Cavern Point Loop

The Cavern Point Loop climbs from Scorpion Anchorage — the main visitor landing on Santa Cruz Island — to a coastal bluff with sheer sea cliffs dropping into the Santa Barbara Channel far below. Santa Cruz is the largest island in the Channel Islands National Park and contains the greatest ecological diversity, including 140 endemic plant species found nowhere else on Earth. The trail ascends through coastal scrub of giant coreopsis, buckwheat, and lemonade berry before reaching the windswept bluff top.

From Cavern Point, the views extend across the channel to the Santa Ynez Mountains on the mainland, south toward Anacapa Island, and along the island's rugged northern coastline where sea caves, rock arches, and wave-carved grottos punctuate the base of the cliffs. Island scrub jays — a separate species from mainland scrub jays, found only on Santa Cruz Island — are abundant and remarkably bold, approaching hikers at close range. California sea lions haul out on rocks below the bluffs and their barking carries up the cliff faces on still mornings. Dolphins and humpback whales are visible from the point during spring and fall migration. The island ferry from Ventura takes approximately 90 minutes.