Channel Islands National Park<\/a> or stop in at the visitor center (805) 658-5730 in Ventura Harbor at 1901 Spinnaker Drive.<\/p>\nTHE HIKE<\/h2>\n
Follow the beach at Cuyler Harbor to the east. The harbor was named after the original government surveyor in the 1850s. The beach around the anchorage was formed by a bight of volcanic cliffs that extend to bold and precipitous Harris Point, the most prominent landmark on San Miguel’s coast.<\/p>\n
At the east end of the beach, about 0.75 mile from anchoring waters, a small footpath winds its way up the bluffs. It’s a relatively steep trail following along the edge of a stream-cut canyon. At the top of the canyon, the trail veers east and forks. The left fork leads a short distance to Cabrillo Monument.<\/p>\n
You will be able to see the trail above the east side of the canyon. When you get to the top of the canyon the ranger station and pit toilet are straight ahead. Instead of going straight you can turn east. The trail ascends a short distance to the Cabrillo Monument. The Lester Ranch is a short distance beyond that.<\/p>\n
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer, visited and wrote about San Miguel in October 1542. While on the island he fell and broke either an arm or a leg (historians are unsure about this). As a result of this injury he contracted gangrene and died on the island in January 1543 and it’s believed (historians disagree about this, too) he was buried here. In honor of Cabrillo, a monument was erected in 1937.<\/p>\n
The right fork continues to the remains of a ranch house. Of the various ranchers and ranch managers to live on the island, the most well known were the Lesters. They spent 12 years on the island and their adventures were occasionally chronicled by the local press.<\/p>\n
When the Navy evicted the Lesters from the island in 1942, Mr. Lester went to a hill overlooking Harris Point, in his view the prettiest part of the island, and shot himself. Within a month his family moved back to the mainland. Not much is left of the ranch now. The buildings burned down in the 1960s and only a rubble of brick and scattered household items remain.<\/p>\n
Interested in more hikes near San Miguel Island? Check out HIKE the Channel Islands<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Miguel, westernmost of the Channel Islands, has much to offer the hiker, particularly if you join a ranger-guided hike. Eight miles long, four miles…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,98,99],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}