Big Basin Camping

Camping last weekend at Big Basin was GREAT. It was just the two of us, so that made for some much-needed quality alone time, plus we had all this new gear to try out.

Our first night we showed up at 7pm, and were assigned site 120, which was conveniently located right by the bathrooms - ugh. So we had to deal with people continually traipsing near - sometimes through - our site, plus the noise from the bathroom doors slamming, and the light shining from the building. Of course, I wasn't complaining about the proximity when I had to get up and go at 1 a.m., but still. The next morning before we began our hike we marched over to the camp office and asked for a new site. We had scoped out the area beforehand to see which sites had been vacated, and came across lovely, spacious # 128, right by a creek. The cheerful ranger girl accomodated us by doing a quick switcheroo, and just like that, new and much improved site for us! See, it always pays to ask for something better. (also: make sure to get to Big Basin earlier next time).


The Skyline to the Sea trail was closed due to a fallen tree (one can only assume it was a redwood), so we decided to just do the out-and-back hike along the Sunset Trail to Berry Creek Falls. Sweetie usually prefers loops, but we didn't have much of a choice. I though it was only going to be 4.9 miles each way, but that's just the distance to the Berry Creek Falls trail - the actual falls are still over a mile away at that point. Which brought our mileage for the day to about 12-13 rolling miles. Not so smart after a winter of little hiking. Sweetie was not looking happy the latter half of the hike. I thought he'd see the falls and think it was all worth it, but that didn't seem to be the case. Though the falls are pretty cool:

Nonetheless, we made it, and even had enough energy to shower and make dinner (after a quick trip to Boulder Creek for cold sodas. It was a very hot day, and I always crave Coke after a hot hike).
We love our camp stove! It's a Century Matchless Two-Burner Stove. We're so glad we took the time to comparison shop at REI, instead of marching in, picking up a Coleman, and being all "Done." Our stove is awesome because:

1) it's got an easy matchless ignition
2) it's big, with plenty of space for both griddle and pot (Coleman's stove was narrower)
3) it's got two powerful burners, instead of one power burner + one lesser burner (again, like Coleman)
4) it's fairly light and comes with it's own carrying case

Also: note our cute new checkered picnic tablecloth. Picnic tables are almost always dirty - this makes it so much better!

We made penne with sauce on Saturday night, and eggs with bacon and hash browns on Sunday morning. And both mornings I had my much-needed coffee, thanks to the new coffee press I got at REI:

SO exciting - I don't have to depend on anyone else for coffee when I am camping! However, I am going to bring a different mug next time - the mug that comes nested inside the press tastes plastic-y.

I'm proud of us. We're totally getting this camping thing DOWN! Can't wait until Sonoma.