Hey all, I recently took a little trip to Point Reyes, thought I'd share a few pics.
I haven't seen too much posted here about northern CA coastal trips so I'd put this up. On this particular outing, however, I was on the ground. My brother and I were after a first come first serve site, and there are some sites where a hammock is an impossibility. So hopefully no one here frowns upon a non-hammock trip report. Also, I just picked up a Outdoor Research Bivy at the Rei used gear sale for $50, so I had to try that out anyways.
Started kind of early on Thursday and drove roughly 2 hours from the Sacramento area and pulled up to the ranger station around 9:30 am. There are 5 backcountry campgrounds (info and descriptions found here http://www.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm ). We chose Sky Camp, site #12. You can access this camp from either Bear Valley Trail or Sky Trail.
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Actually this is a perfect site for hanging, but alas, the bivy was already packed. I have hung out in this site several times before, but when going with first come first serve, it's kind of a crap shoot, never know what sites will be available.
It's a 2 mile hike in, pretty much all uphill, but with a steady incline, so it's not so bad. I should also note that there are blackberry bushes flanking this trail for most of the way between the trailhead and the camp. This being the case, the hike took a bit longer than it could have because I was picking and eating berries the whole way along( thankfully I didn't stain any of my clothes or gear with the blood red juices)
Point Reyes National Seashore is a great place to get first hand experience with microclimates. The great amount of coastal fog brings with it great humidity/moisture differences as well as rapidly changing temperature changes, also small variances in elevation. If you have a site that is covered by trees you think, "this is great, no tarp needed" you would be wrong. So much of the moisture from the fog gathers on leaves and tree boughs that it creates a steady and never ending drizzle underneath. Likewise, on particularly foggy days and nights, it night as well be raining with the amount of humidity in the air. In the morning I saw a group of guys who figured that no rain in the forecast meant they didn't need to set up a tarp or tent. They were sleeping huddled together on a ground cover in their soaking wet sleeping bags. On our 2 mile hike in I went from short sleeves, to long sleeves, to light insulated jacket, and back again trying not to overheat or be shivering. As you go up in elevation, the fog becomes more evident.
Site 11 @ Sky Camp
We set up shop at site 12 at Sky Camp
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And then hit the trail for a dayhike. We headed towards the coast trail, where we saw copious amounts of wildflowers.
And to my surprise, Orchids! I run a nursery outside of Sacramento so I know at least a thing or two about plants and I had no idea that orchids could grow in this climate, I thought it got far too cold for them to survive but I was even more surprised to find literally, an orchid bush! It was nearly as tall as me!
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We continued on to Kelham Beach where I had hoped to find something washed ashore with Japanese inscriptions. But instead we found this nice little waterfall, with wildflowers cascading down along with the water.
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Onward back to camp. We arrived back at our site in time to cook up a little dinner. We finished off the evening with a few rounds of Yahtzee, then off to bed (on the ground) The next morning, we awoke (amongst the perpetual rain) Ate a modest breakfast of granola w/fresh blackberries (of course) and headed home in the thick sleepy hollowesque fog.
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I hope this wasn't too long winded, I could have gone on much longer with many more pics but who would read very much further? Hopefully someone else may follow suit with another northern cali, or coastal trip report. I'm always looking for new and beautiful places to hang. So any suggestions for places in the western sierras or north cali coast would be greatly appreciated. I'm looking at you Lake Berreyessa... I guess that's all I got for right now, Hope you all enjoy.
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H.Y.O.H.
Originally Posted by Kapang!
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