Bull Rush Canyon, Santa Catalina Island

Bull Rush Canyon, Santa Catalina Island appears on an 1893 topographical map of "The Island of Santa Catalina in part from the U.S. Coast Geodetic Survey." It is also shown on a map in The Islander on August 1, 1916. It is a watershed that lies parallel with Middle Ranch Canyon, between it and the Pacific. It is separated from Middle Ranch Canyon by a continuous high ridge known as Bull Rush Ridge. The head and central portions of the canyon have open glades and groves of oak, holly, willow, greasewood and cottonwood trees. It is here that the largest island oaks (Quercus tomentella) are found. Bull Rush Reservoir is a small reservoir along the road.

Ada Blanche Wrigley explored parts of Santa Catalina Island with a Geiger counter and found uranium.

BULL RUSH CANYON: “This canyon lies parallel with Middle Ranch Canyon and between the latter and the Pacific. It is separated from Middle Ranch Canyon by a continuous high ridge known as Bull Rush Ridge and from the Salta Verde by the Salta Verde Ridge. The head and central portions of the canyon consist of beautiful stretches of open, park-like glades densely clothed with tall grass and here and there extensive groves of oak, holly, cottonwood, willow and greasewood. It is here that the largest Quercus tomentella trees flourish, many individuals being 70 feet high with a spread of over 100 feet. Sections of this oak growth are frequent in which the trees are killed by an enveloping mass of poison ivy [oak] whose stems, like intertwining pythons, often reach a diameter of over 4 inches. The lower, or western, portion of the canyon consists of a steep, boulder-strewn gorge whose walls defy even the wild goat in finding a footing. Among the rocks in the narrow streambed are masses of gnarled and twisted willows, cottonwoods, oaks and Trask's Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpiis Traskiae).” [Millspaugh & Nuttall Flora of Santa Catalina Island (1923)].