- Trans-Catalina Trail Backpacking Thru-Hike Planning Guide
- Trans Catalina Trail: Days 1 and 2 Journal
Day 3: Little Harbor to Two Harbors (5.3 miles)
I wake to the sounds and smells of the sea, too enchanted to even remember that it’s the morning of my 46th birthday. Over breakfast, Marnie wishes me a happy birthday and I smile, grateful for another trip around the sun. These trips seem to go quicker and quicker with each birthday, and I’m acutely aware of how important it is to carve time from my busy life for these sorts of adventures.
My tent’s view
We take our time packing up, sad to leave such a perfectly perfect spot on this island, but I’m also excited about the next stretch of trail as it’s touted to be the most scenic. We bid farewell to our new friends, take photos on the beach and start our day’s trek.
BFFs forever. For real.
The color in the palm trees was stunning!
The view from the trail as we left this incredible campground.
Immediately, the trail climbs…and climbs….and climbs! Slowly but surely, we reach the top of the pass where there is a pavilion and picnic table to shade us and allow us to soak in the 360 degree views.
Marnie starting our long climb
The views of the Pacific Ocean were magnificent
The views just kept getting better and better
The trail eventually started to get very rocky and steep
The views near the top were worth the climbs!
Marnie is the tiny speck on the side of the hill, making her way up the mountain like a boss.
It’s all downhill from here into Two Harbors, but downhill isn’t as easy as it might seem on the Trans Catalina Trail. It’s steep. Like, really steep. If there is one thing I am grateful I have with me, it’s my hiking poles. Marnie slips and falls at one point and she laughs it off, but I know it must have hurt. My dear friend is tougher than nails, and she doesn’t complain, despite the challenges she’s facing. This is not a trail I would recommend for a new backpacker, unless they are as bad ass as Marnie.
Starting our descent into Two Harbors
We reach Two Harbors, stop by the visitor center beside the pier to check in to the campground. We also pick up our permit and the key for our water and firewood, for the next night at Parson’s Landing. The campground is about a half mile walk from Two Harbors. We arrive and set up our tents, and I’m happy that I randomly scored a scenic campsite (#46, which just happened to be the same age I turned on this day! ).
Walking into Two Harbors–it’s tiny!
Our campsite in Two Harbors Campground (#46)
We head back into town and Marnie takes advantage of the public showers while I peruse the general store. We start some laundry at the laundromat and enjoy a hearty and yummy dinner at the Harbor Reef Restaurant (the only restaurant in Two Harbors).
What a perfect birthday!
Day 4: Two Harbors to Parson’s Landing (6.6 miles)
After a good night’s sleep, we head out towards Parson’s Landing. This stretch of trail is hot, dry, and exposed, and it climbs steeply for the first few miles. Marnie takes it in stride, per the norm, and eventually we start to descend and can see Parson’s Landing long before we reach it. The descent to the beach is the steepest terrain we encounter all week, and it’s almost laughable how tricky it is to descend without busting our butts. Marnie says that it’s as steep as a black diamond ski run, and I imagine she probably longs to descend on snowy slopes versus small rocks that are like tiny ball bearings under her feet.
Photos don’t do this hill justice–it was steep!
The steep descent into Parson’s Landing begins
It’s hard to tell just how steep it was, but it was nuts!
We make it to the beach (without falling!) and set up in campsite 8 (which is a good one, in my opinion). After setting up our tents, we both wander, marveling at the number of seagulls taking up residence on the beach.
At one point as we are sitting at the picnic table in our camp, I see a puff of water shoot in the air, not far from the shore. “Oh my God, I think I just saw a whale!” I exclaim. We sit in silence, staring at the ocean, hoping it wasn’t just my imagination. Nope, it wasn’t my imagination because the next time it happens, we actually see the whale’s back emerge from the water! We find out later that it’s fairly common to see migrating Grey Whales off the shores of Catalina Island during this time of year, but we still consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have spotted one!
The seagulls were definitely fond of this beach!
And they were easily spooked!
The kelp that washed up on shore was so cool
Our wildlife show isn’t over yet though. Before too long, we catch the adorable eyes of a seal watching us from the water. He’s seems as curious about us as we are about him, and he pops up frequently as if to say, “Come on in ladies, the water’s perfectly chilly for a dip!”
If there is anything cuter in the ocean than a seal, I don’t know what it is
That night, we enjoy dinner and some wine beside our fire. It’s increasingly windy, and at one point I catch a billowing bulge of fabric out of the corner of my eye. It’s Marnie’s tent with all her stuff in it! I make a run for it, but it’s pointless, as it’s fifty or so feet up in the air and rising along the wall of a cliff! Finally, in what was probably 15 seconds but felt like 15 minutes, the wind shifts and it starts to fall. It gets caught in some brush low enough along the cliff wall that I can go retrieve it.
We laugh hysterically when it’s all said and done, reliving the event and our reactions. I was calling to the tent to come back, like it was a dog. Marnie was making sure our wine didn’t get contaminated with sand and headed for the food storage locker with it instead!
See that orange cliff wall? That’s where Marnie’s tent was climbing!
Once her tent is set up again, Marnie then fills it with rocks, in addition to her belongings and the rocks she put on top of her stakes, and I’m once again laughing until my stomach hurts from it all.
This is what Marnie’s tent looked like inside once I was able to catch it!
Day 5: Parson’s Landing to Two Harbors (7.7 miles)
Neither of us sleep much the night before, as the wind continues to pick up and wreak havoc on us. I didn’t bring ear plugs to block noise on this trip, but they wouldn’t have helped anyway. We wake up the next morning to a raging ocean, much different from the day before. We pack up quickly and carefully, to not lose our belongings to the wind, and head out for our last 5 miles of the trail.
Blister care
We are returning to Two Harbors on a different route and one that proves to be much easier than the previous day’s crazy elevation gains and losses. The trail mainly follows a road and along the way it passes several camps, two of them belonging to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America. What a cool place to come if you’re a lucky kid!
Boy Scout tents without tarps
Two Harbors comes into view and we’re almost finished. It’s always bittersweet, finishing a multi-day trip. I know Marnie’s feet and body are ready for a break, but I’m not ready to go our separate ways yet. Friendship as true and long lasting as ours don’t come around often, and I know it will be awhile before we see each other again. Thankfully, we have one last night together in Los Angeles before our flights leave in the morning.
Getting close to Two Harbors along the road
Gorgeous ocean views along the final stretch of trail
We come to the trail sign in Two Harbors and stop to take celebratory pictures. I am beyond proud of Marnie and remind her yet again that this was a tough trail and she totally rocked it.
To say I was proud of Marnie in this moment is a huge understatement!
See those blingy “diamond” hoop earrings on Marnie? She wore them the whole week and they earned her the trail name of “Diamond Doll!” When we attended Auburn, she was part of a support team for Auburn’s baseball team, and they were called “Diamond Dolls.” I loved weaving part of our past life together into her trail name!
We are relieved to find out the boat shuttles are running with the windy conditions, and we get back in time to board the late morning boat to San Pedros. It’s easy to call an Uber at the San Pedros dock and we are taken to our hotel near the LAX airport. We eat at the hotel that night, reliving the journey long into the night. I sense that this won’t be our last backcountry adventure together. Nothing could make me happier than this realization, and I smile as I drift off to sleep.
Marnie and me in 1993 on a beach in California!
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