[CINC] Santa Rosa July 4th Trip Report...

[Joel E. Justin]

What a glorious 4-day weekend on Santa Rosa. The trip across on Thursday was unbelievably calm. I was thinking it and Captain Alex actually said over the PA, "Did anyone bring waterskis?". Lots of private boaters were already staking their claims to favorite anchorages - Valley, Alberts, Coches Prietos, Willows - along the south-side of Santa Cruz. We also saw a small pod of Risso's near Gull Rock milling about. Upon arrival to SRI, I led a small group of very engaged day hikers on the Cherry Cyn loop.
 
On Friday, I was met by 21 of the 39 campers at the fuel building for the Lobo Cyn hike. They were prepared to hike the whole round-trip, but Derek was on-island and offered to help with a shuttle, and since there were no CIA flights on Friday, I was able to do it in two Excursion trips (my "shuttle limit") and leave the Excursion at the top of the hill above Lobo. The group stayed together as we hiked towards the north coast. We started off in a misty fog, but by the time we were half way down the canyon, the sun was breaking thru and by the time we reached the coast, we were in full sun. There was a gentle breeze (5-10 kts) with gentle seas. Folks spread out between Lobo and Cow Cyns for lunch. I was about halfway to Cow Cyn eating when a couple of guys from a larger group came up to tell me their friend had slipped on the rocks, cut his knee open, and they were having a hard time getting the bleeding to stop. By the time I got back to him, he was well bandaged - several gauze pads with a tee shirt tied around for compression. I had him sit for a bit with his leg up and eat his lunch while I called Mark. We agreed we would try to hike up the hill to the west of the cyn mouth. It was a steep climb, but I scouted the way and the camper slowly made it to the top. There we were created by a spectacular view while we waited about 20 minutes for Mark to arrive. Mark assessed the wound and recommended he get to an ER for proper care and stitches. Unfortunately, it was going to cost about $950 to "buy" a plane flight. Being a young kid a year out of college, he initially declined due to the cost. But in the end. after Mark took him to housing to call his parents, he changed his mind. I learned this on my second shuttle back from Lobo when I saw the plane land. I was glad to see he was going to get proper care.
 
On Saturday, I had 12 campers join me for a SE Anchorage, Skunk Point, East Point hike (about 14 miles all tolled). They all hiked with me to Skunk Point where we ate lunch together. Just as we finished lunch, the skies cleared and we had beautiful sunshine the rest of the day. 5 of them continued on with me around Skunk Pt. to East Point and back to the CG. Rounding Skunk Pt, there is no prettier view that a mile+ long white sand beach with gentle waves washing ashore and a spectacular island landscape behind it. AND NO PEOPLE! I'll be none of you SoCal beach-goers had that experience this weekend!
 
On sunny Sunday, Bill Weinerth led a group of about 10 day visitors on a Torrey Pines hike. Because IPCO wasn't going to Prisoner's on the way home, it gave folks about 30 minutes more on the island (4 hours total) which is plenty of time to do the Torrey Pines hike. In fact, the Islander got back from San Miguel about 45 minutes early, so the 15 SMI campers were able to get off and get a quick taste of SRI too! With the other day visitors scattering to do their own thing, I decided to hike down the beach to Black Rock. After a little rock scrambling, I found a beautiful secluded pocket beach to eat lunch before climbing up to the top and back the Coastal Road.
 
Upon arriving back at the Harbor (after the requisite visit to Painted Cave), the young man who injured his knee was there to greet his friends. He was bandaged up but walking and on the mend. I chatted with him for a minute to see how he was getting along. He was a very humble young man and very courteous. He was thankful for all the help he got from everyone on the island and whole-heartedly agreed he made the right decision to get his injury tended to. He ended up with 4 internal and 20 external stitches (yikes, it was a bigger cut than I imagined!). His parting comment to me was that he was going to schedule another SRI trip so he could finish the trip he started. I hope he's on a trip I lead, but if not, one of you will be fortunate to have him as one of your campers!
 
Joel...
 
 
 		 	   		  
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