Backpacking - Point Reyes

It's been a little while since my last post.  Last week was a busy one and the weekend even busier!

Last week's running went pretty much according to plan, expect on Saturday where Phill and I ran about 4 miles (so more than planned!).  Within the 4 miles, we ran to Stan's Donuts got ourselves a donut (I had a glazed Old Fashioned and Phill had a Lemon Buttermilk) and then ran to Peet's - donuts in hand - for coffee.  We ate our donuts and coffee at Peet's, and then we walked the mile home. I hadn't had a donut in over a year, so the donut tasted pretty darn good!  And this certainly made our run interesting! 

Sunday, Phill and I drove up to Point Reyes for a short backpacking trip.  We were lucky to get a campsite at the Sky Campground, which is a short 1.7 uphill hike from Parking.  This campground is pretty amazing.  Our campsite overlooked forest, coastal chaparral, and the ocean. 

Once our tent was pitched and lunch eaten, Phill and I went out for the 4 - 5 mile hike to the Coast. The hike was pretty easy going, but the downhill (and uphill coming back home) was a bit challenging.  Our hike started in damp forest surroundings, moving through California's chaparral and woodlands, and then, finally, to the Coast.  The beach at Coast Camp was very quiet, with only a few visitors.  The sand at the beach was pebbly, unlike the beaches in Santa Cruz or Monterey.  This beach would have been great for running, as the pebbly sand, in my opinion, is a little easier to move through than fine sand. 

We went a different way back to our campsite from the Coast, which included a lot more damp forest - similar to what you would find in Nisene Marks. Once we got back to camp, we made dinner (rice, spinach-lentils dahl, and soup), replenished our water, enjoyed the quiet darkness, and fell asleep.  

One small tip when camping / pitching a tent - even the slightest slope will cause some major sliding in those satin-ish sleeping bags! Phill and I had an interesting time trying to keep in one place throughout the night. 

On our hikes and around our campsite, we saw plenty of flora and fauna, animals, and birds. Prior to the start of our journey, I purchased a bird guide, in hopes of seeing a bunch of birds.  On our trip, we saw Raven, Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, and California Quail. We also saw a hawk, but I'm not sure which kind because it was a little too dark to see if it had a red tail or red shoulders. We also saw many deer and a Pacific Water Shrew along our hike.  And, most fortunately, we had a couple of what we think were Long-tail weasels around our campsite. They were running across the narrow trail heading into our campsite.  They moved fast, but were so cute. 

On Monday morning, Phill and I went out for a two mile-ish walk to stretch our legs. Then, we made breakfast, dried our tent and other camping gear (it rained during the night), and hiked back to the car.  The rest of our day was spent walking around San Rafael and then Berkeley.  We ate at Angeline's Kitchen for dinner, which is one of our favorite restaurants to visit.  

Here are a few pictures from our trip: 

This is me right before our trip...super excited! 

I took this picture during our hike to our campsite. 

This was our campsite! 

Flowers I saw on our hike.

Phill :)

Selfie.

Angeline's

This trip re-ignited my passion for nature and birds.  When I came home, I immediately looked at my Bird book to read more about the birds we saw on our trip, and also to identify the little guy that hangs out in front of our apartment. I've identified it as a Black Phoebe, and we've named him Hamilton (Ham for short). I hope our cute little neighbor doesn't mind that we've named him.

On Tuesday, Phill and I spent the day getting the apartment a little more organized, we returned our rented camping gear, watched some more Breaking Bad, and worked out.  We started our workout by doing a dynamic warm up, than we ran 2.5 miles, then we did lunges, squats, and calf raises. 

That's it for now, I'll post my running plans and the rest of the week's goals in my next post, tomorrow.