September 26th - 28th | Santa Rosa Island, 2-Night Stay at the CSU Field Station

Santa Rosa Island - Two-Night Stay at CSU Field Station
Island Packers out of ventura harbor, Hiking, Swimming, Tidepooling, & Nature Journaling
with 4Points Expeditions

Water Canyon Beach, Santa Rosa Island

Join the California Nature Art Museum for a two-night trip to Santa Rosa Island on Friday, September 26th 2025 - Sunday, September 28th 2025. Guests will be staying in the dorms at the island’s field station, which cannot typically be accessed by the general public.

Santa Rosa Island is the second largest island in Channel Islands National Park. At 50,000+ acres of gorgeous landscape, this unique island boasts an incredible history, varied flora and fauna, and a rugged interior with mountains, ocean views, secluded sandy beaches and endemic species found nowhere else on earth.

Throughout this trip, guests may enjoy fully-included, structured activities such as hiking, species identification, nature journaling, swimming, and travel tidepooling. For a more detailed itinerary, please see below:

Santa Rosa Pier, Santa Rosa Island

• Day 1

• Meet at Island Packers in the Ventura Harbor (1691 Spinnaker Dr #105B, Ventura, CA 93001) at 7AM.

• Depart Ventura Harbor at 8AM. The ride will be approximately 3-hours to Santa Rosa, where we will unload gear as a group.

• After a 5-minute walk to the CSU Field Station, we’ll explore the dorm-style field station (which includes bathrooms, showers, and a full kitchen in our building), organize rooms and belongings, enjoy our picnic lunches (must be pre-packed and self-provided; all other meals will be provided for you), and have a brief orientation.

• After packing up our day packs, we begin our first short hike to the Main Ranch house, schoolhouse, and national park headquarters to learn about the history of the island. The hike to the Main Ranch is 0.8 miles with 50ft elevation gain, and should be considered easy in difficulty.

• After this hike, we will take some time to leisurely explore Becher’s Bay - a beautiful, wind-swept, white-sand beach.

• At the end of the day, we will return to the field station to enjoy a home-cooked dinner, and then head down to the beach for some final ocean views, the sunset, and the stars.

• Day 2

• Breakfast served: 8:00AM-9:00AM

• With a (provided) picnic lunch packed for later, we will begin our hike to view one of the rarest pines in the world - the Torrey pine. Torrey pines occur naturally in only two locations in the world — on the cool, fog-drenched, northeastern slopes of Becher’s Bay - Santa Rosa Island, and just north of San Diego. The hiking route we will follow allows us to view the pines along the flat Coastal Road. This is a 1.4 mile round-trip walk with 350ft elevation gain, and should be considered moderate.

• If guests are interested, our group may split into two groups, with one group completing the 6.5-mile (total) out-and-back trail with 650ft elevation gain that goes to the top of the mountain. This hike should be considered moderate. The other group will remain for unstructured art and leisure time.

• We will enjoy a quiet lunch in the pines before our return journey and dinner. Since there are few visitors to Santa Rosa it is not unusual to feel like you have the entire island almost to yourself. We may see only a few other people during our entire adventure in this remarkable landscape.

• Guests will enjoy a home-cooked dinner, hot chocolate, and another sunset walk to the beach for stargazing in this perfect location, which is far from any ambient light.

• Day 3

• Breakfast served: 8AM-9AM

• After breakfast, we will pack away our belongings and clean-up the field station as a group.

• During this final day, we will again have the option to split into two groups. One group will enjoy unstructured art and leisure time near the field station and on the beach, while the other will embark on a final hike to Cherry Canyon.

• The Cherry Canyon hike winds through a beautiful canyon with a seasonal creek, and eventually ends at a coastal terrace with sweeping views of Becher's Bay. We will make a loop out of this hike by returning to the pier via either the coastal road or trail. The hike distance is 3.5 miles roundtrip with 450ft elevation gain, and should be considered moderate.

• To wrap-up, we will take a final walk along the coast to explore the tidepools, bird watch, take photos, nature-journal, eat a final (provided) picnic lunch, and just generally be at peace before departing the island.

• At 2:30 pm, our group will make its way back to the pier to prep for loading our gear into the boat as a group, and begin our journey home.

• Guests will arrive back at Ventura Harbor between approximately 6:30-7:00PM.
  
  

What’s Included:

• Accommodations, which is dorm-style, communal sleeping. Sleeping areas have bunk beds, and sleeping on a top bunk may be necessary for a handful of participants depending on total attendance.

• Meals, which include communal eating & clean-up. Meals are hosted in a communal setting, and willing participants may be asked to help with food prep and clean up.

• Round trip island boat fare, and any transportation using the on-island vehicles.

• Certified and highly experienced guides and facilitators.

The ticket price is $900 for (CalNAM) Members and $975 for (CalNAM) Non-Members, per participant, with all on-island meals (other than Day 1 - Lunch) included. Travel to and from the island (through Islands Packers, which will depart from and return to Ventura Harbor) is also already included in the ticket price. Advance registration is required, 15 attendees max. This trip is best suited for ages 10yrs+. Gratuity for the tour guides is not included in ticket price, and should be considered each participant’s own discretion.

Please note, the field station requires guests to leave the facility in the condition which it was first found, and in many ways, should be viewed as an adult “summer camp” facility. As such, participants will be asked to help with final clean-up chores such as cleaning the kitchen, the dining room, the bathrooms, emptying the trash, etc. before leaving. While final cleaning is a very small part of the experience, everyone should feel comfortable and ready to participate!

CANCELLATION POLICY:

• May 1st-June 15th, 2024: Full Refund

• June 16th-July 15th, 2024: 50% Refund

• July 16th-August 15th, 2024: 25% Refund

• August 15th: Non-Refundable

Tickets can be purchased below:

Did you know that a portion of your ticket price can be written off as a tax donation? Please contact Membership & Development Assistant Karen Hanson at karen@calnatureartmuseum.org for more information.