I’m a bit delinquent posting about the backpack Chad, Baby, and I went on over spring break – but it was just too depressing to post about it without the pics and video I took on the new camera.
Because we waited so long to make reservations, all the popular beach spots were booked and we ended up hiking in four miles to a primitive tent campground, which was fine by us. Chad picked Deer Canyon in Crystal Cove State Park which is just north of Laguna Beach, so only a half hour’s drive from home. Here’s an article about that exact same campground in the LA Times.
It was wonderful! The day was sunny, but not too hot. I wore the baby and a large daypack with all our food and the baby’s stuff. Chad wore a backpack backpack with two gallons of water tied on. Heavy yes, but he likes to err on the side of safety in all things, especially when it comes to water. And in the end, we were able to drink and wash liberally and used almost all of it before we broke camp the next day.
We started off on a rocky dirt road going uphill. The first bit had nice views of the ocean as we hiked inland; I like it better when we turned off into the canyon on a narrower trail and we were surrounded by yellow blooms on both sides. There were lots of up and downs which made the hike excellent exercise, I mean, besides the all the weight we were carrying.
We were the only ones at the camp, so we got our pick of sites. I had a great video of the field facing the tent and wind blowing through the grass – which is now lost and gone forever, but it looked a bit like this photo, which I took on a recent hike nearby in the Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness.
The baby loved the tent and being outdoors. And when he woke up in the morning – he couldn’t believe his good fortune; his head swiveled around and around – he was STILL IN THE TENT! That just put him in the best of moods.
We didn’t fiddle around too much in the morning – just leisurely had breakfast and began packing up. The hike out was easy with much lighter packs. The baby slept most of the hike out.
Overall, an excellent first camp adventure with the little guy. The only reason we wouldn’t go back there though, is because the route by the campground is a popular mountain biking trail, so while we didn’t see too many bicyclists in the evening and early morning, the ones we saw, did diminish our feeling of being far away from civilization.
