On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 5:03 PM, Eric Norris <campyonly...@me.com> wrote: > Looks fun, except for the sleeping on the ground part.
In my old age, I've resorted to the Big Agnes insulated inflatable air mattress. Every time I take the five minutes it takes to blow it up, I swear I'll go back to a Thermarest, and every time I lie down on it, I remember why I don't sleep on a Thermarest any more. As Stephen wrote, we went up Diablo at a leisurely pace, which, it turned out, was great. After a while I found myself alone; I think Rene was having some problems with his chain hitting his tire, and I had ridden a bit ahead. And, because it was getting late in the afternoon, that meant *alone*. The day cyclists we'd seen at the lower elevations had mostly gone home, as had the motorists, mostly. A playful bobkitten appeared on the road, completely unafraid of me, only to be scared away by a rare car. (But it was back when Tony passed, and that time no motorist appeared so he got a picture which he will post, right Tony?) On weekends at midday, with all the bike traffic, Mt Diablo can seem a bit frantic (though still great), but later in the afternoon one can appreciate the solitude in the park. I got to the campground a little after Tony, and we managed to find a big campsite with a little campsite connected to it, so we had lots of area to camp, two picnic tables and two food lockers. Juniper Campground is set on the side of the mountain, with an overlook that you've seen in the pictures. When we first arrived, I could see the fog creeping over the coast range far away. By the time the sun set, we were in an island of land above a marshmallow puff of fog as far as we could see. While we were finishing up dinner, Stephen or someone remarked on the "smoke" blowing around the campsite. No, that was the fog moving in on us. When I had made my packing list earlier in the week during a heat wave, I felt silly including a wool undershirt, wool sweater, as well as a stripy wool hat I made from sock yarn remnants, but when the fog started rolling in, I was glad to put them all on. We'd brought an interesting variety of food, much of it shared, including rather a lot of freeze-dried backpacker food and some superior salami Dustin showed up with. Erin demonstrated her excellent taste by bringing *and sharing* some dark chocolate with sea salt. Super. I camped under a large pine. We had no rain, but my pine strained enough fog out of the air that I might as well have been camping in my own little drizzle. Happily, my tent is waterproof, and though wet on the outside remained cozy and dry on the inside. The rest of us, I think, stayed dry, and Nathan didn't even have to put his fly on his tent. Raccoon depredation during the night didn't dampen our spirits the next morning. We rode down the hill, then parted, talking of a future trip. Grant Ranch Park on Mount Hamilton, first weekend in November? -- -- Anne Paulson My hovercraft is full of eels -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
