Started my day by waking up at 3am and catching the first boat at 6am.
Watching the sunrise and admiring the ocean views was a great way to start my special day.
It was very windy with a nice cool breeze!
After about an hour boat ride we were finally approaching our destination.
We stopped at the Visitor Center to find some cool trails to hike and I chose to hike the Mt. Ada Loop. The loop starts by heading up Catlalina Ave through a small neighborhood hiking on surface streets for aboutr 2 miles.
We passed by the Wrigley Mansion and the Mt. Ada Inn which is off limits.
The view of the Harbor below from the road was very cool!
After some slight boredom I decided to hike up a firebreak I spotted off the main loop and I am glad I did! I found the Mt. Ada towers hidden behind the hills of the Mt. Ada Inn. I also seen some deer but they ran off down the hill side. There was a deer trail leading down to the Towers which are not visible from the road below.
We continued hiking on the firebreak in which we took another short cut up the ridge because I saw some cool rocks in the distance that I thought might be fun to climb. The firebreak was very steep and slippery but really fun!
After climbing up the ridge it continued to be very long and meandering hiking more and more fireroads and firebreaks.
A baby fox
After hiking up many firebreaks, I seen some towers with no knowledge of where we were or what peak it was we just followed the narrow path up to the summit and later learned that it was East Peak 1684'.
Many of the trees were covered in a green fungus.
Whoohooo!!!Finally summit of East Peak with a cool Earth Scope.
Found the Reference mark pointing to the cement block where I believe the Bench Mark may have been burried under.
Cool views from the summit.
At this point, we decided not to rush to our 3:50pm departure and continue on to bag East Summit which was another 6 miles away. We ran into some bikers that had map confirming we bagged East Mtn(which was a small bump) East Peak and on our way to East Summit.
Approaching the Summit Saddle where the road divides, one could take the road down to the Botanical Gardens. We continued on the Divided Road passing the Hermit Gulch Trail.
As we continued on the Divide Road I was startled by a humongous Bison that I didn't see resting, approximately 50 feet ahead of me. I must have startled him because he sprung up so fast that it scared the **** out of me! I have never seen one in person. I was ahead of Sean and I slowly but cautiously backed away as I was waiting for Sean to catch up. This was the highlight of my day!
Finally made it to East Summit 1450'. It was Interesting to find the Bench Mark surrounded by a two fences, however I found the Dakin Reference Mark, dated 1913, hidden in some bushes nearby.
Summit pose
Dakin Reference Mark No. 3
After an exciting day, we headed back down the road towards town, we passed a Reservoir, a bridge and passed the Chimes Tower which was being rennovated.
Chimes Tower
Finally we were approaching the main town as we passed colorful street signs back to the Harbor. We had dinner at Catalina Cantina before boarding the Catalina Express.
The night view of the Harbor
Overall I had an exciting adventure seen 3 of 5 animals on the East side of theIsland. Lately I have become very interested in hiking the Channel Islands and hope to do more soon. My next destination is Anacapa.
Total miles 13.5
