we were supposed to leave at 2pm. that was decided to be the latest we could hit the road and still make it to our campground, about 4 hours away, before dark.
i got off work at noon so i could have us all packed and ready to leave the minute michael arrived home, supposedly right at 2pm.
it was a rush to get everything ready, even with the extra time i had due to michael getting home a full hour late. it’s amazing how much stuff we have to bring for just two nights in the forest. or maybe, it’s amazing how much stuff we think we have to bring for just two nights in the forest.
we dusted off our backpacks which hadn’t seen the light of day since our two months in europe. one bag was for our clothes and the other for our food (bread for pb&j’s, hotdog buns, bananas, apples, goldfish crackers, s’more supplies, canned corn, packets of oatmeal, and dog food). we also had a cooler for the food that needed to stay cold (hot dogs and condiments, pb and jelly).
then we also had sleeping bags, the tent and a tarp, two dogs, two gallon jugs of drinking water, paper towels, wet wipes (the absolute best thing i packed), a lantern and gas, a camping stove…
just a lot of stuff.
michael got home at 3pm and we were on the road by 3:15. we tried to beat the sunset, but it was just not possible. sadly we got to the campgrounds afterdark. since the couple in charge of the campground were already in for the night, we just chose a site based on whichever one we felt like choosing. we got our tent set up as fast as we could using the last tiny bit of dusk and michael’s headlights. then we settled in and unpacked our food for dinner.
then michael asks me which pot of ours i brought. ummmm… pot? what pot?
yeah, i didn’t pack a pot. how were were going to eat the canned corn he asked?
ummm, could we just warm it over the fire in the can?
well, you brought a can opener, right?
yummmmm… can opener? what can opener?
ooops. the canned corn came back with us to LA and is sitting in the cupboard right now.
so it was just hot dogs for dinner, cooked on sticks over the open fire, and s’mores for dessert.
i really didn’t miss the corn at all. that’s not to say i didn’t REALLY miss the oatmeal we also couldn’t cook in the freezing mornings. sigh.
the rest of the night we played with my camera and flashlights…
here are michael’s masterpieces:
love
peace
money
and the signature of the artist
after a very cold night curled up in our sleeping bags (mine contained me, michael’s contained michael, meeka, and mckinley), the next morning we got up, had a breakfast of banana and goldfish crackers (missing our oatmeal) and then got ready to tackle the trail of a hundred giants, which we could walk to from our campside (redwood meadows).
on our way out we stopped to pay the campground leader (a man and his wife from los angeles who had been living in the woods for the past 4 months — i cannot imagine.) the $9/night fee. at this time he informs us that there is a reservation on our specific site, for that night and we’ll need to move all our stuff to any other site except the one we chose. bum luck.
so we walk back to camp and start packing. that was not on the agenda. it was a bummer.
we get all our stuff back into the car to drive down to a different plot, and click-click-click, michael’s car battery is dead. oops again.
i guess using his headlights the night before had not been too wise. we thought we’d worked quickly enough that it wouldn’t be a problem. we thought wrong.
so we went back to campgroundman with our city-heads hung and admitted we were stuck. he was nice enough to tell us it happens all the time (not sure if that is true or not) and drive over in his truck to give us a jump.
once camp was moved to our new site, we headed back out for the trail of 100 giants, take 2.
it was a perfect hike to take our out of shape, short-legged, city dogs (and our out of shape, short-legged, city selves). it was nice and easy and shaded (it was in the 90’s during the day) and beautiful. here are some pictures from our hike:
mckinley took to the forest like a fish to water. she loved, loved, loved chasing any and every living thing she came upon (including a herd of wild cows).
trying to convince the chipmunks they should really come on down
the trail is named for the HUGE, GIANT, MASSIVE trees like this:
the sequoias and redwoods are, for sure, giants and have been there hundreds and hundreds of years (around 1,500 years in this area, but there are others in the park that are even twice as old!)
here are michael, meeka, and mckinley posing in front of one to give you some scale.
there was also a tree you could climb inside!
michael jumped right in
but meeka needed some coaxing
but she came around and we got all four of us in at once with room to spare for a few more.
and in case anyone was wondering why they call them redwoods… exhibit A:
that’s all for now… more to come tomorrow!
(dome rock, our campsite, s’mores, and s’more pretty views to come…)
