Trans Catalina Trail, Avalon to Black Jack CG

Trans Catalina Trail

Mar 14

Written By Mallory Weston

In November 2021, my best friends Leslie, Emily, and I decided to thru-hike the Trans Catalina Trail (TCT) during our fall break. Catalina is a small island off the coast of Los Angeles, and the TCT snakes through the island from top to bottom. After all the hiking I had done over the summer, I was so excited to finally do my first baby thru-hike. This was also the first time backpacking for Emily and me, and it turns out this trail was a great choice. TCT hikers must stay at established campgrounds along the route, and each one had bathrooms and potable water, so we were able to ease into the experience. I had spent the weeks leading up to our departure buying my first pieces of backpacking gear, and we painstakingly planned all the logistics. The day before we started, the three of us met in LA and got a hotel in Long Beach for the night.

The next day, November 23rd, we caught the 10 am Catalina Express Ferry. The ride took about an hour, and we watched dozens of idling cargo ships waiting to dock while sipping cocktails from the ferry deck. When we got to Avalon, we made a few stops around town to get fuel and buy some last-minute items from the grocery store. By 12:30, we followed the route through the outskirts of town, eventually transitioning to a dirt trail. The first few miles were an immediate climb into the rolling hillsides surrounding Avalon. At the top, there was a cute little picnic table where we stopped for a snack surrounded by uninterrupted views of the ocean and LA skyline in the distance.

From there, we meandered along the crest of the hillside, still graced by the magnificent vista. Notably, we saw our first slumbering bison (a unique wildlife feature of this trail!). We didn’t have much time before the sun started to set, and we had to pull out our headlamps for the final stretch into camp. We arrived at Black Jack Campground after hiking 10.7 miles on our first day. Emily and I were sharing a tent, so we muddled through setting it up for the first time in the dark together while Leslie pitched their tent across the clearing. After getting situated, we all made dinner together at the campsite picnic table and settled down for the night.