Babylon

We took a day for a family hike, so after much debate, we settled on a destination. Just across the interstate was a little place called Babylon. An alluring name full of red rocks and sweeping vistas, it seemed like a place we should spend some more time. I had been out there once previously to some dinosaur tracks and a hike around Little Purgatory and Hell's Half Acre. This time the goal was to park out at Sand Cove and hike the Arch Trail to the Virgin River. The road was an adventure as I remembered. It was not in 4-wheel drive shape, but definitely high clearance. It was a bit nerve wracking to meet other vehicles to try to get around them without getting stuck in the ruts.

 Eventually the four of us got to the trailhead and we were surprised to see just how busy it was. There were many people out there for various reasons. I was hoping that everyone wasn't heading the same direction that we were. It didn't seem like they were as the hike was moderately busy. We didn't have it to ourselves but every now and again there would be a group coming up or down. We got a bit of a late start for January as it was already afternoon. The kids moved along nicely, though.

 First part of the walk was a hike along a road to what looked like a larger camping/parking area. From there, a series of trails led off, but we took the arch trail. It was red rocks all around as we found our way along the path. It stayed mostly flat at first but then began the descent. It wasn't too long before we found ourselves at the top of a very steep hill. We were not sure that we should take the plunge and go down to the Virgin River, because once we were down, it was going to be a lot of work to come back up. Finally we decided to go for it. It was fun going down and about halfway down, we ran into an arch. 

There were some young people taking pictures next to it, so we continued down to the river. This was a really nice spot along the river and we spent some time throwing rocks and playing battleship. It was just nice to be there for a bit. Then it was time to trudge back up. We took some time on the way back up to take some pictures and play around at the arch. Jacqueline was taking a lot of pictures as usual to document this experience. The lighting was really good with the red rocks on this January day. The rest of the day was spent just enjoying the hike. We really enjoyed this one as even though it was only a short winter hike with the daylight quickly receding, we still had a blast being out there. With other hkes still left for us to accomplish in the area, a return to the area would be worth our time. 

Trail Running the Ice House Trail

 

Not sure why I hadn't started trail running years ago, but I had taken an interest in it lately. It seemed the quickest way to get out on the trail, see something new, and also get stronger as a runner. I saw the Ice House Trail on the map and it sounded interesting enough. I decided to give it a shot. Having just discovered the Cottonwood Rd. it opened up so many new opportunities in Red Cliffs. Unfortunately, it was still January and I was a little worried about the road. 

I drove out to the Mesa Rim Trailhead. I figured if I parked here, I would be able to do a loop. It was so nice having a watch with a GPS on it to tell me where I was because I was definitely less intimidated about getting lost. The road was a bit muddy to this point, but it made me happy once I started running that I decided to park here. The only other vehicle I saw out there was a police truck and they seemed to have just been able to navigate. The road was very quiet and it made for a good run. 

Speed wasn't my main goal today, but to just keep moving. The road was mostly uphill so that made for a good go of it. Eventually, though, I started to have to look for the road for the turnoff to the Ice House Trail. I thought I had found it but I had to keep checking the watch to make sure that I was on the right route. This seemed to be the way to take this road as taking a vehicle on it seemed like it would be more of an experience than a way to get somewhere. 

I came out on some fantastic views of the surrounding Pine Valley Mountains, then I started to descend when I hit the trail. The trail went downhill and while it was called the Ice House Trail, I was not sure why, because really it was just running through sagebrush and cheat grass fields like usual. The goal was to not miss the junction, so I continued watching my watch like a hawk. Luckily when I found the junction there was a sign there. Wanting to continue exploring the rest of the way, but knowing that this was already pushing the limits of what I could do, I made the turn toward the Mesa Rim.

 Here the going was much slower and careful footing was necessary. I had to climb back uphill again, which was tough to do at this point. The feeling that you get when you are out on a run like this is so phenomenal though that it makes pushing through the pain worth it. Also, for some strange reason, I was taking pictures on a trail run. I guess being in this area was so new to me that I wanted to make sure to document it. The last section of trail was truly my favorite. Picking my way slowly through the loose rock and vegetation with a view and somewhat of a drop off below me made the trail running worth it. When I was just about finished, I came out on top of the mesa and had to descend rapidly to get back down to the car. In 2 hours and 15 minutes, I was able to cover 11.5 miles and see a brand new part of the Red Cliffs area around where I lived. I was going to have to do more of this trail running, especially given the fact that I was running a half marathon in a few weeks. 

Channel Islands

After a couple of fun days of visiting our friends, the Meisters, out in Carpenteria, California, we were off for our next adventure. The kids had a great time hanging out with their friends and we enjoyed seeing Brent and Laurel again. We were able to discuss the Panama trip that we were planning with them in the summer months and got a first hand glimpse of local life along the coast in Southern California. It sure is nice to have good friends. Our next adventure, though, was to take a boat ride from Island Packers out to Santa Cruz Island and spend New Year's Eve camping in the Scorpion Cove Campground in Channel Islands National Park.

Our boat was at 10 AM, so we had all of our gear packed the night before. We left with plenty of time and had no issues finding the harbor, but still we were the last people camping to arrive. Whew, cut that one kind of close. As a result, we were nearly the last people to get on the boat so we were stuck with a middle seat facing the wrong direction. I had debated about making this trip for a long time because this boat ride was so expensive, but the opportunity to visit this unique island out in the Pacific seemed worth it to me. The boat was completely full with a capacity of what seemed to be about 100 people.

