Day 2 continued
..After burning up tons of calories, it was time to head back down the hill to town and get some lunch..
..The fountain in Avalon..
..This lunchtime (and with the start of the hard trail tomorrow morning), is when I made a very unsettling discovery..
Electronics on this trip
..By now, and over the course of the last day or so I had now used up most of my batteries for my camera and needed to charge cell phone and check in on my email messages..
..As I do on all of my offroad trips, I brought along my little 10" netbook which I have setup with minimal usb cords for my electronics to charge solely off of it..I also have a wireless broadband card which eliminates the need of finding a spot
..This way while I am doing my emails, I can upload my pictures and make return calls as needed, be charging my laptop, camera batteries, and cell phone all at the same time while just using 1- 110 receptacle...A time and space saver when these items are needed for these trips..
A place to charge the Electronics on the Island?
..The first thing that came to mind was to see if there was a Starbucks on the Island or somewhere similar which had multiple receptacles and possibly local hi-speed wifi..
..There is no Starbucks on the Island but there is a coffee house or two..
..There is wifi available in Avalon for a fee with multiple hotspots and this is also available for Hotel guests..
http://gateway.catalinawifi.com/index.html
..Now trying to find a place to charge my electronics got kind of interesting..Most of the places where you would go to eat will let you plug in and charge while you are eating although your item being charged may be across the room from you at the time..
..These buildings on the Island were mostly built decades ago so multiple outlets were not needed at the time and they are at a premium in these retail stores.
..The people on the Island everywhere I went were very friendly and helpful in finding me a spare plug on this trip however, there is another option when looking for somewhere to plug in..
..There are a number of charging stations on the Island such as the Drug Sore and Liquor store to name a few where you can just drop off your cell phone while you are walking around Avalon..They charge $5 for this service and from what I could gather, it would be a benefit if you brought your own usb cord just to be safe..
My Discovery..
..I found myself at the Catalina Cantina for lunch and started to pull out my laptop and get to business..This is when I discovered in my haste I had brought everything I needed and normally carry except, the main power supply for the laptop..:banghead:
..Without this 1 item, I could not charge any of my equipment since my cords were all usb and which only left me the option of heading over to a charging station and paying $5 for each item I was charging and that could get expensive just with the cell phone and my 3 camera batteries which I would need to re-charge multiple times on this trip..
..My first thought was to try and find some kind of computer store on the Island where I could possibly purchase another power supply just for my laptop..With this being said, I was on an Island so this would not only be a needle in a haystack search but it could be extremely pricey..
..I did however find a Radioshack on the Island which I later found out many of the locals didn't even know it was there..
..It was going to run over $100 for a power cord for the laptop but I did find a power supply for $25 which was corded for my phone that would charge my cellphone and it also had a usb cord plug in on the unit itself which would work out for charging my camera batteries..
..This would workout ideal for this trip and this item is a keeper which will be in my go bag for future trips...The laptop still had it's full charge at this time and would only be used for email communications when in populated areas on this trip otherwise, it was now just dead weight..
The afternoon
..I now have everything electronically I can have charged up and including myself with the lunch I had at the Cantina and off I went again..
..My plan now was to head back up the hill toward the campground, get some more information from the Nature center, drop off my bike at the campground, then head up the moderately steep 1.7 mile Hermit Gulch hiking trail on foot in hopes of watching the Sunset and catching the view of both sides of the Island from up there..
..On the way up I stopped off at the Bird Park which is now apartments but it still holds the old Bird Avery on the property...This Avery was the steel structure of the Original Casino, (Gazebo, bandstand, skate rink. etc.) where the Casino/Theater which was built in the 20's now stands..
..Mrs. Wrigley had it moved up to it's current location and turned it into a Bird Avery which later the birds were relocated, but it was at one time one of the largest Avery's in the world...
..Before I forget, other interesting facts about Catalina Island can be found here..
http://www.colapublib.org/history/catalina/faq.html
..On the way on up the hill to the Nature Center I ran into a buck which I was probably about 30 feet from..
..Afterwards I did make it over to the Nature Center and got to enjoy the many informative exhibits they had this visit and also received more up to the minute info reports of other hikers that were returning from their trips and stopping into the center..
..Small representation of the information found at the Nature center..
..Still setting the fast pace I've kept up for the last couple of days I made it over to the campground where I ran into the Ranger and informed him that I was heading up the Hermit Gulch Trail in a few minutes and his response was, "Still energetic are we?"..
..As I was swapping stuff from my bike he mentioned in passing that it is a moderately steep trail and if I wanted to do the loop around and back down thru the Botanical gardens (easier way back down about 4 miles total), there was still enough light left but if the Marine Layer moved back in like it did last night it would be a very dark and low visibility trail in a hurry...
..Somewhere between my campsite and the beginning of the trail his words and the little voice in my head got the better of me and this hike would have to happen at another time..
..My little voice kept telling me I better settle down and start making plans for the trail ahead before it got dark so I headed over to the Rangers station and told him I was had returned without really leaving because I needed to start planning the next few days trip out..
..He asked if I had made reservations for the campgrounds I was going to stay at while in the interior and I told him from what I had found it was a pay as you go kinda thing..Wrong..
..Luckily though, I was able to make and pay for my reservations for the other campgrounds on the Island on the spot and online from the Hermit Gulch Campground office.
..Not heading up on trail for that hike paid off and it gave me my general direction of travel for the next three days..
..Although the Hermit Gulch and Two Harbors campground (other end of Island and no CIC discounts) are owned by a different company, it was nice to see you could get info and book thru them for the CIC owned campgrounds on the Island and also get the CIC discount applied..BTW, the discounts were for half price..
List of Campgrounds
http://www.catalinaconservancy.org/index.php?s=visit&p=campsites
..The TWO HARBORS and HERMIT GULCH Campgrounds are NOT Conservancy owned campsites and are NOT eligible for membership discounts.
..and if you happen to have a Birthday and want to head to the Island, there are plenty of discounts including the trip over for free and food to name a few which can be found here..Be sure to check all of the boats for the discounts..
http://www.catalinachamber.com/specials/birthdaycatexp
..Now that I'm at least booked for camping for the next few days and it's getting dark, it's time to head down the hill to town for a carb and protein load up as tomorrow will be a long day starting with a trail that is about 10-12 degree's straight climb uphill for 3.2 miles if I'm ready for it or not..
..After dinner (and as after most meals I had on the Island), it was time to ride the bike uphill and on a full stomach..I took note of this to remind myself in the morning to be careful of what I eat and how much since I would have at least 14 miles ahead of me before I would reach the next nights campground..
..On the way back to camp I was pretty proud of myself as my continual exercise with the bike over the last couple of days had paid off and I was now able to ride 3/4's of the way to camp..
..I also crossed paths with huge herds of deer this evening that were heading down to the golf course from the hills..I saw a Large Doe and Buck which would make the buck I pictured earlier look like a dwarf...
..Needless to say, no deer stumbled over my tent that night and I was able to get a good nights sleep...I think without putting the pressure on myself of having to be up and or at certain landmarks at a given time the next day helped with the good nights sleep..
For tomorrow, all I needed to do was get up, trek 14 plus miles thru the hills to camp, and be off the trail and at a established campground a 1/2 hour before Sunset..(It's a rule)