Backpacking the Trans Catalina Trail: A Rugged Island Hike With Luxury Vibes

I’ve been hearing about the Trans Catalina Trail for years, but to be honest it didn’t really appeal to me. I like my backpacking as rugged, remote, and inexpensive as possible. Backpacking the TCT, with its established campgrounds, logistical hurdles, and expensive reservations, didn’t seem like my jam.

But this November I was thrilled to sneak in an off-season backpacking trip with my husband on the Trans Catalina Trail, which we hiked over five leisurely days.

What changed? Well, I’m pregnant (surprise!) and searching for creative ways to merge my love of the outdoors with this new unpredictable body of mine. The TCT, with its mandatory short days, easy bail-out routes, and readily available food options, looked like the perfect compromise.

This trip report focuses on the general experience of backpacking the Trans Catalina Trail, not on doing it while pregnant, though I do plan to cover that in a separate post. This was my second time “backpacking for two,” once very early and now at 18 weeks, and I want outdoor-loving women to know it’s doable.

Now, on to the trip report!

Overall Impressions

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Trans Catalina Trail. It’s not wild and remote but it does have its own distinct vibe, somewhere between island chill and coastal mountains. I’ve enjoyed some incredibly scenic coastal hiking in the Ventana Wilderness, and the TCT’s sprawling ocean views are a close second.

There is a “luxury” feel to the TCT, in the sense that restaurant food is available and you can even sleep in a bed in Two Harbors. It also has a luxury price tag by the time you add up all the campground reservations and ferry rides. And it’s not a spur of the moment trip, since reservations are competitive and fill up quickly.

You won’t be alone on the TCT, as everyone is required to sleep in campgrounds and the island is popular with tourists. If noisy campground neighbors will ruin your night, or a stretch of dirt road walking with the occasional vehicle will disappoint you, then the TCT isn’t for you.

Despite the amenities and accessibility, mile for mile the TCT is not an easy trail. Experienced hikers can still get a good workout. Catalina Island is very hilly and some sections follow extremely steep ridgelines and fire roads. Pack light and expect some slow sections!

While the TCT can be a fun luxury backpacking treat for any hiker with the right mindset, I think it’s perfect for those looking to ease into backpacking: beginner backpackers, first-time solo backpackers, families, or (as in my case) pregnant backpackers planning a conservative trip.

My Top Tips for the TCT

There are already some excellent guides to backpacking the TCT and I won’t recreate them here, just share my own experience and a few critical tips. I found the guide from HikingGuy most helpful when planning my trip.

Here are my top tips:

Plan ahead and make your reservations early. A reservation is required for every night and they book up fast in high season. If even one campground is full during the time you want to hike, you won’t be able to do it.

Pack light (some sections are very steep) and take advantage of the luxuries along the trail, like lunch on day 2 at the airport and on day 3 at Two Harbors.

Plan your ferry so that a weather cancellation won’t ruin your trip. For us this meant booking an afternoon ferry to Avalon the day before starting our hike. When it was canceled due to high winds we were able to move to the following morning and keep the rest of our itinerary intact.

If you’re used to more remote trails, adjust your mindset going in. You won’t be alone and it won’t feel like untouched wilderness, but it’s still enjoyable in its own right.

Itinerary and Brief Daily Notes

We hiked from south to north which is the recommended direction, though we met plenty of hikers going the opposite way too. Go whichever way you can get reservations for!

We chose the most leisurely 5 day itinerary to give my body the best chance of keeping up. In hindsight it almost too leisurely for our taste, but very relaxing.

Day 1: 11 miles

Took 7:15am ferry from Long Beach to Avalon, hiked 11 miles to Black Jack Campground. This day started with a big climb but was otherwise rolling and nice.

Day 2: 8.3 miles

Hiked 8.3 miles to Little Harbor Campground, with stop 2 miles in for brunch at the airport restaurant. Some nice stretches of singletrack and good views heading down to Little Harbor.

