The World-Famous California Island You're Not Allowed To Visit

California is home to a wide range of stunning island locations. They even have their own "Ellis Island of the West" that you can check out. Some of the most beautiful islands in California lie in the Channel Islands National Park - a national park that's only accessible by boat. However, not all islands are welcoming to visitors.

One such island lies within the eight Channel Islands but outside the Channel Islands National Park (there are only five islands in the national park). San Nicolas Island used to be a home for Indigenous Chumash, Nicoleño, and Tongva peoples before a new owner took over, blocking access for many. So, who owns San Nicolas Island now, and why isn't it open to the public?

San Nicolas Island, One Of The World-Famous Channel Islands, Cannot Be Visited

As one of the eight Channel Islands in California, it's off-limits to tourists

Located 62 miles off the sunny coast of southern California, it's safe to say that San Nicolas Island is a remote place to visit. By contrast, you can visit California's beautiful Catalina Island within 20 miles of the mainland. However, this island's remote nature makes it an ideal base for the US Navy.

The US Navy has been responsible for San Nicolas Island since 1933, when President Hoover gifted the island to them for missile testing, among other military endeavors.

Little is known about this tiny island, which isn't surprising considering the owners! The Navy did lend the island to the Army during the Second World War, but other than that, it's a relatively secretive military base.

However, just because it's not open to visitors doesn't mean it's uninhabited. At any given time, around 200 military personnel are in San Nicolas. Considering the island's small size, that's quite a lot of people!

What Happens On San Nicolas Island?

This small military base can have a big impact!

As the US Navy runs San Nicolas Island, it's not always clear what's happening on the island, but some things are hard to hide, like missile tests.

Due to its remote nature, the island is ideal for testing powerful missiles and rockets before actively using them in combat. Weapons training seems to be the main purpose of this intriguing island, but there are also antennas and telecoms all around it.

An interesting fact about San Nicolas Island is that it's home to the second-largest runway in Ventura County after the Point Mugu base. This is likely because the naval carriers tend to be heavier with cargo than with people, necessitating the increased landing strip.

The Trinity test is one of the most famous weapons tests in history. This is the atomic bomb test that Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project team did before dropping it with catastrophic effects on Hiroshima and Nagasaki till today.

However, many people didn't know that San Nicolas Island was one of the proposed testing sites before they selected White Sands.

What Was San Nicolas Like Before The Navy Owned It?

Archeologists reckon that San Nicolas has been inhabited for around 10,000 years

Of course, the US Navy is not the original inhabitants of San Nicolas Island. Some archeologists have suggested that San Nicolas and the surrounding beautiful Channel Islands National Park, California's most exotic offshore destination, have been inhabited for around 10,000 years.

The primary inhabitants of San Nicolas specifically were the Nicoleño Native American people. Through internal island trading, the Chumash and Tongva people lived on San Nicolas island until 1835, when they were forced from the islands onto missions on the mainland. All except one lone woman who stood her ground until she was also taken in 1853.

Western explorers found the island in the early 1600s when a Spanish explorer named Sebastián Vizcaíno set upon it. Russian fur traders also found themselves visiting San Nicolas for the gray island foxes that were rampant on the island until they were brought to the point of near extinction.

Once the wild pigs on the island were hunted completely, the foxes thrived again. However, increasing car strikes from US naval vehicles are the new fear for these furry creatures, reducing their average lifespan by three years.

Since the Indigenous people of San Nicolas were expelled from their homes, the island has been a lighthouse, a ranch, and now a naval base.

Therefore, while there are many beautiful Channel Islands in Southern California that you can visit, San Nicolas Island is not one of them unless you sign up for the US Navy, although that seems a little extreme!