Catalina Island Hiking & Yoga Retreat

The Catalina Island Hiking & Yoga Retreat is a guided, five-day, four-night backpacking trip on the Trans Catalina Trail in California, paired with daily yoga and meditation. It suits beginners who want an active, outdoorsy yoga retreat in a supportive group, and it is plant-based and free of drugs and alcohol. Bigger Life Adventures leads it, the company founded by Carrie Hoffman and Zach Minnich, who walk the trail with the group.

What to Expect

Over four hiking days you cover about 42 miles of the Trans Catalina Trail, with roughly 9,600 feet of elevation change in total. The route passes ocean views, wildflowers, remote beaches and island wildlife, including foxes and bison.

- Day 1: Ferry from San Pedro to Avalon, then about 11 miles from Avalon to Black Jack.
- Day 2: About 8 miles from Black Jack to Little Harbor.
- Day 3: About 13 miles from Little Harbor to Parsons Landing.
- Day 4: About 8 miles from Parsons Landing to Two Harbors.
- Day 5: Ferry from Two Harbors back to San Pedro.

A gear haul service moves your main belongings between camps, so you hike with only a daypack. Mornings begin with gentle group warmups. After each day's hike there is restorative, yin-style yoga and meditation to stretch and recover. Evenings are for dinner, cold swimming, campfires, s'mores, songs and stories under the stars. Cell service is little to none, which is part of the point, though there are occasional chances to get online. Your guides always carry a satellite communication device for emergencies.

The retreat is substance-free. You do not need to identify as sober, but you do need to be open to a break from drugs and alcohol for its duration.

About Your Guides

Carrie Hoffman and Zach Minnich founded Bigger Life Adventures in 2018. They are a couple who share a love of travel, yoga, conscious living, food and healing in nature, and both are in long-term recovery, which shapes the plant-based, alcohol-free retreats they host. Their work blends trauma-informed yoga, vegan Ayurveda-inspired menus and purposeful adventure.

Carrie is a trauma-informed E-RYT500 yoga teacher, an 800-hour Ayurvedic Health Counselor, a Wilderness First Responder, an outdoor guide and a writer. She says yoga helped her quit drinking and reconnect with herself after years of addiction. Zach cooks the group's meals and is also a Wilderness First Responder. Together they have hiked this trail ten times and hosted nearly 100 yoga and adventure retreats around the world.

The Setting

You sleep at beach and hillside campsites along the trail, with sweeping views, campfires and sunsets. Campsite reservations and logistics are handled for you, and firewood is provided. Breakfast, dinner and snacks are fresh vegan meals, such as veggie and tempeh bowls, noodles in Thai peanut sauce and fire-roasted taco fixings, with coffee, tea and water throughout.

Most people fly into LAX, or into Long Beach, whose airport is closer to the ferry port. Arriving the night before and staying near Long Beach or San Pedro makes the morning ferry from Catalina Express in San Pedro easy to catch.

Before You Go

No prior backpacking experience is needed, but you should train beforehand and be ready for significant hills. The retreat is led in English.

Included are the guided trail experience, gear transport, ferry tickets to and from the island, campsites and firewood, plant-based breakfasts, dinners and snacks, daily yoga and meditation, and the guides. Bring your own tent, backpack and camping gear, plus hiking snacks. Two lunches are not included and can be bought at the Airport Cafe and at a cafe in Two Harbors.