Sidebar: Catalina Island's Silver Peak Trail

Turn of the century botanist-poet Blanche Trask took up residence on the subtropical island in 1897 and after the tourists had abandoned the then tent city of Avalon for the winter months she did what few men or women then did.

Hitching up the layers of skirts and petticoats, she trekked into the “Interior”, the area beyond the hills pushing Avalon against the sea, hiked up to “the heights so full of mystery and beauty, seldom seen by any”. She hiked through canyons, across meadows and over mountains to the low lying double exposed isthmus town of Two Harbors. She kept going to the northern tip of the island. Today, the 37 mile Trans-Island Trail takes visitors from Avalon to the West End, which remains undeveloped and untamed. When not on buffalo trails or the few dirt roads existent on the island, hikers are scaling fire breaks, most of which cut straight up and drop straight down thousands of feet at unbelievable grades. The Silver Peak Trail that follows the spine of the island affords 360 degree The-Hills-Are-Alive-With-The-Sound-Of-Music views for almost ten inspiring miles.