No stores, no restaurants, no crowds and just five raw islands an hour from LA

The Galapagos of North America

Five islands, 249,000 acres, and roughly 325,000 visitors in 2024. To put that in perspective, Yellowstone pulled in more than 4 million.

The Channel Islands sit off the Southern California coast, less than an hour by boat from the mainland, and most people who live nearby have never set foot on them.

No stores. No restaurants. No lodgings. Just islands that have been doing their own thing for thousands of years, with animals that exist nowhere else on the planet.

The Chumash crossed these waters in hand-built canoes

Long before the park existed, the Chumash lived on the northern Channel Islands for more than 10,000 years.

They built plank canoes called tomols and crossed open water to reach the mainland, a crossing that would still make most people nervous today.

During the last ice age, when sea levels dropped, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel were all one landmass called Santarosae. The ocean rose, split the land apart, and left behind the islands you see now.

The park as it exists today took shape in 1980, though Anacapa and Santa Barbara islands were set aside as a national monument back in 1938.

Santa Cruz Island is nearly three times the size of Manhattan

At 96 square miles, Santa Cruz is California’s largest island and the park’s main hub for hiking, kayaking, and camping. Diablo Peak rises 2,450 feet at the island’s center.

The terrain shifts from marshes and grasslands at sea level to chaparral and pine forests higher up, with more than 600 plant species spread across 10 different plant communities.

Eight of those species grow only here and nowhere else in the world. If you only visit one island, this is the one most people choose, and for good reason.

The sea cave big enough to sail a boat into

On the north shore of Santa Cruz, Painted Cave stretches 1,227 feet deep into the cliff, making it the fourth largest sea cave in the world by length.

The entrance rises about 160 feet above the water and spans nearly 100 feet wide. Harbor seals, sea lions, and seabirds live inside.

The colors on the cave walls come from different rock types, lichens, and algae, which is how it got its name.

You can see it by boat, by guided kayak, or from certain ferry routes that pass by on the way to Santa Rosa Island.

The island fox came back from 15 individuals to full recovery

The island fox lives on six of the eight Channel Islands and nowhere else on Earth. It is roughly the size of a house cat and descended from the mainland gray fox.

In the late 1990s, populations on Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands crashed to as few as 15 animals, mostly because golden eagles were hunting them.

A recovery program launched in 1999 brought in captive breeding, relocated the golden eagles, and reintroduced bald eagles to the islands.

By 2016, three subspecies of island fox came off the Endangered Species Act, the fastest recovery of any listed mammal in United States history.

Around the campgrounds at Scorpion Canyon, you will likely see them walking around like they own the place. They do.

One bird, one island, 2,000 individuals left

The island scrub jay lives only on Santa Cruz Island, which gives it the smallest range of any bird in North America. It is also the only island-endemic landbird species on the continent.

Compared to its mainland relative, the California scrub jay, it runs about one-third larger, carries deeper blue plumage, and has a heavier beak built for serious work.

Each adult buries between 3,500 and 6,000 acorns every year, which helps restore oak woodland across the island. With a population of about 2,000, every one of them lives within the same 96 square miles.

Blue whales feed in the channel all summer long

The Santa Barbara Channel has been designated a Whale Heritage Area, and the numbers back it up. Twenty-seven species of whales and dolphins use the waters surrounding the park.

Blue whales, the largest animals on Earth, come to feed on krill here through the summer months. Gray whales pass through in winter on their migration between Alaska and Mexico.

Humpbacks show up from spring through fall. Common dolphins run in pods that sometimes number in the thousands, and they regularly swim alongside the ferries crossing the channel.

You can watch for them from the deck on the ride out.

Sea caves carved into volcanic rock over millions of years

Santa Cruz Island’s coastline is volcanic, and the ocean has been cutting into it for a very long time. The result is dozens of sea caves along the eastern shore.

Guided kayak tours launch from Scorpion Anchorage and work their way through those caves, with some trips going as far as Potato Harbor.

Anacapa Island has its own caves along the cliffs. Beginners are welcome on the guided trips, and the pace stays manageable.

From the water, you will paddle past sea lions hauled out on rocks, harbor seals, pelicans riding the updrafts, and dolphins cutting across the bow.

The trail to Potato Harbor runs along the edge of the bluffs

The Potato Harbor trail on Santa Cruz is the park’s most popular hike, a roughly 5-mile loop along open coastal bluffs.

The Cavern Point Loop covers 2 miles and climbs to clifftop overlooks where, between January and March, you can sometimes catch gray whales moving through the channel below.

Over on Anacapa, the 2-mile figure-eight trail passes Inspiration Point, Cathedral Cove, Pinniped Point, and the 1932 lighthouse, the last permanent lighthouse built on the West Coast.

Bring more water than you think you need. The trails have no shade and no trash cans, so everything you carry in, you carry back out.

Kelp forests rise from the floor and shelter a thousand species

The waters around the Channel Islands rank among the best diving and snorkeling in the United States, according to the National Park Service.

Giant kelp grows up from the ocean floor in columns that shelter more than 1,000 species of marine plants and animals. The best spots sit around Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara islands.

In the kelp, you might see Garibaldi fish in their orange, sea lions spiraling through the columns, bat rays moving across the bottom, lobsters tucked under ledges, and sea stars in colors that seem wrong for anything underwater.

On calm fall days, visibility can reach 100 feet.

No light pollution means stars from horizon to horizon

All five islands have campgrounds run by the National Park Service, open year-round.

Scorpion Canyon on Santa Cruz is the easiest to reach, a flat half-mile walk from the ferry dock with potable water and pit toilets on site.

Santa Rosa’s Water Canyon campground also has potable water.

The campgrounds on Anacapa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara require steep climbs to reach. Once you’re there, the sky at night is a different thing entirely.

No cities, no glow on the horizon, nothing interfering with the dark. Gas stoves are fine. Open fires are not allowed on any island.

Anacapa is the easiest island to reach for a quick visit

About an hour by boat from the mainland, Anacapa is one of the most practical options if you only have a day. The island is actually three small islets, and only the eastern one is open to visitors.

Its 2-mile trail runs past the 1932 lighthouse and ends at Inspiration Point, one of the most photographed views in the park.

The surrounding waters have been a marine sanctuary for more than 40 years, and about 30 sea caves line the cliffs.

The island is also one of the main nesting sites for western gulls and brown pelicans on the entire West Coast.

Visit Channel Islands National Park in California

To get to the Channel Islands, you start on the mainland.

The Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center at Ventura Harbor has exhibits and information about the islands, and it is where most trips begin.

Island Packers, the park’s official ferry operator since 1968, runs year-round service to Anacapa and Santa Cruz, with seasonal trips to Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara islands.

There is no entrance fee.

Bring all your food and water because nothing is for sale once you leave the dock. Check the official website for current ferry schedules and campsite reservations.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• The Channel Islands are California’s Galápagos, and it’s only an hour from shore
• Why a small California city spent $3.3 million saving a wooden pier most tourists drive past
• This tiny California village sits on 70-foot cliffs with the ocean on three sides