Strolling the path that led to Lobo Canyon felt like being on a distinct planet. Arid terrain gave approach to steep sandstone cliffs that towered above lush greenery and spiny cacti, an intriguing mishmash of environments. At instances I needed to be a contortionist, ducking beneath the low-hanging limbs of island oak bushes, scrambling up and over rocks, and strolling throughout a wobbly hardwood plank suspended over a creek. Forcing my means by way of a thick tangle of reeds was barely suffocating; I felt I would truly be swallowed up by Santa Rosa island, by no means to be seen once more. However then the canyon opened and the path rose upward. After a couple of extra minutes, I stood overlooking a white seashore and the Pacific Ocean. The seashore was completely freed from different guests and — judging by the absence of footprints within the sand — had been for a while. 

This, I assumed, is why I got here to Channel Islands Nationwide Park, a sequence of 5 islands lower than 15 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara and Ventura, California. Every of the islands — Anacapa, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel — has its personal distinctive enchantment, and collectively they’re also known as the Galápagos of North America, because of the 145 endemic species discovered nowhere else on the earth. 

Regardless of these pure wonders and the park’s proximity to the mainland, solely about 320,000 folks visited in 2022. That’s fewer than the quantity of people that went to Yosemite Nationwide Park throughout a single month final summer time. Perhaps these numbers have one thing to do with the form of place it’s: in contrast to parks the place you may get out of your automobile and stroll 10 steps to a scenic viewpoint, this one makes you earn your Instagram pictures. You possibly can attain the park solely by business ferry or personal boat; as soon as there, you get round on foot. All of the meals and equipment I wanted for my six-day keep needed to be carried in my overflowing backpack. There aren’t any comfort shops, not even a present store; if I had forgotten something, I’d must do with out. 

Even for many who aren’t eager to tough it, the wildlife and pure magnificence are highly effective attracts. There’s additionally an anthropological purpose to go to: in 1959, researchers within the park found among the oldest human stays in North America, courting again no less than 13,000 years. (They’re believed to be ancestors of the present-day Chumash folks.)

“Once we consider historic human historical past, many people consider Egypt and the pyramids,” Russell Bradley, director of California State College’s Santa Rosa Island Analysis Station, later informed me. “The pyramids have been erected about 4,500 years in the past, however people have been dwelling and thriving on the Channel Islands for practically 9,000 years earlier than that.”

My October go to coincided with the park’s dry season, however within the spring, wildflowers bloom and the land explodes with coloration. I went to 2 of the 5 islands — first to Santa Rosa, then to Santa Cruz. Santa Rosa is among the extra rustic islands within the chain and takes roughly three hours to achieve by boat from the mainland. “Santa Cruz will get three or extra ships a day,” Dylan Moe, a Santa Rosa ranger informed me. “However this time of yr, we get three every week if we’re fortunate.”

To succeed in Water Canyon, and my campsite, I walked a mile and a half throughout rolling hills and wide-open prairie. Shortly after establishing my tent, I seen a number of hunched eucalyptus bushes. I’d later study that these bushes aren’t native, however have been planted as windbreaks by European settlers; the realm’s highly effective gusts trigger them to develop stooped over. 

I additionally noticed an island fox, a house-cat-size species that’s the park’s largest land mammal. The animal’s diminutive dimension might be chalked as much as the “islands rule,” park ranger Madeleine Whitman informed me. “Many of the species on the islands are both a lot smaller or a lot bigger than their mainland counterparts,” she mentioned. For instance, the island scrub jay is bigger than jays on the mainland, possible due to an abundance of meals and the absence of predators. In distinction, foxes are smaller due to useful resource constraints.

That night time, I realized how intense the wind might be because it whipped by way of the canyon, repeatedly extinguishing my camp range. However when it died down, I used to be rewarded with an expansive view of the celebrities — being so removed from the mainland, Santa Rosa has among the darkest night time skies within the nationwide park system. 

After three days of exploring Santa Rosa, I moved on to Santa Cruz, probably the most ceaselessly visited island. Throughout the ferry trip, pods of widespread dolphins crossed the boat’s path, leaping and enjoying in its wake. We additionally handed a whole bunch of California sea lions sunning themselves on ocean buoys and rocks.

Amongst Santa Cruz’s essential sights are its sea caves — it has one of many highest concentrations of them on the earth. I joined a bunch of different guests and a information with Channel Islands Journey Co. to discover greater than a dozen of those rock formations by kayak. Some have been enormous, just like the well-known Painted Cave, the place the volcanic-rock partitions rework from black to a kaleidoscope of colours. Others have been claustrophobic, with small entrances that led to darker secondary caverns that bought exponentially narrower. In some, the one mild that has ever shone has been a information’s flashlight. One was so tiny it was tough to even flip round; at one level, I by accident wedged my paddle between the cavern partitions and needed to yank it free. I practically tumbled out of my kayak. 

The caves have been lovely, intriguing, and, at instances, horrifying. Navigating them was a becoming finish to my journey on the Channel Islands, a spot I discovered isolating, and galvanizing, and in contrast to some other in America I’d seen. 

Easy methods to Go to the Channel Islands

Getting There

Island Packers Cruises runs each day summer time service to Santa Cruz Island and operates on a restricted schedule to the opposite islands.

What to Do

Channel Islands Journey Co. affords sea-cave kayaking excursions, in addition to snorkeling excursions.

The place to Keep

Fundamental campsites can be found on all 5 islands and should be reserved upfront. Guests must deliver their very own meals and water.

A model of this story first appeared within the August 2023 subject of Journey + Leisure beneath the headline “Wild Kingdom.”