My ambition of being able to visit all the national parks in
the lower 48 states while on my road trip, was definitely not going to
happen. The rain was one reason and the
government shutdown was the other. After
visiting Big Sur and driving the coast, I was hoping the parks would open back
up. I wanted to visit Channel Islands National Park, but it was completely
closed. The closest thing would be Catalina Island to the south.
I didn’t know much about Catalina Island, but saw some
great pictures online and decided I wanted to go for a day trip. The weather forecast was 45 degrees and
overcast and the ferry ticket was a bit expensive, but I’m on vacation and
splurging every now and again is fun (self-care, right?). When I arrived on the island I was immediately drawn to all
the different colored houses, the engaging beach front shops and restaurants, how
mountainous the island was, and lastly, a little surprised by how small the only
city of Catalina Island was, Avalon. I wandered around a while, talked with the
woman at the visitor’s center and decided I wanted to go for a bike ride. The weather had warmed up to 50 degrees, but I was
dressed warmly so I felt a bike ride would be ok. I called the bike shop that advertised
an all downhill 10 mile bike ride, starting from the top of the island down to
the cove, where the resort town was. A man named Randy answered the phone and said that
no one else had booked a bike ride for the day and he usually waits for a group
of people to make it worth his while, since it’s a 30 min drive to get to the
top of the island. But then he said he had nothing else going on and “why not.”
So about an hour later, Randy had gotten everything arranged and was driving me
up the winding road to the top of the island.
It was so beautiful!
Randy had grown up on the island, had moved away during
his young adult years and then moved back with his wife. He was an incredibly friendly, knowledgeable,
interesting and engaging story teller. While on the drive up, he shared all sorts of facts about the
island, the environment, anecdotes, stories about the residents and how he
acted as one of the island rangers, keeping it clean and damage free from
tourists and campers. When we reached the top, he dropped me off and waved good
luck and good bye, “see you in a couple hours!”
Randy was so engaging on the ride up that I neglected to pay
attention to how bumpy and riddled with potholes the road was. The first 4 miles down was a dirt road with
millions (that is not an over-exaggeration!!) of tiny potholes, making for a
very uncomfortable ride. I enjoy bike
riding but for my personal bike I had actually purchased a more cushioned seat
and I was not used to a hard, flat and generic bike seat. Oh my bum!! You would think that with all the
adipose tissue on my back side it would be an asset, but no. Apparently my sensitive nature comes with a sensitive bum. After about 2-3 miles of endless bumpiness,
my bum was begging me to stop. I should mention that I also neglected to notice
on the drive up, all the hills we went up and down along the way. There were
4-5 miles of up and down, up and down, up and down. I was able to successfully pedal through the
first 2 miles, but due to a combination of being out of shape and my sore bum,
I eventually had to get off my bike and walk on the uphills. On the downhills, I would stand
up and coast and give my bum some welcome relief. But the amazing views were
all worth it. The sun had come out and it was starting to warm up. The island
was so green and the ocean so blue and it was just stunning!
After coasting down a hill and approaching another uphill, I
decided to try to pedal as fast as I could to gain some momentum to try to make
it up without getting off my bike. As I
was approaching the hill, I slammed on my brakes as I saw 2 bison in the
roadway. Randy had mentioned there were
buffalo on the island, but he never mentioned what to do if I came across them.
I immediately turned around and pedaled about 200 ft back down the road. Both of the bison were leisurely grazing, one
of each side of the road, with no sign of moving on. So I waited, and waited and then I saw a
truck come up the road. I waved. The guy waved back and kept driving by.
“Really dude?!” I let out a sigh of
frustration but soon another 2 trucks were coming up the road. With a little hope rising up, I tried waving both of them down, but they both just continued on by. I was
tempted to call Randy for advice, but then a red SUV was driving up the road and I was
determined to flag this one down.
However, the vehicle stopped right next to one of the buffalo. They
rolled down the window and a medium size dog stuck its head out the window and
started barking at the large beast. The buffalo lifted its gigantic head toward
the vehicle and started pawing the ground. Uh oh. Here we go. I’m going to
witness a wildlife encounter, the one’s you see pop up on you-tube videos and
you wonder where common sense is. The people in the car were at least smart
enough to back up and then drive to make a wide berth to drive around the
animal. As the car approached me, it stopped and the guy asked if I wanted a
ride. Yes!! He lifted my bike onto the
top of the car and then moved the dog from the passenger seat and I climbed in.
In the back seat were crammed 3 adult women and 3 children. I was wondering how
the dog had had claim to the front seat while all of them were smooshed in the
back? The man held the dog on his lap and we had to drive slowly so that my
bike wouldn’t slide off while driving on the very bumpy road. As we passed the buffalo, the windows were
still down and the dog started yapping again. The buffalo looked up. A
sarcastic but very sincere prayer went through my head, “Please God, this is a
beautiful island, but I really don’t feel like dying right now. Like, you have
some really beautiful animals but I don’t feel like being mauled to death. Can
you please make the dog shut up?!” The
dog didn’t shut up, but the buffalo also didn’t react this time around and we
got safely past. The man was kind enough to even drive me all the up to the top
of the next hill. I thanked him and
gently suggested he roll up the windows for safety so that the dog doesn’t
provoke the buffalo. He laughed and said, “yeah, maybe.”
The next mile continued to be bumpy and I did a lot of
walking because my hiney was not happy.
But the last 5 miles were awesome!
All downhill, wind in my face, sunshine shining down on me and hardly
any cars on the road. I stopped a few
times to take pictures and just to take in the scenery. This is what I
initially imagined when I booked the excursion, and my soul was glowing (so was
my bum, just more of an achy kind).
As I reached the town of Avalon, I called Randy to ask where
to drop off my bike. He was at a nearby pub having a drink and avoiding his
to-do list. I ended up joining him at the bar for a drink. Sitting next to
Randy was a young man spouting stats about football and then to the side of me
was an older couple from Boston. We
spent the next two hours sharing conversations, stories and each other’s
company. It was pleasant and a perfect way to end the day. And I have to say, I had ordered some oysters
that were about the best I’ve ever had (from Gig Harbor, WA). They were so
fresh as well as big and plump that I was tempted to ask for a knife to cut
them.
At the end of those two hours, I had to say my goodbyes so
that I could catch the ferry back to the mainland. The sun was starting to go
down and a yellowy-orangish aura surrounded the cove, similar to the glow I was
feeling earlier. And so I sat there in the chilly evening, sipping on some hot
tea, happy and wanting to hold on the feeling of the perfect day I had just
had.
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