Los Angeles, the city of angels, the third largest metropolitan economy in the world, home to movie studios and perfect year round weather. Sometimes amid the hustle and bustle of city life it’s easy to forget that adventure is literally on LA’s doorstep. Surrounded by natural beauty, national parks, and perfectly preserved outdoor wonders. Whether by car, bike, ferry, train, helicopter or plane, within a few miles or minutes you can recharge and reconnect.
Packing three backpacks we headed out to the early ferry from San Pedro to Two Harbors on Catalina Island. We grabbed a few last minute supplies in town and caught the shuttle bus along the dirt roads and over the mountains across the island to Little Harbor. As we crested the first hill our mobile phones lost coverage and with it our stress seemed to disappear. The handcuffs of modern city life no longer bound us and we were free until our return trip the next day.
equipment list from our trip
- North Face Talus 4 tent
- North Face Furnace 35, Lynx 35, and Aleutian 20 (kids) sleeping bags
- Big Agnes sleeping pads
- Therm-a-rest compressible pillows
- Jetboil Genesis Stove and Jetboil 10” pan
- MSR Ceramic 2.5 liter pot
- GSI plates, bowls, utensils and cups
- GSI Halulite 1 quart kettle
- Assorted cooking tools
- Goal Zero Lighthouse Mini lanterns and Venture 30
- Luci Lanterns
- Hydrapak Expedition 8L water carrier
- Assorted head lamps
- Moonlence Camp Chairs (cheap and light)
What we ate
- Saturday Breakfast: I made vegan scones the day before and we brought them on the ferry and had them as extra snacks while camping.
- Saturday Lunch: Bagels with lox or sliced turkey and fresh fruit
- Saturday Dinner: Chicken sautéed in fresh vegan butter, olive oil, and fresh garlic, with a squash and zucchini ragout.
- Sunday morning coffee was pocket pourables from Verve and Kuju
- Sunday Breakfast: Vegan French toast with fresh fruit
- Sunday Lunch: in Two Harbors at Harbors Sands on the beach patio
For Saturday lunch the lox and turkey carried in a thin disposable cooler pack with a lunch box ice pack, it stayed cool and the leftovers were still fine the next evening when we got home. For Saturday dinner I froze the chicken the night before and carried it in an old lunch box cooler from Outdoor Reasearch, in camp I let it defrost in the bear box and it was mostly defrosted in time to cook dinner. I sliced the garlic and veggies in camp, and preseasoned the ragout with olive oil, salt and pepper and let it sit for an hour.
Gor Sunday breakfast I premixed the dry ingredients for the vegan French toast at home put it in a ziploc. I brought a 1 cup (8oz) carton of Almond Milk which was the exact amount need and added it to the dry ingredients in camp.