The GeekHiker

This 5 mile moderate dayhike is perfect for the day visitor to Santa Cruz Island. It can be completed easily before the boat returns to the dock, with time for relaxing with a picnic lunch at the beach before returning to the mainland.

Of course, there is a drawback to the hike: with it’s brief overview of the island’s variations, it will likely whet your appetite for more.

Starting from the dock at Scorpion Anchorage, the hike is best done in a clockwise loop, which will save the steepest incline for your final descent. From the dock, head inland on the wide road, passing an old adobe building and a display of rusting farm equipment from the island’s earlier days. You’ll pass the first campground and, about .8 miles from the start, arrive at the second campground, a flat area shaded by eucalyptus trees.

Campground in Scorpion Canyon

Turn right at the trail junction just before the campground, ascending a side canyon to the main Scorpion Canyon along Potato Harbor road. Bright white outcroppings of chalky rock and wide open grasslands highlight this section of trail as you climb.

Looking back down the trail towards Scorpion Canyon

Chalky outcropping along the trail (I wish I’d been a geologist so I could tell you what it is!)

At the end of your climb you’ll arrive at a junction overlooking the wide expanse of the Pacific. Looking to your right you can see Cavern Point (the further outcropping in the picture below). Be sure to stay back from the edge: cliff edges along all the islands can be deceptive and disintegrate beneath you.

Looking towards Cavern Point

Turning left along the trail, the path follows old ranching roads, winding inland a bit from the cliff edge and giving views of the grasslands and hills in the distance.

Walking along the old ranch road

After .7 miles you’ll arrive at the overlook for Potato Harbor. The old trail to the point itself, as you can see, has long since disintegrated.

The trail is closed because the trail is gone!

Skeleton of one of the introduced boars on the island that have now been removed or killed

A use trail to the left climbs steeply down approximately a half mile (each way), but ends abruptly at a steep cliff off which a trickle of creek plunges. There is no trail access to Potato Harbor itself.

Potato Harbor

Heading back west along the road, pass the earlier trail junction and continue along the trail as it winds along the steep cliffs of the island. A little over a mile past the junction you’ll arrive at Cavern Point, where a quick climb to the top gives the rewarding view of the Santa Barbara Channel and, on a clear day, the mainland beyond.

Hiking along the bluff, nearing Cavern Point

Returning to the trail, you’ll quickly descend back to the main road, where a left turn will take you the remaining .2 miles back to Scorpion Beach.

Descending the final section of trail back to Scorpion Canyon