Hello Everyone,
It’s been another busy week here in Southern California. I spent half of the week out on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park which was an absolutely wonderful experience. When I returned to the mainland, I made my way south to Los Angeles and have been here since, catching up with old friends and visiting some old haunts and some new places as well. I haven’t traveled far this week, so this probably won’t be a particularly long post, but it’s been nice to get some hiking in and the sun is finally shining again.
Last Wednesday, I packed up my backpack and hopped on The Islander in Ventura for the one hour crossing to Scorpion Ranch on Santa Cruz Island. The water was rough, but it wasn’t too bad and thankfully it wasn’t a long voyage. When we arrived, we met briefly with the ranger and then headed off to set up camp. It had been raining all night and most of the morning, but the sun was out and it’s always easier to set up a tent in the sun than in the rain. The campground was pretty soggy and we had been warned about branches falling from the eucalyptus trees, so choosing a good spot to set up was essential. After getting my tent up and ready, I decided to use whatever sunshine was left to hike up to the Potato Harbor overlook. This was only about a 4 mile round-trip hike, but it was really muddy on the trail. The mud had a high clay content too, so it stuck to my shoes and it caked on so thick that it looked like I was wearing snowshoes. I made it to the overlook which was absolutely stunning and on the way there I saw several endemic Santa Cruz grey foxes. These foxes have evolved to be much smaller than their mainland cousins, and growing up on an island with no predators, they’re also very friendly. I loved watching them wander around the island and found they made me smile every time I saw them.
After having my lunch at the overlook, I could see the rain coming towards me across the ocean so I started to make my way back to camp. Unfortunately the rain caught up with me before I got there, but worse it turned the clay trail into a slick downhill path. I almost made it back to camp without falling. In fact, I could see the campground from where I fell, but my feet just went out from under me and I landed pretty hard on my shoulder. While I didn’t do any damage and didn’t even get a bruise, it hurt for a few days and I didn’t have any pain killers with me in my pack. I wasn’t happy about it, but it could’ve been worse, too. I headed back to my tent and caught a nap while the rain kept pounding down. It eased up in the evening and hasn’t been back since. That night I ate the first freeze-dried meal I’ve had in many years. When I was a teenager, I spent two summers working at a Boy Scout backpacking camp in Virginia and we ate freeze dried food most of the time. It’s come a long way since I tried it last and I must admit that it was actually pretty tasty. After dinner, the sun went down and there wasn’t much to do so I slipped into my tent and called it an early night.
While the rain had moved on, the wind had only just begun. It roared down the canyons all night and whipped through the trees. To me it sounded like I was inside a wooden box on the beach getting pounded by the surf. My tent folded in on itself several times during the night, but it’s a good tent and I had long nails holding it down.
Thursday morning was sunny and beautiful, but the wind continued to pound us with sustained winds of 20-30mph and gusts over 40. After breakfast I went up and over the island to the beach at Smuggler’s Cove which was about a 6 mile round-trip hike from camp. The beach was beautiful and I had it all to myself for the hour or so that I spent there. It’s always amazing to me to be able to sit on a completely deserted beach and it’s something I always enjoy when it happens. After lunch I had a nice walk back to the visitor center to learn more about the history of the sheep ranch that once stood there. My favorite story was about and Italian blacksmith who ate something he called a “rosetta” every morning for breakfast. A rosetta apparently consisted of 4 raw eggs mixed with a glass of wine – that would certainly wake me up in the morning. The island apparently also had one of the largest wine operations in the country in the time leading up to Prohibition. I mulled around for a while and then headed up to Cavern Point for another wonderful view. It was another quiet night in camp for me, but the wind was even worse than the night before. Apparently it blew over a few peoples’ tents in the night, but I was okay in my little cocoon.
