Fourth of July

Over the long weekend, Dan, Chenxia Liu, Scott Johnston, and I decided to go hiking in the King Range Recreation Area. So we drove the many miles and hours from the Bay up to Shelter Cove, tightened down our packs, locked the Prius and started out. Almost all of our hike was on the beach the first day, causing us to make slow progress on the sand. As we hiked though, the area afforded continuous views of California's lovely Pacific coast.


Throughout the day, we say such strange and miraculous things as people with full backpacking packs as well as surfboards on their backs. After crossing many streams and walking all afternoon, we reached Big Flat camp and chose a site to stay in.


After pitching camp, making dinner, doing dishes, and stowing our food, we went to bed.













The next morning we intended to hike to King's Peak but set out rather late.

The day was hot and our trail crossed too many streams for us to resist.



After climbing at least 40 switchbacks, time was running out so we turned back and headed home for dinner. Dan whistled and I sang "Sam Hall" on the way home.














That evening (Sunday), Dan and I were pumping water at the creek and a black bear came sauntering along on the opposite side. He's hard to see, but later he visited our camp. To give him his space, we all went and watched the sunset and the stars from the beach next to Dan's bridge.







The next morning we tried to pack up and get out before the tide started coming in, and we got through the narrow bit of the beach in record time. Made it to the trailhead, each person separated by about half a mile, got our requisite fish and chips, and rolled home to Sebastopol.