Day 1 and Day 2 on the Trans Catalina Trail were beautiful but the third day of our 37.5 mile thru hike was truly magical. In the photo above you can see our parting view of Little Harbor Campground. Look at those campsites right near the lagoon and beach! This campground had a great beach to hang out at and amazing sunset views the night before. We were all energized by the beauty as we climbed up switchbacks our of the cove and back to the trail where the wildflower parade continued. We had 12 miles and over 3,000 ft. of elevation gain in front of us.
The section between Little Harbor Campground and the town of Two Harbors was filled with flowers. We saw Mariposa Lillies, Lupine, Paintbrush, Thistle, Beavertail Cactus, and Coastal Morning Glories. I especially loved seeing all the different combinations of flowers and noticing how certain plants seemed to help each other out by growing together.
This section has a lot of incline! It was very steep going up but our efforts were paid back in gorgeous views of the coastline.
Eventually the trail climbs back down to the town of Two Harbors, which is a beachy port town with a small store, pubic restrooms, and a restaurant with limited service hours. We had hiked 5.5 miles since our start at Little Harbor Campground. We took a long lunch break to have another town meal and it was heaven! It was heating up temperature wise but a few of us were enjoying the deck too much to move inside. There were a lot of people eating here and enjoying the bar area (you have to be a customer to enjoy the deck seating). The town did not offer any way to fill our water bottles for free besides using the tap water in the bathroom so we decided to buy water from the store and split it as needed amongst our group. After lingering in the tropical paradise vibes for over an hour we had to move on to make it to our next campground at Parson's Landing.
With our stomachs and water bottles full we started another round on incline to finish the 6.65 miles and 1,934 ft. elevation we had left for the day. As you can see in the photo below the trail is exposed and it was very windy as well. Thankfully there are shade structures that the Catalina Conservancy maintains that help provide shade for longer breaks but be prepared to stay hydrated and cool if you go on this hike.
What goes up must go down and just when we were the most tired from a long day of exposure and hiking this trail droped down fast to get to Parson's Landing Campground. I don't have a great photo of the trail condition but after crossing back over the ridgeline to the side of the island that faces Los Angeles the trail gets rough, rutted, and full of slippery gravel. It was precarious as the loose gravel was really tricky to navigate and the ruts in the trail were up to two geet wide and knee deep.
We got through the what ended up being the most challenging part of the whole trail and we were all eager to get to Parson's Landing where we were going to be sleeping on the actual beach. We were eager to get to camp to enjoy the sunset light and beauty of being so close to the water. I couldn't have pictured a more beautiful evening!
Parsons Landing is the only campground we stayed at that didn't have running water but you can order bottled gallons and firewood ahead of time when you make the campground reservation and the water and wood bundles will be waiting for you in a locker at the campground. In order to open the locker you need to get the combination code from the visitor center at Two Harbors, so don't forget to do that when you are in town (thanks again to our trip leader for doing all these things for us). The campground still has vault toilets although they are a bit of a walk to get to once at camp.
Our campsite provided a lot of privacy since most of the other sites were further down and around a bend in the beach. We had just enough light to set up, make dinner, and enjoy the beach a bit before the sunset. This beach has excellent rocks and I spent a lot of my time digging around and admiring the many colors and textures of the pebbles at the waterline.
It was a beautiful golden sunset and as the evening closed in we enjoyed the luxury of having a large campfire. I had never camped this close to the ocean before and like the previous night felt like I was getting to sleep in a "mansion" of a campground, it was so epically stunning. We had made it through the hardest parts of the trail and sleep came easy once I laid down, grateful yet again for being invited into such a great hiking crew and getting to experience such a well planned trip.
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