Cottonwood Beach Trail

As you approach Cottonwood Beach from the road, you’ll see a wooden sign letting you know you’ve arrived. The trail down to the beach is a good example of a “road less traveled,” so you’ll have to use your observation skills to find the main route. Do your best to walk only on trails. This area is home to a diversity of plants and the hiking boot can be their biggest enemy. Tread lightly! You can hike in from the top, or for a more gentle route, walk down the road to where it crosses the bottom of the ravine. A slightly longer, but less steep route can be found there.

Obtain your free Hiking Permit online or at the Conservancy House on Clarissa before leaving Avalon. Also, be sure to review Cautions and Policies before heading out on your adventure.

Cottonwood Beach is an excellent example of a windblown, scenic coast and like much of Catalina, gives the visitor a glimpse into what California looked like before European settlement. Cottonwood was home to Native American Tongva tribes long before the Spanish and Europeans “discovered it.”

Notice how the habitat changes the minute you get a view of the coast from the inner island. Wind, fog and salt air combine to modify the habitat and favor grasses and smaller, hardy plants. The shift to more of an open-country landscape favors a different suite of wildlife and plant species. Watch for red-tailed hawks, American kestrels and North American bison, all of which favor open grassland habitats.

Cottonwood Beach and the other nearby beaches on Catalina are some of the few intact dune habitats remaining in Southern California. Dune plant species, such as sand verbena (Abronia maritima) with bright magenta flowers and fleshy green leaves, salt grass (Distichlis spicata), and alkali heath (Frankenia salina), a low shrub with pretty pink flowers are species that can handle the high salinity and occasionally blowing abrasive sand that characterize the beach areas. Another species commonly found on the beach is the invasive sea rocket (Cakile martima), a member of the mustard family with fruits that are shaped like little rocket ships and disperse well in the waves.

Here you will find a small waterfall that runs during the rainy season when there is enough runoff.