The crew gave us a long speech about throwing up outside the boat if we felt sea sick and that made us all a bit nervous. We were going to have some choppy seas and we found out right away when we made it out of the harbor and over some crashing waves. The kids were excited about it as we rose and then dove as we motored past each crest of the wave. So far, no one was having trouble with sea sickness, though. We spent most of the trip inside the boat, but about halfway through, I went outside to enjoy the open air. Then Jacqueline went outside and finally when we coasted next to a group of dolphins Zyla went out to see the view.

When someone did finally throw up which made the boat smell of old macaroni and cheese, I forced Conrad to go outside to see the dolphins which is where all four of us spent most of the rest of the boat ride. It was much better to enjoy the view outside then inside the boat. The boat ride was supposed to be an hour, but after loading, unloading, and getting a speech from a ranger about taking care of the island, it ended up being about 2 hours. We hiked our gear out to campsite 17 and we were one of the only ones that treated this like it was a backpacking trip. There were people with coolers and wagons, whereas we just had our backpacking backpacks.
Jacqueline and the kids were very excited about the island foxes that were hanging around the campsites. We had to be very careful with food storage because of that as many of them had turned into scavengers. We set up our tent in a wooded area, ate some lunch, then we were finally off for our hike.

We continued on through the campground until we ran into the Scorpion Canyon trail. This trail followed a creek for a bit and then climbed steeply out of the canyon. We were impressed that there were flowers growing along this trail on New Year's Eve as it felt like we had left the winter months for a sunny island getaway. The island reminded me a lot of Kauai with the topography, but the rest of the island was just this grassy, treeless plain with views to the Pacific Ocean on nearly every side. The kids were doing great as Jacqueline was the only one with this attitude of we are not doing anything crazy on this hike.

 I reassured her that it wasn't going to be that bad as we climbed steeply up onto the plateau above. It was amazing how quiet the trail was as we only saw one other hiker on the Scorpion Canyon trail with us. When we got to the junction, she continued on the ridge hike while we instead turned left to head out to Smuggler's Cove. The trail from this point forward would be a "road" although there were no cars and it would be adventurous to bring one on this path. To us, it was a great trail with amazing views. It was muddy for the first mile or so, but the rest of it was just an easy stroll.

I was enjoying using my watch because it constantly gave me a view of how close we were to the end of the trail. It helped us to gauge our time so that when we were looking at getting back from Smuggler's Cove, we knew we would have enough daylight. Eventually the trail lost a lot of elevation, but soon we were amongst the olive trees and island foxes at this beautiful rocky beach with only one other group of young people to share it with. We only had a few minutes to enjoy it because of the lack of sunlight this time of year, so we threw some rocks, snapped some pictures, and then were off to climb back up the trail. Everyone was enjoying themselves and the hike back up was not too bad.

We were able to take a different road/trail back that took us to different incredible views and down a steep path back into Scorpion Cove. We found our way back to the campsite where we spent the evening playing games, eating food, and reading books. It was not the partying that many people do on New Year's Eve, but it was actually really enjoyable. By the time that we went to sleep at 9:30ish, the whole campground seemed pretty quiet. We were able to get a good night's sleep to do some more hiking in the morning. We got a leisurely start because it was still kind of chilly in the morning.

We ate some breakfast, but left our tent set up, to head out on the Potato Road to Potato Harbor. It seemed a strange name for a harbor, but we ran into exactly the reason for the name along the hike. It was a Jerusalem Cricket which is also named sometimes a Potato Bug. This one seemed particularly large and it turns out that they are a favorite food source of the foxes. The road was awesome with once again no cars and we did not expect to see any with how challenging it would be to drive upon these roads. It was a steep climb to get up to the plateau, but from there it was a flat walk out to the viewpoint of Potato Harbor.

I am sure there was a way, but there was no trail down to the little cove that was below. Still the view was amazing. I snapped some pictures while Jacqueline and the kids hung back due to the drop offs. We took the road back but veered to the left along the coast until we made it to the trail out to Cavern Point. This trail was right along the edge, so Jacqueline made sure that we were holding hands with the kids. I let Zyla not hold hands quite often though because she was self aware enough to not have to worry about.

We ended up being far ahead of Jacqueline and Conrad as we eventually made it out to Cavern Point. It was a nice spot, but this is where all the day trippers go that just visit the islands for a couple of hours, so it was more impacted. We continued around Cavern Point until we found another steep trail that dropped us down into Scorpion Cove. We got in about 15 miles of hiking over two days with the kids, so we felt like we maximized our opportunities in the middle of winter. Now it was time to head back to camp, pack up the tent, eat the rest of the food, and then head back to the harbor for our boat back.

The return trip was much more boisterous as the sea sickness was not overtaking the passengers, but we once again got to see some dolphins swimming right next to the boat. When we arrived back in Ventura Harbor, we had an exciting drive through the night to Barstow to look forward to. I wondered when I booked this trip whether the costs and the driving would be worth it. Seeing the Channel Islands was such a unique experience that I was glad I shelled out the money to see this amazing place. It was definitely worth a visit and with the miles of trails that were still left to explore, I am sure that some day I will have to return.