CAMPING & CARAVANNING FEBRUARY 2017 VOL 112 NO 2
THE MAGAZINE OF THE FRIENDLY CLUB, FEBRUARY 2017, VOL 112 NO 2
CATALINA
CALLING
Explore a dreamy
camping retreat
off the US coastline
INSIDE: Julia Bradbury laces up her boots for a new TV series, PAGE 32.
Why you need to know our quintet of camping champions, PAGE 42.
Read the results of our owner satisfaction surveys, PAGE 47.
Head online
to www.
myccc.co.uk/
features to discover
Helen’s top picks of
Catalina attractions
ON ISLAND TIME
If you’re planning a trip to California there’s something you may have overlooked,
says HELEN TRUSZKOWSKI. The little isle of Catalina – a short voyage from the city
of Long Beach – offers both dreamy decadence and old-fashioned camping fun
I’M NOT SURE
bald eagles soar and I’ll pack my bags.
when I decided
Browsing the web one night I came
prominent American businessman,
to escort a group
across the promise of a Swallows and
Phineas Banning) first established the
of four boys
Amazons-style getaway and I wanted in.
Santa Catalina Island Company to
on an island
Just 22 miles off the coast of Los
The Banning Brothers (sons of
promote the island as a pioneering
camping trip.
Angeles, Catalina is the US state of
eco-resort, developing the city of Avalon
Maybe it was the
California’s only resort island. Small in
and paving the first dirt roads into the
cumulative effect
size (21 by eight miles) but large in legend,
island’s rugged interior. They built
of a year spent listening to my 11-year-
it’s both accessible and inexpensive in the
hunting lodges and ran stagecoach tours
old son Jack and his fellow classmates
off-season – and even cheaper if you camp.
around the island. But it was William
measure their worth in Facebook likes.
With a history of human habitation
Wrigley Jr (of chewing-gum fame) who
dating back 7,000 years, Catalina has
bought the Catalina Island Co in 1919
personal discovery over prescribed
served as a stop for smugglers, gold
and turned it into a storied getaway
experience, adventure over yet another
diggers, pirates, hunters, the Union
for the movie stars and power brokers
predictable kids’ club. And get-up-and-
army and missionaries. Today there’s
of Los Angeles, a Hollywood location
go over screen-time. Give me a place
a 3,800-strong community of more
for cigar-puffing directors and a fabled
where deer and buffalo roam and where
relaxed, orderly residents.
destination for ballroom dancing at the
When I holiday with kids I opt for
34 Camping & Caravanning February 2017
Touring
The wild side
As quaint as it was I’d been advised that
until you leave Avalon, you haven’t seen
the real Catalina – that for outdoorsy
folk, this 47,884-acre island has a
backcountry, a wilderness to be explored
beyond the gaggle of day visitors.
On the plus side, we learned there’s
a 14-year waiting list to own a car on
Catalina and the number of vehicles
allowed is strictly limited. That makes
the options for getting around simple
– either hike, rent a bike or a golf-cart
($80/£64 for three hours) or grab (and
here’s the downside) a taxi ride from the
one ambitious little cab company that
operates on the island. With so little
competition the price is steep. We cut
our losses and all piled into a comfy
We’d heard so much about the
sedan for the one-and-a-half mile uphill
drought in California it was a surprise
drive to Hermit Gulch campsite, a ride
to discover a tree-studded field offering
that cost about $20 (£16).
great views of the surrounding hills.
Our pitch had room for two tents, a
fire pit and picnic table (adults $24/£19
per night, children $15/£12). This
site had the added luxury of flushing
toilets, outdoor kitchen sinks and coinoperated lockers and showers. Not
exactly roughing it. For the less-keen
Clockwise from main picture: Avalon’s
lovely harbour area; pitching up
at Hermit Gulch campsite; taking a
Hummer tour of the island’s interior
camper, colonial-style, canvas-walled
cabins come equipped with a simple
camp bed and a covered deck ($60/£48
per night plus a per person camp fee). >>
famous Big-Band period casino (built in
1929 for the silent-movie era but never
actually a gambling spot).
A teenage Norma Jean lived here
with her first husband James Dougherty
during the years 1943-44 only to return
as Marilyn Monroe, rubbing-shoulders
with elite names such as Errol Flynn,
Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart.
From those heady days, Catalina has
evolved into a quaint, family-friendly
destination better known for waffle
cones and glass-bottom boat rides than
for fine dining and fancy hotels.
Arriving by ferry from Long Beach,
our first view of Catalina was a crumple
of cliffs. Avalon, the hub of Santa
Catalina Island, is just a few minutes’
walk from the boat landing, its sleepy
shops, restaurants and retro ice cream
parlours crammed into one compact
square mile.
February 2017 Camping & Caravanning 35
Touring
PLAN YOUR TRIP
BY ROAD: The Club’s Worldwide
Travel Service can help organise
a California motorhome holiday,
whether independent or escorted.
The California Dreaming Escorted
Tour ends at Newport Beach, from
where you can catch the Catalina
Flyer ferry, so is ideal if you want
to extend your stay. To find out
more visit www.worldwidemh.co.uk
or call 024 7647 5340. For a copy
of the Worldwide Motorhoming
Holidays brochure, visit
Clockwise from top: Paddle-boarding is
a popular pursuit; deer at Hermit Gulch
campsite; bison on Catalina Island
www.worldwidemh.co.uk/brochure
or call 024 7647 5340.
