Backpacking Trip

We went on our first backpacking trip this week. Our destination was the Sunol Wilderness area, which is south of Dublin and east of Fremont. We forgot our camera like lamo-s, but we basically did the same thing as this guy. But instead of green pastures everywhere, imagine brown pastures. We missed the 2-week window called Springtime in California.

We spent most of Tuesday morning puzzling about how to fit enough stuff for a 2-day trip into the packs that our friends loaned us. After paring down our equipment a bit and figuring out a way to attach Ed's sleeping bag to the outside of the pack, we were ready to go. My pack weighed 20 pounds and Ed's weighed 30.

We drove down to the park and checked in at the ranger station to reserve our spot in the backpacking area. He pulled out a map and told us to pick the site we wanted. "Are any of sites reserved already?" "I don't know. Do you want me to check?" "Um, yes." (He dawdles around in the back room for several minutes...) "Yes, Sky Camp is reserved." "Okay, we'll take Eagle's Eyrie."

Our hike lasted for 3 hours. We went about 4 miles, with 2000 feet of vertical ascent. It's quite a bit hotter there than in Berkeley and I'm not in great shape these days, so it was really hard. Also, there were cows all over the park, so we had to watch out for the steaming piles.

When we got to the backpacking area, someone was already in Eagle's Eyrie, claiming to have reserved it weeks ago. We weren't that surprised, given Mr. Reservation Ranger's lackadaisical attitude about campsite reservations. The sites are spread out far enough that each one is private, so we consulted the map and went off in search of a different one. The one we got was better anyway, because it had a picnic table.

There was a communal water spigot in the area, but the water had to be purified, so we got to use our new UV SteriPen while all of the other campers were pumping their filters like suckers. There was also a communal outhouse 100 yards from our camp area, which means I still haven't been forced to do my business in the wild.

Dinner preparations consisted of pouring boiling water on freeze dried chicken tetrazini, which tasted great after all that hiking. During dinner, a park ranger drove up on an ATV and started telling us about a fire in the park. Visions of packing everything up and heading back to the car were flashing through my head when he told us that we were safe for the night and just wanted to make sure that we weren't planning to head in the direction of the fire the next day. After he left, we cleaned up and got in our tent to play cards. I creamed Ed in the first two rounds of Lost Cities. He made a good comeback in the last round, but it wasn't enough and I was victorious.

The next morning, we slept in until 9am, as we are wont to do. After we broke camp, we took an easier trail back than the one we came on because we were still sore from the previous day. We got home around noon, and took nice long showers.

Overall, the trip was a success. I think we are ready to take it to the next level (no picnic tables or outhouses.)