I was supposed to leave on Friday, but the ranger came around early and told us the boat wasn’t coming. The winds were too high and the water was too rough. Thankfully I had listened when they told me to bring extra food, so I was prepared (apparently I was one of the few who heeded this warning and there’s no store or restaurant on the island). Despite the high winds, it was another beautiful day and I was thrilled to spend it on the island. I spent the morning hanging around my camp, but in the afternoon I headed up into Scorpion Canyon to try and find the endemic Channel Islands scrub jay. There was too much water in the creek and I reached a point where I couldn’t go any further up without getting in up to my knees, so I turned around and headed up to Montañon Ridge instead. This hike took me up and up and up to the highest point on the east side of the island. I only passed one other person on the hike and mostly had the trail all to myself. The views from the top were absolutely stunning and this hike was definitely the highlight of my visit. The wind at the top was no joke, though. I’m a big guy and it would take a tornado or hurricane to lift me off of my feet, but some of the gusts definitely pushed me pretty hard up there and once I even found myself crouched behind a rock until it passed. This was a 10+ mile loop hike, so it was nice to not have to retrace my steps as well and I got back to camp with just enough time to cook dinner, clean up and brush my teeth before the sun went down. I even saw an elusive scrub jay on my way back to camp making the day a huge success. This “bonus day” was a definite highlight of my time in California so far.
On Saturday morning the ranger came around again. He told us that the boat was coming, but it was coming empty because they didn’t know when they would be able to get back to the island. He said I definitely didn’t want to miss the boat. Actually, I kind of did. I had such a wonderful visit out there despite the wind and rain and banged up shoulder. But I was running out of food and fuel and I did want to get down to L.A. and catch up with some friends down there, so I caught the boat and headed back. During those last two days there were exactly 18 people on the National Park side of the island (the other side is owned by the Nature Conservancy). It was amazing to me that an hour’s drive and an hour’s boat ride away was the second biggest city in the country, and yet we had this beautiful island almost all to ourselves. The crossing was rough, but the crew did a good job and a cold beer and some M&Ms went down a treat.
I got back to Ventura around noon, grabbed a shower at the gym and then hit the road south to L.A. I stopped in Malibu for some fish and shrimp at Neptune’s Net, apparently a long-standing tradition with Los Angelenos on the ride between the two. It was nice to have some non-freeze dried food, but I probably should have gone with something steamed instead of fried. From there I headed on to Culver City where I headed straight for my friends Craig and Monique’s house.
Craig is an old college friend from Penn State. He and I hung out a lot during our last few years in school and then he picked up and moved to L.A. the following year. Who knew at that point that I would be following him here just a year after that? When I took a job guiding tours with a company based in L.A, Craig was my only friend in California. He met Monique a few years later and I think I was the first of our friend group from school to meet her. I was there for their wedding and have watched them build interesting careers and a lovely home and raise a wonderful daughter. Sadie is definitely her father’s daughter and she’s a really fun 11 year-old. It was great to see them and to catch up for a while and also to sleep in their nice, big guest bed after 3 nights in my tent and a whole lot of crazy weather the last few weeks.
After breakfast on Sunday morning they took off for a few days off at their beach house and I took off for Venice to meet my friend Tim there for lunch. When I did come to L.A. to take that job back in 2000, Tim was with me on my training trip and we’ve been friends ever since. It’s always good to see him and since he’s from L.A, he always takes me to some cool places and tells me some great stories. I caught up with Tim and his parents at a nice little café next to Penmar Golf Course. Apparently Harrison Ford had once had to land his plane on the golf course after over-shooting the nearby Santa Monica Airport. I had never met Tim’s parents before and it was a pleasure to share a meal with them. I loved that his mom ordered a hot dog with bacon and I think when I’m her age I’m going to do the same. From there, he took them home and I went to the gym and we rendezvoused at his place a few hours later. We spent the evening catching up and watching videos which was a lot of fun.
