Training in Big Trees

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Geo: 37.0514, -122.072

Since check-in for Big Basin SP wasn't until 2pm, and it was only an hour and a half drive from home, we decided to spend our morning at Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton. Our first mistake was completely underestimating weekend beach traffic. We left at 9am thinking we'd have plenty of time to get coffee, gas and make the hour drive over Highway 17 to the park. By the time it was nearly 10:30am, we were still only outside of Los Gatos, and our toddler had long lost her patience in the back seat. Chris had also forgot his e-reader at work, so he was in dire need of a book for the weekend. So, we pulled over in a very congested downtown Los Gatos in search of a book shop. It took awhile to find parking but we finally found a spot near Village House of Books. Chris picked up a copy of Ready Player One and then we sat around on a bench "dog watching", Arya's current toddler obsession along with creeper staring at other babies.

About 11am, we hit the road again. The traffic wasn't great but the worst of it cleared up shortly after Los Gatos. Our second mistake was thinking we'd get spots on the 12:30pm train out of Roaring Camp. Guys, when they say buy your tickets ahead of time, they mean it. We arrived close to noon, and the 12:30pm train was totally sold out. Our next option was a 2:00pm train which was too late. So we opted to wait on "stand by" to see if any seats opened up on the 12:30pm train. I already had a back up plan of wandering around Henry Cowell SP next door in case we couldn't ride the train. We wandered around the grounds of Roaring Camp- they had a musician playing a banjo, a blacksmith hammering out horseshoes, old time photographers, a small souvenir shop, some sort of gold panning activity that cost extra and then a massive line for overpriced food. Chris and I had been here a couple times in the past way back when we were still dating, and not much had really changed about the place. We had decided to take Arya on the shorter train ride up the mountain since it was her first time and I wasn't sure she had the attention span and fortitude for the much longer ride to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and back.

Lucky for us, instead of squeezing us on the 12:30pm train, they just added an entire extra train at 12:45pm. Up and down the mountain we went on a pleasant ride through the redwoods. We made lots of "Choo-choo" noises with Arya, who overall seemed to enjoy the experience.

We were starving by the time we made it back down mountain and pizza sounded amazing. The Redwood Pizzeria in the nearby town of Felton had fabulous reviews so we stopped by on our way up to Big Basin. We enjoyed a beer and the pizza was well worth the wait. As we drove up the mountain, we were shocked to realize it was 100F in Boulder Creek (the town nearest Big Basin). I had expected 80F but not THIS hot. I've never been up the park when it's that hot.

We checked into the park at the Headquarters. It was a very busy day. I only ever hike up at Big Basin on weekdays, and usually in the off-season. It was crazy to see how crowded it can get on a summer weekend. Also recommended, reserve your campsite way ahead of time (at any State or National Park in California, actually). Plenty of people were showing up without reservations only to be turned away by the staff. I signed a form saying we wouldn't hang up a hammock, not to leave our fires unattended and to institute their new "Crumb Clean" policy (I'll get to that later).

We actually had a very nice campsite. Our neighbors weren't too close and there were toilets right by our site at Blooms Creek. I had assumed they were pit toilets so I was very happy to discover a flushing toilet fully stocked with toilet paper when it came time to go. We pitched our giant family-sized tent under a redwood canopy. The ground was already super level and packed from use by visitor after visitor.

It was still incredibly hot, close to 100F in the late afternoon, and we were feeling pretty dehydrated. We had brought water but it wasn't cold yet. So we ended up taking a walk to the Camp Store. It was an easy half mile trek to the store alongside the main highway. The headquarters was still crowded when we got there. We bought gatorades to rehydrate and played around on some rocks near the parking lots. Then we headed back to camp. Neither of us was really hungry enough for dinner. We'd eaten far too much pizza at our late lunch. So we didn't end up cooking that first night. We lazed around in the tent, read our books and then made a campfire when it started to get dark. After, cooking s'mores and drinking some wine, we headed to bed for the night.

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