Right when I arrived on Santa Cruz island, we set up camp and than left to go on our first hike. We headed up the canyon towards Devils Peak, which is the island's highest point at an elevation of 2450 feet. At the top of ridge, we headed across a flat bluff and wound our way down into smugglers cove on the island's southeastern tip.
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| Our steep ascent out of camp in Scorpion canyon |
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| Hiking up the Canyon |
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| Across the ridge and down into smugglers cove |
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| Looking across the ridge near smugglers cove |
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Path into Smuggler's cove through a
picturesque grove of Olive trees |
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| Smuggler's Cove |
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Another view of the cove
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| Inland portion of smuggler's cove |
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| Farmhouse in Smugglers Cove |
During this hike Santa Cruz island unique fauna put on a great show. The island is home to the Island Scrub Jay, which is much bigger than its mainline relative. Each island is also home to a unique species of fox. These foxes are extremely cute, but they tend to be aggressive and will come right up to people while attempting to steal food. They were all over our camp and would sneak up whenever we had our backs turned!
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| An island fox raiding out picnic! |
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| Route back down to camp |
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| View coming back down to Scorpion Cove |
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| Complete Route |
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| So we took a different route to and from Scorpion cove |
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Elevation and speed profile, with a break in the middle as we
ate in Smuggler's cove |
Wow, what a beautiful place to go for a long hike. Maybe willy could live there with the foxes!
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