Camping Weekend

We headed out to the coast this weekend for a camping trip with some friends. Google maps gave us ridiculously terrible directions that landed us smack in the middle of murder road at 11:00 at night. Following Google blindly (never really a good idea), we started out on Hwy 1, made turn after turn onto progressively smaller roads (the last few had no lines) and finally found ourselves saying, "Do you think it could be down this gravel road?" We finally shook ourselves into reality and realized that Google had done us wrong. Just then, I remembered that I had printed out a brochure from the state park we were headed to and that it had a map at the back of it. Which promptly took us directly to our destination. Luckily Neil, Lindsey and Alec had headed up earlier in the day and so we arrived to find the campsite already prepared, a fire roaring and wine at the ready. Ahh, that's my kind of camping.

We stayed at Salt Point State Park which is about 18 miles north of Jenner and about 2.5 hours from San Francisco. I picked it because it was one of the only parks that still had online reservations available. Californians are serious about their camping, apparently. If you want to camp somewhere any time after June 1, you better start making your reservations in December. I don't remember it being quite that cutthroat in Oregon, but maybe I just have my rose-colored glasses on, which is usually the case when it comes to the Pacific Northwest. :)

Anyway, the campground was really lovely, with big, secluded sites set into a nice, wooded area. We got a nice big spot, large enough to accomodate all three of our tents. There was also a racoon box included, to lock all your food away from the pesky little furballs. Unfortunately, there was no lock provided, so we secured ours with a stick. Neil woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of scuffling, looked out of the tent and saw a racoon with his hand up in the cabinet, just looking right back at him. The stick held, but the racoon could still get his little paw inside. Luckily, all we lost was an apple.

We started Saturday off with a fantastic breakfast of granola, yogurt and loads of fruit, then followed that up with some tidepool exploring, where Lindsey proved to be the star of interacting with the wildlife. I don't think there was an anemone left un-touched by the time we left the beach. There were tons of little crabs scurrying around. We also saw a sea star eating a crab. I didn't know they did that. It was pretty gnarly.

Then we ate a ridiculously delicious lunch of grilled cheese and apple sandwiches. Yes, you heard me right - cheddar and apple slices, on the sandwich, and grilled. Talk about gourmet camping food. After that, we needed a nap. Although it was super-windy out on the beach, the campsite remained pretty well protected and it was really pleasant there - perfect for napping.

After waking refreshed, we ended the day's physical activities with a nice hike along the bluff overlooking the ocean.

The rocks around Salt Point are sandstone, and they are simply beautiful in the afternoon light. They are soft and tawny and warm.

We spotted some sea life - seals and well, that's all - but the seals were super-cute out sunning themselves on the rocks.

There was also some really beautiful flora - sea grasses waving in the wind, succulents in brilliant reds and contrasting greens.

 It was really windy out on the bluffs and I kept having to drag Swarley into the wind. Every time we stopped to look at something, he would try to turn around and start walking back towards the cars. When we finally did turn around, with the wind at our backs, he picked up the pace and was trotting out front, leading the crowd.

After dinner, we had a rousing game of Apples to Apples, roasted some delicious s'mores, had a lovely chat session around the fire and then headed off to bed.

We were the last ones out of the campground on Sunday morning after a leisurely breakfast. We stopped in Healdsburg at the Bear Republic Brewery for some delicious beer and lunch and then back home to the City. Camping is not exactly the most leisurely activity, I arrived home completely exhausted - but it's worth the exhaustion for so much great scenery and exploration and good times with good friends!