Surviving a nighttime visitor and other beginner backpacking adventures on Santa Rosa Island
SANTA ROSA ISLAND, Calif. — An unsettling sound rang out above the crash of waves onto a wild, lonely beach on Santa Rosa Island, part of the Channel Islands National Park, where my partner Emanuel and I had bedded down after an arduous 10-mile trek.
I was jolted awake. Again — the irate sound, like a rusty metal bucket scraping against rock. It seemed closer.
Emanuel heeded my nudge and investigated.
When he poked his headlamp-adorned head back in the tent, he broke the news: “I think we have a problem.
“There’s a 2,000-pound elephant seal outside our tent.”
There he was — a massive lump barely visible in the darkness. The ranger who had greeted us earlier that day hadn’t warned us about a possible pinniped encounter.
Not only was it our first night on the island, it was also my first time backpacking. I had never carried everything I needed to sustain me on my shoulders, let alone for five days. And I’d never considered what to do in the event of a seal invasion.
