Camping around California

Pitching tents, sleeping in cozy sleeping bags, waking up to birds chirping, experiencing living in the woods surrounded by trees, moonlight strolls, star-gazing under open skies and finding the time to admire the beauty of nature from our busy and technology dominating lives: That’s what is CAMPING FOR ME in a nutshell! And of course, the bonfire, the camp food and the camp fire stories that go along with it 🙂

I love to camp because some part of me is a nature person and the whole experience of camping makes me super happy :D. Summer’s here and many of you might be thinking about camping options in and around the bay area. So here are a few recommendations on camp grounds and fun stories I have associated with them.

The tranquil after one’s asleep!

Camping at Huntington Lake/Shaver Lake: If you camp often, you would know that finding campsites at the last-minute for the July 4th holiday is a rarity. A couple of years back, when we made a very last-minute plan to go camping during the July 4th weekend, we were unable to find reservations to a nearby camp location. I had not heard of Shaver Lake until then, but after some research and a couple of phone calls, we were able to secure a camp spot at the Rancheria Campground in Sierra National Forest. The location was a 4 hour drive from San Jose. Our campsite was near Lake Huntington which is slightly further away from Shaver Lake. I was not sure how this experience was going to be until we reached the location, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a great location to get away from the crowds and feel closer to nature. We rented a boat on one day to cruise around Lake Huntington. Star gazing at Lake Huntington was phenomenal. I saw 2 shooting stars on this trip when we decided to do a night hike (more of a stroll!) to a freaky lake. It was pitch dark on the hike with just one torch-light, but when we reached the lake, the reflections of the stars sparkling in the lake made it look surreal.

Fun story associated with this trip: Our campsite has a slight slope and we had put up the tent in a jiffy not realizing that we’ll have to sleep on an inclined angel going downhill. The first night, hardly any of us could sleep because we kept on sliding down in the sleeping bags because of the downhill slope 🙂

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Camping at Big Sur: Big Sur is about a couple of hours drive from San Jose and would be a great option for a weekend camping trip if you are not planning on spending more than a couple of days there. We camped at Pfeiffer Big Sur SP which is about 20 miles south of Carmel. The Big Sur river crosses the campground, but if I remember correctly, our camp site was not near the river. If you are looking for a camping location which is close to the Pacific coast, Big Sur is a nice choice since you get amazing views of the Big Sur valley as well as the Pacific ocean. The Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is also close by and most people visiting Big Sur hike the McWay Waterfall trail which takes you to the waterfall overlook. There’s also a Pelton Wheel housed somewhere around the trail, but I forget the significance behind it. There are plenty of hiking trails that lead to magnificent ocean views. And since the campground is close to the coast, it has the tendency to get cold in the evening and night. Big Sur is special because it was one of my first few camping trips 🙂

Camping at Sequoia National Park: If you want to camp in the southern Sierra Nevada area near Sequoia or Kings Canyon National Parks, Lodgepole Campground at Sequoia National Park is a fantastic campground. One of the best campgrounds in terms of facilities and experience. Our campsite was right next to the river, so the location was perfect. I think the place is so polished that it would be perfect for beginner campers. It is extremely clean and there is a huge space for your tent so it gives you privacy from your neighbor tents. This was the first and the only time I have camped next to a flowing river.

Pitching the tent

Camping at Yosemite National Park: We have camped at Yosemite National Park a couple of times inside the valley, but I am going to write about my camping experience at June Lake which is at the other side of valley (toward Mammoth Lakes). Why? Because it has been one of my most memorable trips to Yosemite 🙂 If you want to camp away from the crowds, avoid camping in Yosemite valley and opt for one of the campsites at Mono lake or June lake. Gorgeous scenery and secluded locations make this a great camping option.

Fun story associated with the trip: Ever reached a wrong camp location because it was pitch dark and GPS signals were pretty bad in the national park? And then forced someone out of their designated campsite? Well, we’ve done that!!! Not only did we end up staying at a different campsite than the one where we had our reservation at, but we also set up our tent at 11 in the night because we had to drive a rented car on the windy roads with almost failed brakes 😦 Doesn’t sound fun, right? But in retrospect it was a great trip with lots of stories to share!

The Grand Canyons: A mesmerizing geological marvel

Since I am returning to my blogging world (yay!) after a hiatus, I figured it had to be something grand! So I thought, a blog on Grand Canyon would fit the bill perfectly. Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona is perhaps the most famous park in the United States. The first time you spot the canyons, vastness would be the first thought that would come to most people’s minds. I was no different :). If I had to pick 3 words/phrases to describe the Grand Canyons, here’s how I would do it: “A Geological Marvel”, “Vast” and “Mesmerizing”.