Day 3: 5.7 miles

Hiked 5.7 miles to Two Harbors, stayed in bunk rooms. These are seasonal employee housing and only available during off-season, but were a nice break from sleeping on the ground for my achier-than-usual body. This day was really just one big climb (on very steep, dramatic, and gorgeous ridgetop trail) and one big descent (on a steep dirt road).

Important note: You can resupply basic backpacking food at the general store in Two Harbors, but the prices are VERY high. We brought all our meals from the start and just resupplied snacks.

Day 4: 6.8 miles

Hiked 6.8 miles to Parson’s Landing Campground via the inland / hilly route. Some very steep sections both up and down, pretty much all dirt road but good views at the top.

Day 5: 7.9 miles back to Two Harbors via the coastal route, very easy and flat (dare I say a bit boring), all on dirt road. We had lunch at the restaurant while waiting for the 4:45 ferry from Two Harbors to San Pedro.

Daily mileage notes: The requirement to stay in established campgrounds restricts options for daily mileage on the TCT. The 5 day itinerary was a little too leisurely for my taste, even with the short autumn daylight hours; we had almost too much time in camp (we’re used to long days and hiking efficiently).

You can combine segments into a 4 or 3 day itinerary, but there’s no perfect way to do this in my opinion. The most common is to hike from Little Harbor all the way to Parson’s Landing on day 3 with a lunch stop in Two Harbors, but this is a long day with lots of very steep terrain. If doing this I might choose the coastal route to Parson’s Landing on the afternoon of day 3, then tackle the hilly return as a standalone segment on day 4.

Another option would be to hike from Black Jack straight to Two Harbors, but you would hike all the way to the west side of the island only to turn around and go back again – unsatisfying in my opinion.

Campground Notes

Tip: To pick the best sites, search online for campground maps or use Google Satellite view.

Hermit Gulch: We canceled our reservation here when our ferry was delayed due to weather, but staying at this campground on your first night would shave about 1.6 miles off the hike to Black Jack. It’s at the end of the road from Avalon, just before the real climbing starts, and is a large drive-in campground with water and bathrooms.

Black Jack Campground: The only campground on the TCT that isn’t on the coast, and a hike-in only campground. We liked site #1, which is tucked away from the others. Pit toilets and potable water available.

Little Harbor: A larger hike and drive-in campground on the west side of the island. The sites right near the beach are the nicest in our opinion (we liked site #12, right next to the beach trail). Porta potties and potable water available.

Two Harbors: Most hikers stay at Two Harbors Campground, a larger drive-in campground a bit outside of town. We paid $100 for two people (about $30 more than the cost of a campsite) to rent a “bunk room” in the seasonal employee housing at the harbor. This is only available in off-season, but it was a nice chance for my achier-than-usual pregnant body to sleep on a (slightly) more comfortable mattress for a night.

Parson’s Landing: The smallest campground on the TCT and for hikers only. Sites are right on the beach and a bit rugged feeling, with no shade. There’s no water here so almost everyone pays $27 for access to a locker containing 2 gallons of water, firewood, and fire starter (pick up the key in Two Harbors, and bring your own lighter). We debated whether the fire would be worth the effort but in the end were very glad we did, especially given the cool November temps and early sunset. We bought s’more supplies in Two Harbor – highly recommended. :)

Tip: Use the food lockers at the campgrounds, even if you step away for just a minute! The foxes and birds are fast, aggressive, and sneaky.

Ferry Notes

I read ferries can fill up on busy days, so we booked our tickets in advance. Each direction was about $45 per person, so we spent nearly $200 on ferries alone!

Our original plan had been to take the 2pm ferry the day before (would have been “day 0”) and stay overnight at Hermit Gulch campground about 1.7 miles in, but all ferries that day were canceled due to high wind.

Fortunately we were able to change the ferry to the following morning and still keep the rest of our itinerary, and our campground reservation at Hermit Gulch was refunded. I recommend planning your ferry so you have a backup plan like this in case of a ferry cancelation. We used the Catalina Express ferry.

