Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park. Part II: Smuggler's Cove

The smuggler's trail sign -- not that we needed it....

Despite being a tad fatigued after our whale riding adventure, we still had a full day of hiking before us. We were itching to hit the trails, but were first forced to listen to a park ranger drone on about safety on the island. Unsure as to whether the ranger told us to leave our gangs or our bongs on the boat (neither made much sense….), Kathryn and I simply scoffed, knowing that safety was not our primary concern. While nearly everyone else opted to go on a guided tour of the island (which is presumably where Campbell would have “hiked”), the three of us decided to tackle the seven mile Smuggler’s Cove trail.

Our trail....a long way to go. 

Kathryn and the other Channel Islands

Though we had each packed for miserable weather, we were thrilled to find ourselves shedding layers and reapplying sunscreen as the morning mist burned off. The trail was steep at moments, but straining muscles were easily forgotten as we took in the views – towering hills rose to our left and the Pacific hovered to our right. We could not recall a more beautiful afternoon. 

After a couple of hours, we finally hiked down to the cove, where we encountered what was possibly the most beautiful beach any of us have seen. The shore was covered with drift wood, rocks of all sizes, and even the remnants of a sail boat. Yet, perhaps the most breathtaking element was the sound. As one wave rolled in, another simultaneously rolled out. The continuously crashing surf let out deafening SMACKS!! And as the waves rolled into each other, the shoreline’s rocks smashed together and emitted a crackling and crunching sound. 

We dug lunches out of our packs and simply took it all in.  Some sights and sounds:

 

Of course, we couldn’t leave the beach before refreshing our tired feet in the cold water.

Heading back to meet the boat.

 As we dried off, we lamented the fact that we weren’t staying the night on the island and made promises to come back with camping gear. Though we wanted to stay at the beach for many more hours, we had a boat to catch. So we packed our things and began our trek back across the island.

During our hike, we kept a lookout for the aforementioned smugglers, but were disappointed to only be met by three fairly un-talkative and lackluster Brits – would Campbell would return from his trip with a similar affect, we wondered?  With that question in mind, we had but only a few thoughts to share with our (not-quite-so-intrepid) friend: