Channel Islands provide L.A. escape

I had been in Los Angeles only a few hours when I started looking for the escape. After a day of freeway wrong turns and traffic snarls, the only good thing I'd accomplished was an In-N-Out burger. I was glad that my second day in southern California would take me to a remote, pavement-free island paradise, and I didn't even need a plane to get there.

Just off the coast of the southern California mainland, the Channel Islands provide an easy getaway. Trails crisscross these mountains that rise from the Pacific Ocean, leading to cliffs that get a non-stop assault from crashing waves. Some brave souls even set out on kayaks to explore the islands' sea caves and arches.

Five of the Channel Islands are protected as a National Park. I chose the largest, Santa Cruz Island, for my visit. It sits directly south of Santa Barbara and, from the mainland, it looks like a dreamy mirage in the middle of an often-tumultuous ocean. When the seas get too rough, park concessionaire Island Packers calls off its boat rides to Santa Cruz and it neighbors.

On my trip, though, I learned that "too rough" is a relative term. As soon as the 64-foot catamaran left the calm waters of Ventura Harbor, a wild ride began, with 8- to 10-foot swells crashing into the bow. Within minutes, the fun of a roller-coaster-on-water had worn off. I gripped my seat and fixed my eyes on the horizon. The arched rock at the tip of neighboring Anacapa Island provided a good focal point as the boat bobbed, and I breathed deeply.

But once the boat docked at Prisoners Harbor, the destination proved worth the discomfort of the journey. One of the island's most popular and beautiful trails begins at the foot of the Prisoners pier: the hike to Pelican Bay.

Unlike the other four islands in Channel Islands National Park, only about a quarter of Santa Cruz Island is owned by the Park Service. The rest belongs to The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit group that received the rest of the property in a deal struck with the ranchers who'd owned it. The pier at Prisoners Harbor stood on National Park land, but the trail to Pelican Bay is almost entirely on property owned by The Nature Conservancy. Anyone who wants to make the hike needs special permission, or an escort. Our group's escort was Andrea, the education director for Island Packers.

Our first stop was at a small, one-room cabin. Andrea explained that, a century ago, it served as a lookout, a place for a ranch hand to keep an eye on the harbor. Ranchers in the island's central valley would send someone up to watch for arriving supply ships. Once a ship was spotted, there was plenty of time to return to the ranch and prepare for its arrival. The ships were powered by the wind, and if conditions were calm, it could take hours, or even a full day, before the boat reached the pier.

Several times, Andrea brought our group to a halt to point out an unusual plant or animal. One was nearly underneath our feet: a bizarre insect called a Jerusalem cricket. Inside it lives a horsehair worm. Eventually, like a scene from "Alien," the parasite will burst out, killing its host.

As it happens, the Jerusalem cricket provided the inspiration for that horrifying scene in the 1979 science fiction horror film. Hollywood is nearby, after all.

While the Jerusalem cricket is common along the Pacific coast, some other creatures on the Channel Islands can be found nowhere else on Earth. Our group stopped again when an Island scrub jay flew out of the brush and perched in perfect view, just a few feet ahead of us. Santa Cruz Island is the only place in the world where you can find this particular scrub jay. It's bigger and more brightly-colored than other varieties, and there are only about 9,000 of them. We were lucky.

When it comes to spotting the island's top predator, we weren't as fortunate. The Santa Cruz Island fox is tiny - no bigger than a small house cat - but often easy to spot. The foxes have a laid-back attitude, and often lounge around near the trail in plain view.

The foxes had long been the island's top dogs, until a recent chain of events nearly caused them to disappear. DDT pesticide wiped out the islands' bald eagle population, Andrea explained. That gave golden eagles a chance to move in. Although bald eagles left the foxes alone, golden eagles saw the animals as an easy meal, especially once the number of feral pigs on the island began to dwindle. During the 1990s, 95 percent of the foxes were picked off from above.

Getting rid of DDT allowed the bald eagles to make a comeback, and a successful breeding program allowed the foxes to rebound, too. There are now about 700 Santa Cruz Island foxes, up from only about 100 just a few years ago.

After a little less than 90 minutes of hiking, we reached our destination. As the trail crested a rolling hill, Andrea told us we had reached our turnaround point. As we raided our backpacks for snacks, we looked out on a stunning view. Pelican Bay was on display, looking like a postcard picture, or perhaps a place where castaways had come ashore in some old Hollywood film.

I admit, I slowed us all down on the return hike, but I figured there was no harm in taking a leisurely pace. When you have a member of the boat's crew in your group, it's safe to assume you won't get left behind. And, I was in no hurry to get back into the middle of another traffic jam.