Backpacking

I like camping. And hiking. And backpacks. Turns out, there's just the activity for me! My friend Remy (yes, the same from my crossing-the-Golden-Gate-bridge-story) and I planned a one-night backpacking trip at Point Reyes. It was awesome.

So actually, this is my second-ever backpacking trip. The first one being also with Remy, and another friend of ours from college. At that trip, we went to Lake Berryessa near Napa, and although it was a nice area for a hike, it was definitely not a beginner-friendly trip. All sorts of things were wrong; we started our hike after the sun had already set, it was at the end of October and it was very cold at night, we saw animal eyes looking at us, and we got lost off the trail! Oof. Despite all that, I still decided it was a good idea to give it another try. Good thing I did.

I guess Point Reyes is a super popular backpacking spot in the Bay Area, so every single campsite was completely booked for weeks. Remy and I discovered that there are certain sites that open day-of at 7:00 AM. It was my responsibility to book the site, and I slept in until almost 9:00 AM! I was sure that I lost my chance, but I immediately hopped on my computer and booked the very last available campsite. Phew.

Remy came over after noon and we drove over to Olema, where there is the visitor center and trailhead. The trail was super nice, shaded, and well maintained, although I'm pretty sure we brushed past a lot of poison oak. Luckily both of us wore pants. We saw a bunch of deer and banana slugs, and some birds, lizards, and other critters. Not too many people were on the trail that day so it was quiet and peaceful, except for Remy and I just being loud and stupid.

After about 3.5 miles-ish of hiking, we made it to the campsite and unloaded our gear. The sun was still high up so we didn't get much shade for a while. We set up our tent and made some fancy frozen dinner cooked by pouring hot water in the bag of food. We got some awesome views of the sunset over the Pacific Ocean and it was super comfortable at night, not cold at all. The only problem was that the mosquitos were hungry! It was a beautiful trip, and I took several photos.