My wife planned a great backpack for this last weekend to help celebrate my upcoming birthday.  It was a fantastic trip full of friends and fun.  The original plan was to take advantage of our pilot friend Ollie, and use his skill and connections to fly into the Catalina Airport in a couple of small planes and then hike down into Little Harbor on the Western side of the island for an evening of frolicking on the beach.

We received a disappointing phone call late on Friday evening letting us know that one of the planes we were using had been grounded due to mechanical problems (better to find out then and not in the air).  Never giving up,  my wife put her resources to work,  and we were soon on a boat going from Long Beach to Avalon.  The plan from there was nebulous, but we managed to arrange a ride to the airport and begin our hike.

Catalina Island is a fantastic place to hike.  I is one of those rare coastal wildlands, full of interesting creatures and plants.  Within minutes of leaving the airport facility after a lunch at the great little restaurant we ran across a buffalo grazing on the side of the road. These Buffalo, numbering at about 150, were originally brought to the island in the 1920s as props for a silent western film that was produced on the island, and never removed.  The Catalina Island Conservancy now monitors and maintains a herd of about 150 that give the island a unique charm.  These Buffalo are huge, and are worthy destination when visiting the island.

Our first glimpse of Little Harbor, and the campground in the distance made my heart soar.  This beach front camping destination is beautiful,  and was not crowded. We arrived in the late afternoon after a mellow 6-mile hike with enough light to explore the area a bit, and set up camp.  The host in the campground delivered several bundles of wood to our campsite, and we enjoyed an evening around the fire listening to the waves crash on the shore and the bullfrogs croaking in the channel of a small stream that emptied into the harbor.

Morning dawned with perfect weather and prime conditions to take a hike up to a rocky point that promised sweeping views of the western side of the island.  Several of us followed the beach to some narrow drainage channels in the hillside, and picked our way up through the rocky rough terrain to the point.  Along the way we came across a baby rattlesnake sunning itself in the middle of the narrow path we were following.   After some ogling and concern that it may be dangerous to get to close, the snake gave us a disgusted look and disappeared through the bushes.  The views from the top were fantastic, and the buffalo grazing near the point was very entertaining.

We wimped out a little bit by arranging for a shuttle bus to take us back to Avalon, but this did give us more time to explore the area around Little Harbor,  and gave us the opportunity to have a lunch in Avalon, and catch a 2pm boat back to Long Beach where we ended the trip with great memories and plans to make it back soon.