Glamping or Backbacking on the Trans Catalina Trail- Day One

Do vault toilets and running water sound like small luxuries that would be nice to have on a multi-day backpacking trip? How about access to stores and restaurants? If you've been wanting to try a multi-day hiking trip but don't want to go full survival mode then the Trans Catalina Trail might be a great option for you!

The Trans Catalina Trail is a 38.5 mile multi day hike on Catalina Island. Camping is allowed in developed campgrounds run by the Catalina Conservancy and a free permit is required and can be obtained at https://catalinaconservancy.org/resources/permits/

The trail was vey steep in parts but I think the creature comforts of developed campsites and passing through towns more than makes up for it and makes this a great hike for those looking for a bit more comfort in a backpacking excursion.

The Trans Catalina Trail has been on my list of local hikes to do for a long time so I was very excited to be invited when unfortunately another hiker had a schedule conflict. It was a luxury to be able to just show up to a preplanned trip and I'm grateful for the work our group leader did to make this a magical trip for all of us. We booked our Catalina Express tickets separately and i would make sure to do this way in advance for your own trip. We left from the San Pedro harder at 8:45 am on Friday May 5th and it was a beautiful hour and a half trip. Although some passengers were seasick my two friends in this photo were mostly ok even though they have had bad motion sickness on other tips in the past. So come prepared you are prone to motion sickness but there's a good chance you'll feel ok.

Our mileage the first day was eleven miles from the port in Avalon to Black Jack Campground. If you want to shave some mileage off of that you could easily take a taxi from the boat to this trail sign pictured here.

The island was so green in early May due to all the rain we got in 2023.

We were there for peak wildflower season (I'll feature all the plants I saw in another post) and the flowers were giving me life. I had not trained with my pack for this trip at all and on top of that had been caught up in work and art projects so had not been eating as much as I should have leading up to the trip. Eleven miles was a lot to jump into with a headache and not feeling full enough but I just breathed through each step and focusing on the flowers helped me as well.

We carried at least two liters with us out of Avalon. Although there are some ponds along the way I don't think many hikers choose to filter water from them. There was running water at Blackjack Campground so we needed just enough water to get to camp. I drank all of my two liters doing the eleven miles.

The first day on this trail was hard for me but the joy of getting to do a long hoped for hike with friends was what got me through. I was so happy to be getting back to backpacking as I had not managed a trip since my eye surgery last summer. I wasn't sure what it would be like to jump into it without training but it was ok despite being a challenge and day two promised a restaurant only a few miles from camp!