I am telling you about my camping trip that was 3 nights last week.
We wanted to leave from San Francisco really early but it got really late, which was okay because I had a bank emergency (I had to deposit money in the ATM and stuff). Then we left around 10:30 and we drove. We stopped at Trader Joe’s in Monterey where we got food. I had the good idea to get marshmallows because in America when you go camping, you make roasted marshmallows. But they didn’t have any so we had to go to a Safeway that was somewhere there too.
Then much later we came to our camping spot which is in Big Sur and called Kirk Creek. It was a bit full and we didn’t find a good camping spot immediately. But then we took one that was a bit slanted. We were so hungry so we quickly put our tents up and ate a snack, but then the ranger came, because we didn’t pay yet, and the number one rule of the camp ground is to pay within 30 minutes. We were already there for about 40 minutes so he came and asked us for the money (22 dollars per night). Here is a photo of the rule:
Sophie and Zoe, who are girls from England, were scared that the mean ranger would deport them, but the ranger said that they could afford it, so we paid because he was actually right and we didn’t want to be like criminals.
At night we made chicken and then it got dark and the raccoons came and they stole a chicken leg from our trash. The raccoons were staying by the trash area stealing food. They had really shiny eyes, and whenever we put our head lights on them, they shined. Here is a photo of a raccoon. He has a red and a blue eye which is strange:
There were a lot of them and at night we heard them walk around our tent looking for food. But they were actually friendly and not dangerous.
At night we also made marshmallows. We made an American thing called “S’mores”. It’s two crackers with chocolate and a marshmallow between them. I made my own marshmallow and ate my first smore in my life. This is a photo of it. It tasted so good so I made another one:
It was really cold and windy because it was next to a cliff by the sea. This is a photo of our camping area:
Then on the next day we had to get ice, but it was so difficult because the place we went to had no ice. But they had a city hall. This is the City Hall of Big Sur I think:
Janice got tablets for her allergy, because she was being allergic to nature. She slept in the car and we drove to Hearst Castle because it’s so amazing and it was close by. But the day was sold out, so we took a photo from the telescope on the bottom of the hill to Hearst Castle:
We were hungry so we had lunch there too and there were many ravens and a women who thought we were all siblings (we aren’t).
Then we went to the stone beach. We were lying in the sun and walking in the water. It was warm. Then it got foggy and we left.
We went for a hike on a trail with a lot of “poison oak” and really badly kept up, because we had to go through a lot of leaves and branches as we walked. We went far but then we decided to go back. This is a photo from the trail:
Then we had dinner and we slept in our tents on the slanted ground.
The next morning we packed up our camp because we were going to go to the next place to camp. We also wanted to go hiking, but then something happened. We went to the rangers place to get directions to a nice trail with a waterfall, but when we got out of the car, Janice was screaming!! She had a tick on her stomach and she was scared and she pulled it off! If you know about ticks, you know that you should not pull it off but twist it off. But now the tick was off and the body was still inside of Janice on her stomach! We took her to the hospital. You can read about it HERE.
Then we had lunch where we ate sandwiches for 20 dollars. But it tasted good. Then we went to a beach with purple sand. It was so pretty but windy and in the end we were so full of sand (and we hadn’t showered in 2 days). This was the beach:
Here I am making a thumbs up sign because the sand is purple!!!!
Jason and I built this:
Then we drove to the second camp place. We were excited because it has showers. It was called “Arroyo Seco”. We drove there for so many hours, because we had to go around the mountains. There was also a lot of traffic.
The new camp ground had such a nice camp lady and it was more wood style. It was hotter and dryer. There were also more insects and especially mosquitoes. We got a lot of bites that night, but we also got to take a shower. It was so quiet because no one was there, but the insects and birds were very loud.
The next morning I washed my hair. It felt nice. Then we went for a hike, but it was really dangerous because it was a long walk to the river, but we had no water!!!! I said we shouldn’t do it because it was so hot and it is so important to drink a lot of water if it’s so hot and you walk. But they said we have to do it, so they forced me to do it. It was really hot and after we got to the river the river was really cold. But we went inside and we swam on tubes and it was beautiful. When we went back I was dying, because I was undereaten. I didn’t eat enough breakfast and drink enough water, so I was probably going to die. But I was concentrating a lot and didn’t die. This is a photo of the area:
And this is a photo of a mouse that we found on the trail. It was probably dead because it didn’t have enough food and water when it was hiking to the river:
Later I ate M&Ms and drank yellow water and felt better. We also hat lunch and then went to drive home.
That was my first camping trip in nature. I am still finishing a poem about it, I’ll show you soon.
