Comment

Comment by Winston Walker on November 23, 2010 at 8:04pm

Laurene, I noticed entire families camping out on Santa Cruz Island with children as young as 5-6 years old, along with school and church groups. They all were enjoying themselves on the island.

Comment by Laurene on November 23, 2010 at 10:48am

Hi Winston, I'm not sure if I'm ready to take 2 small kids across the Santa Barbara Channel. I think we'll wait a few years before going, but it's definitly in the plans. Sounds like you have the next couple of years planned out. I thought I was organized planning a year ahead. (Not very much into Walk-ins or first-come first-serve, too afraid I'll end up with no place to sleep.) Anyway, I look forward to watching the other 2 videos.

Comment by Winston Walker on November 22, 2010 at 8:16pm

Laurene, the trip to the Channel Islands is well worth the effort crossing the the Santa Barbara Channel. I'm going back again around the end of September 2011 for another 3 days, taking I hope more people with me. After the island multiple island visit, this time I'm considering sightseeing the town of Ojai. In 2012, Plus I'm thinking about going back to Acadia National Park, Mt. Desert Island, Maine.

Comment by Laurene on November 21, 2010 at 4:30pm

Great video Winston! You've inspired me to look into going to the island(s). I enjoyed the whole video and thought that the visitor center video excerpt was very informative as well as your narration. Thanks for sharing!

Comment by Winston Walker on October 11, 2010 at 9:13pm

I like the questions!!!
The Chumash have survived on the mainland of California. I guess parts of the Indian Nation are doing well with the proceeds from their Chumash Casino near Solvang.

The six day trip was split into two parts: the 3-day campout on Santa Cruz Island followed by touring Solvang in the wine country and sightseeing the hills above Santa Barbara.
Since I did not need to stay in a luxury hotel, I choose the Motel 6 as my mainland base camp mainly a place to sleep upon arrival from Colorado. The plan was to use the low cost motel to store my extra gear that I was not taking to the island, such as extra changes of cloths and items I needed for the driving tour of Ventura, Solvang and Santa Barbara. I traveled from Colorado via United Airlines to LAX with a shuttle to Oxnard AIrport where I picked up a rental car. Almost everything I needed for the six day stay in California was packed in a duffel bag weighting about 50 pounds which include my full, 45 pound backpack and and extra clothing and misc stuff. I bring along a smaller backpack for items I needed on the driving part of the six day tour. Initially, there were other folks coming, however vacations and other commitments causes everyone else to back out. The motel was to be used for all store any non-camping after returning from Santa Cruz Island. I'm going back again at the end of September 2011 with more people.

Will all my time constraints I had to release the videos raw and unedited with no hollywood makeup :)

Even I was surprised by the amount of stuff people carried with them to the island. The only requirement was to keep each pack or suitcase or container at or under 45 pounds. If the people did not mind hauling multi-times between the dock and campsites, it worked, as long as all stayed with in carry on guidelines of the Island Packers boat cruise company.
I took only my 45 pound backpack containing main camping gear and food along with a smaller fanny back to use for day hikes.

It was a fun experience on the island.

The first two videos mainly cover the island adventure and third to be released video will highlight my sightseeing tour of Solvang, Ca. I ran out of video memory so I could not show the hike to the Knapp Castle ruins in the hills above Santa Barbara, the Chumash paint cave, the dinning on the sands of Santa Barbara beach and the surfs on Ventura Beach. Those still pictures were taken with my digital camera.

I have more videos and still photos for other outdoor experiences on other photo.video web sites.

Comment by Sandra on October 11, 2010 at 2:05pm

Outstanding mini-documentary on what to expect if someone wants to go to the Channel Islands for a day hike or overnight. I was surprised to see people take so much stuff to their campgrounds!

This step-by-step guide to going to the Channel Islands covers everything from the mainland visitor center to the boat ride, from how the campers exit the boat to the walk to the campgrounds... The paved walkway is even fine for suitcases on wheels, I see. Great views from the cliffs...

It's a little long, yes, but very detailed account of what it's like to go to the Channel Islands. Long, yes, but I'm going to go right now and watch part 2.

Comment by Sandra on October 11, 2010 at 1:21pm

Out of curiosity, why did you stay for 6 days at the Motel 6 in Ventura, when you were going to be camping on the Channel Islands for a few days in the middle?

Comment by Sandra on October 11, 2010 at 1:09pm

Thanks for shooting the National Park video -- very interesting. Inspires me more to go there now.

Comment by Sandra on October 11, 2010 at 1:03pm

The Chumash culture, btw, was not "ultimately destroyed". They simply moved to the mainland, where many of them live today, following their cultural old ways.

Comment by Sandra on October 11, 2010 at 12:53pm

What a nice trip!