Reporting by Cheri Carlson, Ventura County Star
The remote Channel Islands National Park will open a campground near Prisoners Harbor on the north side of Santa Cruz Island at the end of the month.
Santa Cruz, one of the park’s five islands, sits roughly 20 miles off Ventura. A short walk from the Prisoners Harbor pier, the campground marks the first added to the island in decades, officials said. Plans call for the site’s six campsites to open Aug. 27.
Park Superintendent Ethan McKinley called the spot small and thoughtfully designed.
“Visitors will fall asleep listening to the gentle rhythm of cobblestones rolling in the surf,” McKinley said, in a statement released Aug. 17.
Creating connections on Santa Cruz Island
The campground also creates a point-to-point backpacking trip, allowing visitors to hike between Scorpion Anchorage and Prisoners Harbor. Santa Cruz also has camping at Scorpion, the largest campground in the park as well as Del Norte, a campground in the remote backcountry. Prisoners Harbor will bridge those two options, officials said.
Dave Edwards, with the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, led teams of volunteers on multiple trips to build the campground. Work initially started four years ago, but after some starts and stops, picked up again earlier this year, Edwards said.
In all, more than two dozen volunteers helped on the campground, which Edwards called a great spot, one with big, shady oak trees and sounds of the ocean. Volunteers will return soon to help clear a nearby trail, he said.
Campsites at the Prisoners Harbor campground can accommodate up to four people and cost $15 per site per night. Reservations will open on Aug. 18 and can be made at recreation.gov.
More information about the park is available at nps.gov/chis.
Editor’s note: Star photographer Juan Carlo volunteered with the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Council to help build the campsites.
Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star.