Parking for the Ferries

At the time of our hike it was only possible to ferry from Two Harbors to San Pedro, which is a few miles from the more popular terminal in Long Beach. So we ferried from Long Beach to Avalon to start our trip, and then back from Two Harbors to San Pedro a few miles from our car.

We parked our car at the Long Beach terminal’s garage for $25 per day. We had to leave some luggage in the car and we felt it was safer there. The San Pedro terminal has a similar garage. If you don’t want to pay a parking fee, there’s a “park and ride” lot near the San Pedro terminal but it looks a little rough on Google street view.

To get back to our car we took an Uber from San Pedro to Long Beach. It took a little while due to LA traffic and cost about $20.

Expenses

I have to be honest, this was a really splurge-y backpacking trip. Here are estimates of our expenses, not including car travel to and from LA from northern California.

• Campgrounds: 3 nights at $35 per person per night = $210
• Locker at Parson’s Landing: $27
• Bunk room in Two Harbors: $50 per person for one night = $100
• Lunch at airport on day 2: $15 per person = $32
• Meals at Two Harbors (lunch, dinner, lunch on last day): $15 per person per meal = $90
• Resupply snacks at Two Harbors (prices very high!): $50
• Ferries: $45 per person per direction = $180
• Parking in Long Beach garage: $25 per day = $125
• Uber between San Pedro and Long Beach: $20

Adding all that up the damage comes to $834 total for two people. Ouch! I include this so potential hikers know what you’re getting into. Quite honestly I’m not sure I would have found this worth the cost if I weren’t specifically looking for a pregnancy-friendly backpacking trip in the middle of November, which really narrowed the options. But given the TCT’s popularity it seems many people do find it worthwhile.

Hiking the TCT in November

November isn’t the most popular time to hike the Trans Catalina Trail, but we thought it worked pretty well. At this time of year the major mountain backpacking areas in California are off-limits so the TCT feels like a special treat. Another plus: the tourist crowds are lighter and the campgrounds quieter with fewer car campers.

Our weather was mostly sunny, sometimes hot during the day but with a chilly breeze. Evenings and nights were supposedly in the low 50’s but felt colder to me. I’d recommend not skimping on warm gear when hiking outside of summer.

One major plus to the cooler weather: we didn’t have to carry as much water. Even in November the sun baked down on the steep exposed climbs, and there isn’t really any surface water to speak of between the campgrounds (we didn’t even bring a water filter). I think summer could be uncomfortably hot on the TCT and extra water would add a few pounds of pack weight.

Storms and high winds are more common during the winter, so there is a higher chance of interruptions to your itinerary if you hike in the off-season. The day before we started they canceled all the ferries and implemented a fire ban due to high winds, which would have made hiking and camping rough. The weather after that was perfect for our hike, but we got lucky with that timing.

Short daylight hours might be the biggest issue with a late fall, winter, or early spring hike. It was dark and cold by 5:30pm, so the nights in the tent were long. A campfire is a nice way to pass more hours in the dark, as is a good book.

Food Along the Trail

There are two places to buy food along the TCT:

Airport in the Sky restaurant: Definitely worth a stop! They serve brunch until 11am and lunch after that, and are only 2 miles into day 2 heading north from Black Jack campground.

Two Harbors: You’ll pass by here on day 3 (for most northbound hikers) and again at the end of your trip. There’s a restaurant and an attached brunch and lunch place. There’s also a general store selling snacks, frozen meals, and a variety of backpacking food, but the prices are REALLY expensive. We found better value for money at the restaurant.

In Conclusion

Backpacking the Trans Catalina Trail was a unique experience, different from any other backpacking trip I’ve taken. The strict logistics and high expenses are a pain, but if you can get into the right mindset and enjoy the relative luxury, you’ll likely find the excellent coastal views to be worth all the steep climbs.