Oh, where do I start with this wonderful place? Do I talk about how incredible the smells of the eucalyptus trees are? Do I talk about how nice it is to be completely disconnected from the outside world? Do I talk about the amazing stargazing? I don't even know. First off, we stayed in campsite 23, on the very far end of the upper loop (about 3/4s of a mile from Scorpion Anchorage). It was great! The upper loop has all of the group sites and thus everything is a more spread out. The trees aren't quite as dense in the upper loop as they are in the lower loop, but there's still plenty of shade. There are tons of cute little island foxes EVERYWHERE at both loops- we were worried that we wouldn't see any, but that concern was quickly put to rest. Some friends of ours said they heard the foxes making a lot of noise at night, but I personally didn't hear any. The Scorpion Canyon loop trail goes right past campsite 23, but we were never bothered by that. There are two large eucalyptus trees that we put our tent right under (even though the ranger told us not to- we're rebels like that) and it was great. Be prepared for approximately a million earwigs all over everything you own, though, especially your tent. Taking down our tent at the end of our trip (3 days, 2 nights) was definitely gag-inducing for me as a creepy-crawly-hater. I don't know if anything like permethrin would help combat that, or if that only really works on mosquitoes and the like. There's a picnic table with a fox box attached and a larger fox box off to the side at every site. USE THEM. The foxes and the birds love to use every place in the world as their bathroom, and if you don't put things away you'll end up with some nasty stuff on your things. The larger fox box was plenty big enough for our two large backpacking packs and all of our food and such. The doors also make a great windbreak for starting a campstove! Along those lines I would also highly recommend bleach wipes or something of the sort to help keep your table clean. I'm certainly not averse to a little "nature" in my food, but (excuse my bluntness) I draw the line at puddles of pee and fecal matter. We didn't have anything of the sort and I wish we had. You may also want to bring your own hand sanitizer, as the bathrooms both ran out while we were there and we only had a tiny bottle. There is a potable water spigot in the middle of the upper loop, and a two-stall pit toilet bathroom. It was definitely reasonably clean, albeit a bit smelly (but what can you really expect on an island with no real utilities?). I would call it the most glamorous and easy "backpacking" trip I've ever been on. If you treat the trip as though you'll be staying in the backcountry, you'll really enjoy yourself. If you go in expecting fully lit bathrooms with flush toilets and showers that get cleaned twice a day, you're going to have a bad time. Santa Cruz is a gorgeous island, and I'd love to go back. We loved the campground and its accessibility to several hikes, as well as the small visitor center and Scorpion Cove.

KEY POINTS: -think as though you're going into the backcountry, and pack accordingly -bring wipes for the tables (lots of fox poo) -keep as many belongings as possible in the fox boxes! -upper loop sites are more spread out, but there are fewer trees than in the lower loop