I was up early on Monday morning and headed down to Venice Beach for a nice walk along the coast. When I arrived, I walked right into the middle of a film shoot, where actors were trying very hard to look like they were regular Venice Beach visitors. It was fun to watch for a while and then I moved on up the beach. I got some coffee and watched some skaters at the skate park. I had a nice morning there and then headed back inland to catch up with Tim. We ventured out into L.A. and stopped at the small Westwood Village Cemetery to see the graves of Marilyn Monroe and Don Knotts. From there we headed to a small family restaurant called John O’Groats for lunch. I had the Chatham Special sandwich which had once been a movie star favorite at the Chatham Restaurant in Westwood before they closed their doors. This sandwich was a mix between a club and a reuben with ham, turkey, swiss, coleslaw and Russian dressing on rye bread. It was pretty tasty and the restaurant was clean and bright. Then we headed on to the La Brea tar pits, which was something I definitely wanted to see on this trip. This is something that’s right up my alley and I’ve only avoided it because it’s in L.A. but I was glad I finally made it there. The tar pits had once trapped thousands of prehistoric animals and preserved them to be dug up many years later. It was cool to see fossils of mammoths and dire wolves, and to see that the Indians had used the tar to waterproof their baskets and canoes and fix their stone tools. The museum was pretty great, but I thought the coolest thing there was a spot where tar had recently bubbled out through the grass and I could push a stick into it and play with it. Tim had to get home to meet someone, so I dropped him off and hung out for a while and then headed down to El Segundo for the night. I used to stay in El Segundo quite a bit when I worked here, so I enjoyed heading into the Purple Orchid which may have been the first tiki bar I ever went to. They still make a great mai tai and after two of those, I was ready for bed.
On Tuesday I spent the morning at the gym and the library and then headed down to two of my other favorite L.A. beaches in the afternoon. I used to go to Manhattan Beach a lot after work and always enjoyed the pier and the beach there. It was nice to see people playing volleyball and enjoying the bike path. I watched the sun set and then went right down the road to Hermosa Beach, another old favorite. There’s a spot on the main drag near the beach called Sharkey’s which used to be quite popular and made fantastic fish tacos. Sadly the tacos were average at best and their beer was skunky which wasn’t made any better by the lackluster service. The result was a near empty restaurant which was sad because I used to really look forward to going there. There wasn’t much in the way of good overnight parking there, so I headed back up to El Segundo for the night and slept really well.
I had one other experience on Tuesday which was pretty cool and deserves telling. When I was walking out of the grocery store, I found a plastic bag with some cash in it on the ground. Not much, but like $70 so not nothing either. Now normally if I find something like that, I may hang around for a little while and see if anyone is obviously looking for it and then I will keep it because what else is there to do? In this instance, there was a phone bill in along with the cash. I texted the number and waited for a few minutes for a response and then went about my business. There was an address on the bill as well and it was in Inglewood which is a working class neighborhood at best. In other words, $70 can make or break someone there. The address was only a few minutes away so I drove over to it and buzzed up to the apartment. I finally got in touch with the man whose name was on the bill and Roy came out to meet me. Roy looked pretty old and may have been in his late 80s. When I handed him the bag with the cash still in it, he was pretty shocked. He tried to give me some of it and I told him it was no real trouble and I was just happy to have gotten it back to him. He didn’t know what to say but was very grateful and was in tears as he shuffled back to his little apartment. I was really glad I made the effort because Roy probably needed that money far more than I did. I believe very strongly in karma and have seen it in action my whole life. For good and for bad, what goes around always comes around. Getting that money back to Roy made me feel pretty good about myself as well.
Today I hit the gym in the morning and am sitting here in the library trying to catch up on a few things. Once I finish up this post, I’m headed out to see a little bit of Hollywood and hopefully catch a show at The Comedy Store. This weekend I’m headed out to Bakersfield for a few days. I’ve always wanted to check out Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace (a music hall and restaurant famous for the “Bakersfield Sound”), and there are a few other things I want to see out that way as well. I’m coming back to L.A. next week and hope to go out and spend a couple of days on Catalina Island before making my way down the coast towards San Diego. I’ll probably be in the greater Los Angeles area at this time next week, but you’ll just have to come back and find out. I sure hope you will. Have a wonderful week out there and, as always, thank you for reading.
-Mike
