throughout the western US.
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Sample Excerpt
What is Special About Channel Islands National Park?
Channel Islands preserves five of the eight California Channel
Islands lying just off the coast of southern California. These
islands contain superlative natural and cultural values. The
legislation which established the Park in 1980 gives a little
more detail - the park has outstanding breeding grounds for
seals and sea lions, fabulous habitat for sea birds, thousands of
archeological sites, plants and animals found nowhere else,
beautiful and productive tide pools and kelp forests, and more.
What is really wondrous about Channel Islands National Park
is the solitude - the complete change of pace from the urgent
urban lifestyle so common on the adjacent mainland.
If you visit the islands you really should manage to stay at least
one night. Then you will really sense the different pace of the
islands, while at the same time you will see the reflected
afterglow of the bright lights of Los Angeles and environs in the
distance. The calm of the largely undeveloped islands, their
natural setting - simply looking at the night sky and seeing stars
instead of smog - will convey the spirit of the islands more than
my words ever can.
Although adjacent to sixteen million people Channel Islands
National Park is the third least visited national park in the
country. This isn't because it is not worth a visit; the islands
are either very difficult or very expensive (or, occasionally,
both) to visit. This guide attempts to make your visit easier,
safer, more fun, and more interesting.
What Makes Me Think I Can Write about the Channel
Islands?
I was fortunate enough to serve as the park
archaeologist from 1985 to 2001. During that time I visited the
islands many times, in various weather conditions,
accomplishing a variety of projects, in a lot of out of the way
places. My duties included shipwreck investigations, so I spent
a fair amount of time diving in park waters - locating and
documenting some of the many vessels that have run into th
islands. I assisted visitors occasionally, and gave pointers to the
many volunteers who helped me in my efforts. Along the way,
I realized that many people came to the islands poorly prepared,
thereby significantly decreasing their enjoyment of these
wondrous islands. This guide is my effort to pass on my
understanding of the park and share my knowledge, some of
which I learned the hard way.
A Little About the Park:
From my very first assignment here,
I felt something very unusual about this park. It seemed to me
that the staff was engaged in restoration, as opposed to parks
such as Yosemite or Denali, where preservation dominated. I
cringe when I see the park described as "pristine", because it is
just not so. "Natural" describes the park better and the
landscape is certainly less hammered than the adjacent
mainland, but one hundred and fifty years of grazing and other
uses have left their mark. Before the grazing era, the park
islands served as home to at least 2000 Chumash, whose history
can be traced back 13,000 years to the end of the Ice Age.
Thus during what we might term contemporary conditions,
humans have always been part of the island environment. Now
the islands are beginning a new and unprecedented phase of
their history - a period without significant human occupation
in which the preservation and enhancement of nature and
history is paramount. The park is recovering from grazing,
mostly in spectacular fashion, and the park staff acts as midwife
to this rebirth. I have observed notable changes just while I
have served and I can hardly imagine how much more beautiful
the park will be in the future.
The five islands of Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa
Rosa, and San Miguel, together with offshore water out to a
distance of one nautical mile, comprise Channel Islands
National Park. Congress created the park in 1980, building on
the nucleus of Channel Islands National Monument (Anacapa
and Santa Barbara Islands) established by Presidential
Proclamation in 1938, and adding the three larger islands.
Considering how close together the park islands are, each island
is distinctively different in weather, topography, and general
atmosphere. East Santa Cruz Island is the most accessible of
the large islands and offers the greatest number of hikes for both
overnight and day excursions, hence this guidebook.
As with any guidebook, the one you are holding is no substitute
for good judgment on your part. Situations and circumstances
can change rapidly, rendering the advice given here obsolete or
dangerous. There is no substitute for good decisions on your
part. Conditions can reach extremes on the Channel Islands,
although they are usually extremely pleasant.
Catalogue Information
