Garden to Sky Hike T
he Garden to Sky hike is the most popular and accessible of Catalina Island’s many trails. The trailhead is to the right of the Wrigley Memorial in the Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden at the very top of Avalon Canyon. It’s a moderate hike of just 1.2 miles (2.4 miles round trip) to a ridgeline that rewards trekkers with a breathtaking 360-degree view of Avalon, the Pacific Ocean and San Clemente Island. Along the way, hikers will see Catalina’s plant life and the history of the Island’s formation.
Passing through the gate on the right side of the Wrigley Memorial, hikers can easily access this wide trail and admire the riparian ecosystem on the right. But don’t get too close. Poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) is mixed in with the other plants. Following the basic rule of “leaves of three, let it be” will protect against an itchy aftermath.
About 100 yards along the trail, hikers will see Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) trees with their fruit that can be made into wine and the Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), which grows into a tree on the Island but is only a shrub on the mainland. Please don’t pick the fruit!
Poison Oak
After the first switchback, the trail becomes steeper but rewards hikers with sweeping views of the Wrigley Memorial & Botanic Garden and the City of Avalon.
At the top, hikers are rewarded with views of Avalon and the Island’s ocean side. On a clear day, they can see from the San Gabriel Mountains on the east to San Clemente Island on the west. A great photo spot — Instagram your hike @Catalina_Conservancy.
At about the two-thirds mark on the trail, a rocky hillside displays the geologic history of Catalina’s East End. This portion of the Island was formed by a large magmatic mass, called a pluton, which intruded upwards into the Catalina schist and solidified. To the right, the vertical lines in the rocky hillside show a dike swarm, which is magma that shot up later through gaps in the solidified pluton. Notice the variety of color in the rock.
Around the second turn, hikers can see the war of invasive plants vs. native plants. The large shrublike flax-leaved broom (Genista) is crowding out native Sticky Monkey flower (Mimulus aurantiacus). Invasive grasses also line the trail, allowing little space for the native Nassella cernua grass, pictured above. The Conservancy’s habitat restoration invasive plant removal program is seeking to eliminate invasive plants, like this, to allow native plants to flourish.
After the fourth turn in the trail, a large Island scrub oak (Quercus pacifica) demonstrates the impact of deer feeding on Catalina’s native plants. On the mainland, the oak is more bush-like. On Catalina, it struggles to survive, and it grows taller because the deer browse on the lower branches.
125 Clarissa Ave., Avalon, CA 9070
310-510-2595
CatalinaConservancy.org
PHOTOS: JACK BALDELLI, LAURA MECOY
Sticky Monkey flower (Mimulus aurantiacus)
Climbing further, a vivid example of a microclimate on the hills is on the left of the trail. The north-facing slopes get less sun, so there is less evaporation, leading to thicker and greener vegetation than the southfacing slopes.