El Lobo

Hike to Lobo Canyon on Santa Rosa Island in Channel Islands National Park Southern California

Lobo Canyon hike Santa Rosa Island

In September 2016 on Santa Rosa Island, scientists unearthed a roughly 13,000-year-old, fully intact mammoth skull—tusks and all. The region of the island where this significant discovery was made is also where feral horses roam airy pastures, released after cattle operations halted here in 1998. Embark on a 13-mile (round-trip) hike that takes you across this part of Santa Rosa Island’s interior, down a canyon, and along a spectacular coastline of cliffs, coves, and tide pools. The path delivers you to the sea mouth of Lobo Canyon, a steep passage of sculpted sandstone, verdant plant life, and a spring-fed creek draining to the Pacific. From the campground (see camping info below), make for the Vale & Vickers Ranch Complex near the pier, a testament to the island's 150-year legacy of sheep and cattle ranching. You’ll head west on Smith Highway, a dirt road climbing into grassy highlands rolling north to Carrington Point and bordered to the south by Windmill Canyon. This is where you might spy free-range horses.

After a long stretch exposed to sun and wind, the road dives into Lobo Canyon and links to a narrow footpath leading 1.5 miles to sea. Marvel at the lushness and vivid mash-up of flora at canyon bottom: moss-covered oaks and toyon; succulents and wildflowers; cactus growing on a boulder above cattails. The geography of Lobo astounds even more. In sections, wind and water have sculpted sandstone and siltstone bedrock into intricate shapes, including honeycomb patterns called tafoni. (Don’t miss a lateral trail about two-thirds in, exploring a slot canyon.) At the coast, continue on a sandy path westward for 0.5 mile to reach a magnificent cove at the mouth of Cow Canyon. Stratified white-orange cliffs rise above wave-battered rock shards tinted with guano and green algae. From here, scrambling up the closest ridge leads you to a jeep path running west of Lobo and roughly parallel. Follow it south for two miles to reunite with Smith Highway near the trailhead.

TIPS: If winds are extreme, you might be better off returning via Lobo Canyon. Hikers can sometimes hitch a truck ride to the canyon trailhead when naturalists lead guided tours there.

CAMP: The island has only one established campground, located 1.5 miles south of the pier, and situated in Water Canyon, just a few hundred yards inland from the beaches of Bechers Bay. The camp has 15 sites—each with a wooden wind shelter, picnic table, and food storage locker (owing to the thievish island fox)—plus an impressive solar-powered outhouse with warm water and an outdoor sink basin. Reserve a site.

Book boat passage to Santa Rosa through Island Packers, the park's only concessionaire, which will ferry passengers to the island two or three days a week. Schedule and fares on their site. No dogs.

Trending Stories NorCal

View all Stories
  1. Field of Light at Sensorio in Paso Robles

    Light This Way

    Hidden in the bucolic hills of Paso Robles lies one of the greatest light shows on earth. The lighted art exhibition, Sensorio, is as if the rainbow magic of the aurora borealis was plucked from the sky and planted in the fields.

    View
  2. Bikers and walkers on the Bay Area Ridge Trail with the Golden Gate Bridge behind them

    National Park City Walk

    See San Francisco the way locals do by hiking the Presidio, a national park right in the city! Wooded trails, secluded beaches, and epic views of the Golden Gate Bridge feature on this 5.5-mile out-and-back on the Bay Area Ridge Trail. It’s a lovely slice of the City by the Bay.

    View
  3. Bucks Up!

    Come on in, the water is beautiful. Whether you like swimming, kayaking, stand-up paddling, or heading out on a bigger boat, Bucks Lake is a high mountain haven that’s easy to access, blissfully uncrowded, and surrounded by sandy beaches, picnic areas, pines, and aspens.

    View
  4. Surfboards and tents for shade are set up on the beach at Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area in the Swim Lagoon Area

    Switchbacks and Swimming Holes

    Hike hard, play hard! This 7-mile out-and-back in Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area is a great workout with payoff vistas and a relaxing post-hike picnic and dip in the water.

    View

Trending Stories SoCal

View all Stories
  1. Bear Hug

    This 5.5-mile loop through Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park explores one of the newest segments of the acclaimed Bay Area Ridge Trail, one redolent with trees ranging from madrone and manzanita to buckeye and blue elderberry (with a bubbly post-hike bonus).

    View
  2. Two kayakers on Upper Klamath Basin on tour with Sky Lakes Wilderness Adventures

    Zen & the Art of Kayaking

    It’s the most meditative and relaxing experience you’ll ever have on a kayak. Yes, you read that right, a Zen experience on a kayak. It all happens in beautiful Klamath County when you head out on a guided tour with Sky Lakes Wilderness Adventures.

    View
  3. A Rose in the Pines

    A crackling fire, a bottle of wine, a bubbling Jacuzzi tub with a waterfall … now the big question: Marvin Gaye tunes or not? In the morning (ahem) it's breakfast in bed and a leis

    View
  4. Alex Villicana, Villicana Winery and Re:Find Distillery

    Locals' Feature: Alex Villicana

    Tech booms, AI revolutions, okay that’s all fine, but you wanna know what else is really cool? Being a pioneer in a world-famous industry that—in Paso Robles—remains solidly down to earth. When Alex Villicana established Villicana Winery in 1993, he clearly had grape expectations...

    View