My trip to Grand Canyon was special due to numerous reasons and I was trying to contemplate why I had not written a travel blog about it for so long. I guess the reason was that I was not sure if it lived up to the hype and the expectations I had in my mind about the place from hearing so much about it before visiting the place. Grand Canyon National Park is not on the very top of my favorite national parks list because I have not explored the canyons and hiked deep into the canyons. I am sure this will change some day when we decide to explore the mysterious canyons extensively. And I wanted to wait until then to blog about it, but since we’re not going back to Grand Canyon anytime soon AND I have had quite a few of you ask me why I don’t have a blog on Grand Canyon yet AND I wanted my return to the blogging to be grand, here it is 🙂

Lookout on Hermit Route: Grand Canyon South Rim

A group of me and a few friends visited the South Rim of Grand Canyon a few years back during the labor day weekend. We stayed at the Maswik Lodge inside the park. I know I say this every time, but staying inside the park always helps. All reservations for lodging inside the park are managed by Xanterra Parks and Resorts. If my memory serves me correctly, we had about 2-3 days to spend in the park, which is enough to cover the major vistas and include a couple of small hikes. On our first day in the park, we used the free bus shuttle (Red Line) to visit the vista points on the Hermit Road. You can hike along the rim trail from one stop to another. The panoramic vistas, brilliant colors of the red limestone, the varying colors in the canyon due to sun rays and views of the Colarado river carving the canyon will surely blow you away. Let me tell you, it is all great and mesmerizing, but 6 vista spots later, and you might start feeling that it is pretty much the same.

So on our next day in Grand Canyon, we decided to take half day tour with a National Geographic tour guide. You can sign up for one of these at the visitor center. Our tour involved a sneak peak into Grand Canyon’s geological history, the flora and fauna found around the park and a 2 mile mini-hike into the canyon on the South Kaibab trail. This was the best part of the trip (and the sunrise too but I’ll get to that later) because while the lookouts are a great way to SEE the canyons, the tour enabled us EXPERIENCE it up-close :). I highly recommend this because it was so much fun. And the South Kaibab trail would definitely make for a great hike!

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Things you don’t want to miss while you are at Grand Canyon
1) Sunrise: We went to the cliched Mather point to view sunrise and it was unbelievably splendid. No wonder the spot is cliched! If you are going to Mather point, go early to get a good spot because it is surely going to get crowded. The colors of the canyon are so surreal that it makes waking up at 4 and driving to the spot absolutely worth it.

2) Sunset: Yes, even if you have seen sunrise, I suggest watch sunset too since the colors are totally different. While sunrise lights up the canyon with shades of yellow and orange, as sunset dawns, you get to see the canyon in shades of blue and purple. My notes on where we saw sunset are not very clear, but I believe we enjoyed sunset at the Desert View point.

3) The short introductory movie about Grand Canyon screened at the Visitor Center’s IMAX Theater: I loved it so I put this up here. An adventure filled 20 minute feature film describing the mysterious canyons.

Sunrise at Mather Point

And there’s lots more:
The Grand Canyon train runs from Williams to Grand Canyon. Although we did not take the train, this should be a great way to experience the journey into the canyons. There are a few museums in the South Rim and they have amazing architectural exhibits by Mary Jane Coltor. Check out the Navajo paintings while you are the museum.

A toast seems to be a perfect way to end my grand post: To the grandeur of the Grand Canyons 🙂

Top Ten Craziest Things to Love About San Francisco

It’s been a while since I put up a post and I am working on a few travel related ones but I absolutely did not want my readers to miss this fabulous blog on San Francisco by Shiela Hurst. I heart San Fran!!!

Sheila Hurst

While growing up, San Francisco always seemed like some sort of a dream to me. My brother and I used to climb up into a cabinet that was on top of my bedroom closet. We hid candy in there, played games, and called it San Francisco. Every once in a while, we would look at each other and say, “Want to go to San Francisco?” and then we’d climb up into that secret place and play. I didn’t get the chance to find out what the real San Francisco was like until just a few weeks ago. Since photo opportunities are everywhere there, I thought it would be fun to share some of the crazier photos as a top ten list. 10. Signs with a sense of humor 9. Trees grow as abstract art 8. Everything is art (and art is everywhere) 7. Graffiti 6. Architecture with character 5. Chinatown 4. Sea lions that knock on houseboat doors

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