El Montanon

Dec 22, 2006 - Six current and former members of the OC cross country team and Coach Smith met at the Ventura Harbor, embarked the "Islander" and set sail for Santa Cruz Island of the Channel Islands National Park. Coach Smith presented the idea of catching a boat ride to SCI and day hiking to summit of El Montanon - the highpoint of the Channel Islands Nat'l Park. This would be a first time visit to the NP for Coach Smith (who is collecting NP visits) and most of the others.

Who were in attendance? Stephen Roesler (2005), Eric Meissner (2005), Dustin Long (2003), Tyler Temanson, Ethan Long and Chase Fiedler

Upon arriving at the Island Packers offices we all purchased our tickets and relaxed while waiting to board. Chase took a brief detour to the Channel Islands Harbor before finding his way back to the Ventura Harbor and joining us. He blamed it on bad directions from Coach Smith, but Coach and the others find VH without a problem... We boarded the Island Packers' "Islander", a catamaran style boat and began cruising out of the harbor around 10:00 am. The “Islander” throttled up to exit the harbor among the large waves pounding the jetty. Bouncing and sometimes being launched by the 10-15 foot swells, yahoo! It was not long before a tourist from Japan and others in his group found themselves feeding the fish off the back of the boat. Stephen made the run to the back himself before composing himself, but Tyler was not able to find that same composure a few moments later making his acquaintance with the restroom where he would spend the reminder of the boat ride. The boat traveled close to one of the classic California coast oiling platforms. This particular platform had 96 different wells drilling as much as five miles away.
The hour ride was closer to an hour and twenty five minutes having been slowed by the conditions. We made port at the Scorpion Anchorage on the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island which faces Anacapa not too far to the east. The “Islander” butted up to the small pier and throttled in as we hopped onto a latter to scramble onto the pier. The “Islander” does not tie to the pier because the swells would beat the catamaran too much. We walked ashore and prepared for our hike to begin before being delayed by a Nat’l Park ranger led orientation. Then another delay by an Island Packer guide who doubtability ablity to make the summit and back in time for the return boat ride. Of course the more she continued to lecture us the less time we had to hike.
Finally on our way we elected to take the service road toward Smuggler’s Cove, then right toward El Monatanon Ridge, straight at the old oil well and onto the summit. The route is easy to follow and clearly markcommittedsummited together in just shy of one hour nine minutes. After a snack, some picture taking, relaxing, enjoying the 360 degree view and reminiscing of previous trips we began the descent. Coach, Eric, Ethan, Tyler and Chase elected to run most all of the descent for an easy run. Stephen and Dustin strolled down the hill at their own pace. We returned to the old oil well turned left onto the valley loop trail to add variety to the descent as opposed to returning via the service road route we took on the ascent. In the valley we pasted a number of camp sites many of which were occupied. Coach, Eric and Ethan arrived first; Tyler and Chase arrived shortly after to join the group relaxing near the beach. The same Islander Packer guide (We refrained from nose-thumbing for her doubt) answered our questions and told us about the history of Santa Cruz Island. Questions included the botany, cattle ranches, pig hunting and how Prisoner’s Bay was named. Let’s just say we now know where the first setters of Carpinteria came from...
The boat arrived and we loaded, but Stephen and Dustin did not stroll in until the boat was nearly loaded. We were taking bets on them intentionally missing the last boat of the day back to the mainland and them having to send the night. They did admit to considering “accidentally” being left behind. The return trip was calmer, the waves having settled to 8-10 foot in size and the boat traveling the same direction. Tyler kept his lunch, but we did see a school of dolphin.
The “Islander” docked in the Ventura Harbor, we unloaded and we elected to grab a bite to eat. So we popped into Baja Surf n' Taco where the shark tacos were the popular choice. After we ate we parted ways looking forward to the Christmas Break 2007 adventure….