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The Southern Channel Islands

Santa Catalina, San Clemente, San Nicolas and Santa Barbara Islands are not on the strict east-west axis as are their northern counterparts. They are positioned northwest-to-southeast, almost exactly 45 degrees off true north, a run parallel to their own coastline that is changing from the east-west shoreline below point conception to the north – south shoreline as it approaches the border into Mexico and Baja California. In order to find a counterpart to the southern islands’ position, it is necessary to enlarge one’s view of the geography to also include the Baja peninsula, climactically part of California, but nationally part of Mexico.

Breaking the Sonoran desert of southern California, Baja California, and into mainland Mexico and Arizona, are mountain chains formed by seismic faulting over hundreds of thousands of years. These mountains march towards the Pacific Ocean in their furthest-most western reaches, extending parallel to the islands up into the Santa Ana Mountains, southeast of Los Angeles. Out on the islands, Catalina has two main peaks that reach over 2,000 feet – the tallest on the islands. San Clemente’s main peak is 1,965 feet above sea level.