Category: Car camping

ALDHA-W 2013 and a smidge of the Sierra

The sleeping bag speed stuffing event during the Hiker Olympics.

The sleeping bag speed stuffing event during the Hiker Olympics. Anish won the event and eventually the gold.

I attended another wonderful hiker gathering last weekend. The size, format, venue and schedule of this ALDHA-W Gathering seemed just right. Not too big, not too small. Just a perfect weekend of slideshows and hanging out with really great people. You are some impressively strong, skilled and experienced hikers. Hot damn that’s a lot of walking. Thanks for being my friends.

After the Gathering, I spent the rest of the long weekend higher up in the hills. We lunched in Downieville, snacked in Sierra City, camped at Packer Lake (in a fall drizzle), and road tripped through the “lost Sierra”. Ambling around Truckee, Tahoe City, the lake, shopping for a SUP and exploring the Donner party’s history happened too.

Reading small town bulletin boards is a worthwhile way to spend my time.

Reading small town bulletin boards is a worthwhile way to spend my time.

Camping at Mono Lake

After sunset, we bumped our way slowly down the Cottonwood Canyon Road to Mono Lake. My little economy car probably isn’t the best for dirt roads, but it works. Sometimes.

We found a dispersed campsite, popped a beer and cooked some noodles. The Sierra crest over the lake was beautiful in the moonlight.

In the morning we headed down to the lake shore to say hello to the flies and shrimp. Surprisingly, the fly population was small and I didn’t see a single shrimp. Totally different than past visits to the lake. Perhaps populations are down because it’s the fall?

The leisurely morning extended to breakfast at “the usual” in Lee Vinning.

At the picnic grounds. This was my second time camping at Mono this summer. My Presidio Trust volunteer hat makes me look like a cop.

Camping on Sunset Beach

I spent the weekend camping on Sunset Beach near Santa Cruz. The sea was full of life. There was an explosion of sand crabs, lots of baby dungeness, living sand dollars, large numbers of birds, a few pods of harbor porposes, jumping sea lions and a very cute and very hungry sea otter. I don’t think I’d ever seen live sand dollars.

On the way home we stopped at the MAH, Santa Cruz’s outdoor shops and a park in San Jose.

I like this picture.