Exploring Channel Islands National Park And Ventura, CA

Read this post before your visit to Channel Islands National Park and Ventura, CA.

Are you also visiting Redwoods National and State Parks on your California vacation? You might want to read Visiting Redwoods And Eureka, California before you go.

On the way from Joshua Tree, CA to Venura, CA, Stop 7 of our 14 National Parks in 5 States road trip, we passed a wind farm. I was in awe of the sight of the Whitewater Hill Wind Farm. I have never seen anything like this. None of the pictures I took even come close to capturing how crazy it looked to see so many wind turbines working side by side on a few acres of land. I put a visit to Tehachapi Pass to see the largest wind farm in the US  on my bucket list after seeing this smaller one in. That's how impressed I was!

Also on our way to Ventura, we warmed up leftover hotdogs for lunch. I learned this trick from my nephew. The sun shining through the windshield warmed them up in no time! Just thought I would pass this helpful hint along.

Stop 7 was the second stop we made in California. We were here to visit Channel Islands National Park. It is off the mainland of California but we could get to it from Ventura Harbor in Ventura, Californa. We set up our trailer at Camp Comfort, a county park in Ojai, California. It was only 25 minutes from the harbor and Ventura. I only found out on the day that we got here that Char Man haunted this area and this park in particular! Why didn't I know that before I booked! It was the only thing I could think about whenever we were at the campground, especially after it got dark out!

After a restless night, we left the campground early to get to Ventura Harbor in time to board a ferry to Santa Cruz Island, the biggest of the 5 islands that make up Channel Islands National Park. We booked with Island Packers Cruises online months ahead of time.

We saw dolphins, whales (actually just the air coming out of their blowholes) and seal (just a glimpse). 

It was a very fun one hour ride.

When we got off the ferry, we noticed that a small group was gathered around a volunteer from the National Park service. She was making an announcement that she would lead an informative tour on one of the hikes we wanted to take. Perfect!

One of the first things we learned from our guide was that the Island Fox lived only on the Channel Islands and that the island scrub-jay lived exclusively on Santa Cruz Island. The group was excited to see this island fox moments after hearing about it.

We stopped a couple of times during our hike up the steep hill. I think we were looking at some volcanic ash here. I'm not sure. The only thing I was concentrating on was trying to catch my breath! The guide walked at her pace which was a lot quicker than mine!

We separated from the group after we all sat down for a picnic lunch. Most of the group wandered off before us. The second half of the Cavaran Point Loop brought us to the edge of the mountain where we had incredible views of the Pacific ocean. 

After our hike we sat on a bench under a tree when someone left it saying they had seen the island scrub jay. We waited quietly for a good 30 minutes. Just as we were about to give up, a couple of the birds showed up!

They posed for a few pictures before they flew away!

After our photoshoot with the island scrub jays, we headed to Smugglers Road.

This very steep road led us to Scorpion Bluff Overlook where we were able to view Scorpion Rock.

By the time we got down the hill it was time to board the ferry back to the mainland. The dolphins who were sleeping this morning came out to play this afternoon. There were so many of them and they were not afraid to get close to the ferry.

Our last full day in this area  was a Sunday so we started the day attending mass. We found a small and beautiful church in downtown Ventura. Mission Basilica San Buenaventura was built in 1782 and is open to tourists when mass is not in session,

Ventura Botanical Gardens was next on our list and only a five minute drive from the church. The garden was very different from any garden we have ever been to as it was on a hillside.

I really liked the inspirational rocks scattered throughout the garden.

As we got higher up the hillside there were lookouts. We could see all the way to Ventura Beach.

It was time for lunch after we got back down the hillside so we headed back to downtown Ventura for a delicious fish sandwich (Soko) and crab cakes (me). The weather was perfect for eating outdoors.

We took a walk in downtown Ventura and window shopped after lunch. It was a great way to work off a few calories.

We also walked back to the church to take pictures of the interior.

The Ventura Pier was just a short walk from downtown.

It seemed to be a popular place for visitors and locals to take a walk, fish and relax.

We relaxed on one of the many benches that lined the pier. It was a perfect way to end our time in Ventura, CA.

Read about Stop 6 of our trip.

Joshua Tree National Park

Have you been to Channel Islands National Park? Which island did you visit?

Things To Do In Joshua Tree, CA

Read this post before your trip to Joshua Tree National Park in Joshua Tree, CA.

