Escape from L.A.! - Day Four, Los Padres Forest Camping

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April 20th and 21st

Like I said, rain and mud and camping don’t jive well with me. I sucked it up and after packing out me and Dad got some breakfast. We were to head south about 20-25 miles, and go camping in Los Padres National Forest.

On the way down there we stopped at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, another gem that's on the coastline of California. Photos don't really do it justice, especially with my half crappy Olympus. Hope you like them though..

Soo Dad and his wife Tammy had found our camping place last year during his marathon, and he thought it would be a great place to go camping with me. He was spot on, it was a very nice place to camp. We weren’t around other campers, and we had to hike about 30-40 minutes to get to the spot but it was well worth it.

We didn’t do a whole lot there but walk around and enjoy the fresh air, but that was fine by me. We cooked some food and chatted while drinking a couple beers and then once it started getting dark we headed for the tent. I started reading a really good book called Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, it’s about the Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. I read it out loud to my Dad before we got some rest.

It rained again that night but not nearly as bad as the night before, and this time we had much more tree protection. We were a bit more prepared this time, even though I was smart enough to leave the rain fly up a bit so I could enjoy the view from the tent in the morning. (This made some water get into my side of the tent!!, oh the things we do for a good view!)

In the morning we packed out and hiked back to the car. We drove on this great road called Nacimiento Road, it went through the mountains and lead us right into ‘the valley’. From there it was pretty much a straight shot into LA. We took our time and got some food on the way back, it was a pretty mellow ending to an awesome trip, one I would do all over again if given the chance.

I only had a few days left before my flight to Kenya on the 24th and I had to visit a couple friends one more time before I left. So I made the decision to go back to Lake Arrowhead for a night before coming back to LA to wind down before embarking on Africa…

More to follow! Hope you enjoyed the post and the pics!

Pura Vida!
-Brendan

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