Saturday, September 19
Start: Parsons Landing
Stop: Two Harbors/Isthmus
Unceded land of the Tongva people
7.75 miles
467′ ascent
507′ descent
I wake up so well-rested. It always takes a few days for my body to adjust to the rigors of day-long hiking. The stress that my Garmin watch records recedes and the body is just like, ok, all this hiking is the new normal and not stressful. Our tents are covered in a thick dew. I flap my tent fly around trying to get as much moisture off as possible before stuffing it into its sac. Since we’re booked on the late ferry back to San Pedro today, there’s no rush. After taking time to eat breakfast and some scrumptious left over donut holes, we roll out of Parsons Landing just after 7:30 am.
On this clear morning, the sun quickly crests over the nearby hill as we start to hike the trail that departs Parsons Landing. The sun is still low enough on the horizon that it’s blasting me straight in the face. All the funnel spider webs atop the grass are full of mist and glowing in the daylight.
The trail joins the road/trail that circles around the backside of the Boy Scout’s Camp Emerald Bay. It’s only a tad eerie with all the empty tent frames and rusting beds. If you’ve been watching Apple TV’s Widows Bay, your mind can go all sorts of places (and if you haven’t already watched the series, I highly recommend it!). Uncle and I make up all sorts of hilarious and scary scenarios to explain the spooks we’re seeing and feeling. Is that a fighting ring? What’s with the shipwrecked ship? Plank walking? And the entry is marked with the classic pirate symbol. Mysteries are afoot.
Uncle is ahead of me but I take a short break near Sullivans Beach. I resume with my umbrella in hand to keep the sun off of my face. I also periodically move my umbrella to provide shade to my cooked left calf. It got crispy on yesterday afternoon’s ridge walking. I weave through all the coves, big and small, and eventually catch up with uncle at a very pristine pit toilet. The kind that any thru-hiker would be happy to sleep in during a snow storm. The pit toilets at the campgrounds were definitely not in such lovely condition. And uncle’s been hanging out with what I think is a baby Pacific gopher snake while he waited for me to catch up. We push on around Cherry Cove and uncle tells me that during his shuttle yesterday, he was told that Cherry cove got its name from all the indigenous cherry trees.
A few more coves and we’re almost there. As we near Isthmus, there are more vehicles and walkers that pass us on the road.
We drop off the road about 11 am on a trail that leads down to Isthmus Cove. There are people everywhere and loud music pumping through speakers. At the public restroom, I do a partial wipe down in an effort to look presentable. Uncle and I head over to the general store and grab the one table in the shade. The price for the shade table is the occasional sting of raining palm nuts. Uncle watches our packs as I head in to get lunch supplies. Turkey sandwich, coke, water, “the best $30 pizza in town,” two cans of moscow mule. I also grab the Trans-Catalina Trail t-shirt that I was eyeing yesterday. It doesn’t take long for the smells of pizza to start wafting out of the general store and then a gigantic, thick-crust pepperoni pizza is brought to us. Damn, why did I not take a picture of the pizza? We’re sorting plates and drinks when the bottle of water starts a domino chain reaction. My open can of Moscow mule tips over and starts to pour onto my stack of paper plates. I grab the can and then hiker instinct kicks in and I immediately drink my spilled mule right off of the paper plate. We don’t waste any time and get busy eating the steaming hot pizza. We stuff ourselves full and I pack the last couple pizza slices into the saved donut hole ziploc bag. Well, I guess we’re not too full for a scoop of ice cream.
Meanwhile, the cowboys aka yee-haw spur jangles are in “town” and have taken over the one restaurant/bar. They are a hootin’ and a hollerin’ and causing a general ruckus. The music is blasting and they even have an MC to lead all the chaos. Uncle and I move to a grassy area adjacent to the cowboys while I prep my backpack for the ferry. For reasons unknown, the cowboys have moved on to rodeo games and are roping chairs and what not. The first broken green plastic chair goes flying off the restaurant deck. Followed by another and another. More hootin’ and hollerin’ and then more chairs go flying. The pile is so big I’m not sure why I forgot to get a picture of it. But the MC is relentless with his Mathew McConaughey “alright, alright, alright.” It’s beginning to wear on my nerves as I finish with my backpack. I go to the restroom to finish my cleanup and change into my new Trans-Catalina Trail t-shirt for the ferry ride back to San Pedro.
We depart Two Harbors on time at 4:45 pm but have to go to Avalon before returning to San Pedro. It takes a while to dock at Avalon but people board quickly and we’re on our way. I work on wordle but start to get a little sea sick so I stop. There’s an incredible sunset as we jet across the water and arrive in San Pedro at 7:15 pm. And that’s a wrap on the crazy, beautiful beaches, windy ridge-walking, steep, drone-flying, deer-killing, challenging Trans-Catalina Trail.