If you are making this trip in your RV, read this post before you start packing - 10 Items You Should Have On Your Camping List.

                                                       

We left Arizona and got to California where we would be visiting 6 parks. The sixth leg of our 2025 

14 National Parks in 5 States road trip brought us to Joshua Tree, California.

When we got to our campground we thought that our GPS had brought us to the wrong place. But then we saw the saw the campground sign on the building in front of the huge empty parking lot. This was the campground. The manager told us that the campground is packed at other times of the year, but empty in July because most people would rather not hike in Joshua Tree National Park in the middle of the dangerously hot summers.

After we set up, it was still early enough to take a quick run to the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center. This visitor center was the closest to us of their three centers and was just a couple of minutes from our campground and in town on Park Blvd. The sign that we found outside the Visitors Center, added to the conversation we just had with the campground manager, made us think that planning this road trip for the middle of the summer was not the best idea. 

The following morning we tried to get up and out as soon as possible before it got too hot out. We drove past the visitor center on Park Blvd and about 10 minutes later was at the parks west entrance. It was 9:30 and there was a cool breeze giving us hope that we could see and do everything on our to-do list before the heat of the day would make it impossible.

Park Blvd. would bring us to all the trails and stops we were going to make in the park. We were wowed as soon as we drove in. We pulled over just seconds after we entered Joshua Tree National Park. The huge boulders thrown into a pile by Mother Nature were calling me to climb on them.

We had our first chance to get up-close to the Joshua Trees here. We learned that the trees are not really a tree or cactus but a large succulent belonging to the agave family. 

We got back on Park Blvd. and headed towards the first stop on our list, Hidden Valley Loop Trail. This mile trail was the highlight of our time in Joshua Tree NP and one of the most fun trails of our entire road trip.

We stopped to read the interpretive signs along the way.

We climbed up many "staircases" made of stone.

And we took lots of pictures next to the Joshua trees named so by Mormons who thought the trees resembled biblical figure Joshua holding his arms up in prayer.

Our next stop off Park Blvd. was Cap Rock but we realized we must have missed it when we got to the turn for Keys View, the third stop on our list. Here a short, paved, steep path led us up to views of the San Andreas Fault, Mt. San Gorgonio, Mt. San Jacinto and the Salton Sea. It was hard for us to see exactly where the fault line was but we thought it was cool that we were that close to it.

We got back on Park Blvd. and headed to our next stop, Skull Rock, a very interesting rock formation resembling a skeleton skull. It was right off the road. We were happy that we didn't have to hike the trail to see it. It was getting pretty hot out.

We turned off Park Blvd. onto Pinto Basin Road to get to the Cholla Cactus Garden.

There were enough Chollas close to where we parked to take pictures with so we didn't need to do this trail either. We also didn't feel like taking a chance of getting stung by the cactus, on the trail, which we heard pieces will easily break off and lodge deep into your skin if you even lightly brush by it!

Our last stop of the day was Arch Rock/Heart Rock. Here we had to hike the trail to see either or both rocks.

The trail to Arch Rock was mostly flat with nothing much to look at. I was hot and getting bored of the trail and started to regret that we decided to do it and then we finally got to the Arch Rock. My mood changed dramatically when we saw this amazing rock but there was no way I wanted to continue on to see Heart Rock.

We saw everything we wanted to see in Joshua Tree NP so the following day we took a ride to Pioneertown.

This motel is open in case you want to stay in this block-long town overnight.

Pioneertown was founded in 1946 by a group of Hollywood personalities who wanted a permanent 1880's town to film westerns. Over 200 movies and TV shows were filmed here. 

Most of the buildings are just props but Pioneertown is a real unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, CA and a handful of people actually live here.

They have a post office and...

...Sheriff, should they need to mail a letter or...

...report anyone not following the rules!

On our way back to the campground we stopped at this small casino. One regular thing we do when we are on our road trips is to buy a lottery ticket when we enter a new state. We won $100, the most we have ever won, on our California ticket. We saved some money to buy another ticket and then split the rest to play with. I won at this cute, little casino but Soko lost so we broke even which we considered a win!

When we got back to the campground we had a bite to eat and began packing up. We were heading to California's coast in the morning.

Read about the other stops we made on this road trip.

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Have you been to Joshua Tree National Park? We'd love to hear how you liked it!