BY SEA: Catalina Express
Of course we were really here for
(www.catalinaexpress.com) offers
Catalina’s wild country. What makes this
frequent daily trips of about an hour
so special is the wildlife and the solitude
from Long Beach and San Pedro to
on the back roads, largely restricted to
Avalon, and less frequently from
bicycle or foot travel. Founded in 1972
Dana Point to Avalon and from San
the Catalina Island Conservancy (a
Pedro to Two Harbors. Motorhome
non-profit foundation) owns about 86
parking is available at or nearby all
per cent of the island including more
three terminals.
than 62 miles of undeveloped coastline.
The Catalina Flyer (www.
Its express purpose is preserving and
catalinainfo.com) makes one round
protecting open space, wild lands
and nature preserve areas for future
trip daily between Newport Beach
Despite the crunching of gears and
generations. Here the vast swathes
excitable passengers, the local wildlife
of picturesque grasslands would,
seemed indifferent to us. Fourteen bison,
doubtlessly, have been swallowed up by
introduced to the island in 1924 by
vacation homes, hotels and condos.
the Lasky Film Company, escaped and
Instead bison, mule deer and rare
established a lumbering herd that now
and Avalon, departing at 9am from
Balboa Pavilion and returning at
4.30pm. The trip is 75 minutes each
way, and passengers have about
six hours to explore the island.
Motorhome parking is available at
island foxes regularly share the back roads
totals about 200. Bison iconography
with visitors. Vehicle access is limited to
is everywhere in Avalon making it a
those who have a special Gate Pass so to
sort of unofficial town mascot. We got
BY AIR: Island Express
do it justice we set out on an organised
lucky and spotted our own 800-pound
(www.islandexpress.com) has
tour of the interior in a four-wheel drive
heavyweight. On the other end of the
15-minute helicopter flights daily
Hummer. Negotiating the curvy uphill
scale is a resident on the island for at
from Long Beach, San Pedro and
road was a lot like riding a slow-motion
least 4,000 years – the plucky Catalina
Santa Ana from 8am to sunset.
rollercoaster, the ocean foaming below us
Island fox (weighing in at just five
as we hugged the road tight.
pounds), which zipped in and out
Conservation scientists estimate there
ALAMY
between our tyres looking for handouts.
Balboa Pier car park.
are some 1,800 foxes on Catalina, bought
back from the brink of extinction. Clearly
the Conservancy is doing a great job
of restoring the scrubby back country
damaged by agricultural overgrazing,
even returning the indefatigable bald
eagle and protecting the six surviving
Catalina mahogany trees, thought
to be one of the rarest shrubs in the
continental United States. >>
The Catalina Flyer passenger ferry makes daily
crossings to Catalina Island from Newport Beach
February 2017 Camping & Caravanning 37
Touring
Simple pleasures
Back down at camp I stood alone
eyeing the sunset’s pink flush. Jack
and his crew appeared and reappeared
momentarily, increasingly unkempt,
Lord of the Flies-style, their faces
smudged with sweat and dust. As
holidaymakers (and more so as
holidaymakers with children in tow)
Clockwise from top: Zip-lining on Catalina
Island; golf and ball games are among the
island’s more relaxed sporting activities
we are used to being spoilt for choice
– endless neon signs wired for our
of delight. I may not be built for speed
attention, the theme park overkill,
but they clearly are. Next day perched
the been-there, done-that. What a
on a platform at an elevation of 500ft
difference to have Jack and his friends
I channelled my inner child, held my
scrutinise this speck on the planet
breath and stepped off. What a ride.
under a microscope. They poured their
Zip-lining may not be an Olympic event
undiluted attention on the smallest of
yet but it should be. Securely harnessed
bugs, collected sticks and leaves and
to overhead cables we descended in
ran barefoot down the hills.
segments whizzing our way towards
Over fire-scorched marshmallows
five individual platforms along the
I let the boys in on next morning’s
way, stopping at each to admire the
plans. Cue the stampede and whoops
sumptuous view. It was certainly a
unique and eye-opening way to witness
the island’s natural side.
When the Spanish stumbled across
the Native Americans who lived here
back in 1542 they called Catalina
smoothie, watching the boys ping-pong
Island Pemú’nga – the place where
along the sands at Descansco Beach, I
the mountains emerge from the sea.
realised finding pleasure in the things
Early Spanish descriptions recall the
that don’t happen here is a large part of
‘graceful, easy’ style of its people.
the island’s appeal.
There’s no question the simple way of
Two Harbors campsite
on Catalina Island
On the ferry ride back, I eyed the
life resounds as much today as it did
boys huddled shoulder to shoulder
back then. Soundly dubbed the island
vying to glimpse a dolphin fin, rising
of romance, Catalina’s steady pace and
and falling, cutting through the inky
refreshing lack of pretension makes
blue Pacific. Good call. Facebook
such simplicity a virtue. Sipping a fruit
doesn’t come close.
CAMPING CATALINA
Catalina has five campsites, four in the backcountry (outside of Avalon) and
one in Avalon, plus a scattering of ‘primitive’ sites mainly accessible by private boat.
Equipment is available for rent (sleeping bags, groundsheets, tents, propane lanterns
and stoves). Fees for camping are assessed per person rather than per site. There are
gear hauls available to the Two Harbors campsite on each Catalina Express arrival.
Prepare for any type of weather – pack for hot sun and for cold winds, and take bug
repellants and sunscreen. At remote sites campers are advised to come equipped with
a VHF radio for medical emergency calls. All sites require permits and have restrictions.
Camping permits are issued upon check-in at Two Harbors Visitor Services or in Avalon
at Hermit Gulch campsite or the Island Tour Plaza. Check-out time is 11am.
n Head online and visit ww.visitcatalinaisland.com/camping-and-boating for details.
38 Camping & Caravanning February 2017