We spent a gorgeous weekend in Channel Islands National Park with Lani & Kyle and Joy & Collin.  I'm SO glad we finally made it there and couldn't have asked for better company!  We had planned on camping at McGrath State Beach on Friday night, but when we pulled in at 11pm we found all gates closed.  Although we didn't love the idea of the Motel 6 or the lost $$$ on a campsite, we did love not having to take down a wet camp first thing Saturday morning.

At this point in the season, the boats run primarily to Santa Cruz Island.  The boat ride is short (a little over an hour) and entertaining!  On the way out we saw 300 + common dolphins.   They swam along side the boat, did spins and jumps and dives, and were so fascinating.  It was such a treat - definitely a highlight of the weekend.  

We left from and returned to a damp and gray Ventura but the island itself had perfect weather.  We had blue skies, ideal hiking temperatures and a fairly warm night.   We really lucked out.  We took advantage of having most of Saturday to hike and covered some pretty good ground.  From our campsite we headed up the Montanon ridge to the highest point within the national park and then blazed a trail down a ridge to Smuggler's Cove before returning back to our campsite just after sunset. The views from up top were gorgeous, the ocean was a comfortable temperature for feet soaking and the pelicans put on a show diving for dinner.  It really was a pretty perfect day!

Sunday was a bit slower - with a shorter hike up to Cavern Point and over towards Potato Harbor where we ate lunch before returning to the dock.  We had hoped for more dolphins on the way home - but no such luck.  They must be more active in the mornings.

Although we now have one more stamp in our national park passport, I don't think we're done with the Channel Islands.  We really did love it and hope to explore the other islands sometime in the future.

We took lots of pictures and hope to upload them to the gallery sometime soon.