Saturday, October 7, 2006
In the morning, the chefs (Galen, Remi, and helpers) prepared egg scrambles with sausage, ham, mushrooms, and tomatoes. We also had Costco muffins, fresh grapes, orange juice, coffee, and other assorted breakfast items. We saw a deer wander close by to our campsite and then wander off again. We prepared for the day's hike, packing sandwiches for lunch as well as lots of water. We applied suntan lotion. The hike was a strenuous climb up a mountainside. We saw a dead tarantula along the way as well as lots of big, unusual rock formations. We stopped for lunch around the top at a lookout before hiking down the other side. Around this time Tony Q sprained his ankle. Some of our group ran ahead to get back to camp so that they could drive around to pick him up when he reached the ranger's station. Most of the group continued on at a normal pace to finish the caves portion before sundown. Tuan and I stayed with Tony while he made his way as best he could. We actually stopped for about 15 or 20 minutes to let him rest after the descent. We reached the ranger's station, and Tuan and Tony stayed behind and awaited a car ride back to camp. Remi, Jesse, John, Kurt, and I finished the caves portion of the trail which led back to camp. The caves were a lot of fun. We had to crawl through gigantic rocks, and the tunnel led deep into completely dark portions—flashlights were required. Just before we entered the caves we saw a couple carrying a newborn baby. They were just sort of waiting near the entrance, and it amazed me that they thought they could navigate the caves with the baby. It would have been extremely irresponsible to do so; you really need all the agility you can muster to get through—with a flashlight—and dealing with a baby at the same time would likely have meant dropping it by accident. After the caves, the rest of the trail was pretty flat and easy going and we were soon back at camp. Everyone hit the showers, and it helped that our group arrived back at camp in staggered subgroups because there were only 2 showers (50 cents for 3 minutes). Saturday night was potluck night, and we had a campfire going with someone's prestolog and some approved firewood bought from the campground store. David cooked a fantastic pot of non-spicy homemade chili, someone made quesadillas, someone made farfalle with chicken, and the courses kept coming—I can't remember them all now. I know I stopped counting after the 8th course. For dessert, we had 2 kinds of brownies (caramel walnut swirl from me, and more brownies from Ted) as well as birthday cake for Steve (Travis). Campfire discussion centered around personal truths and was very enlightening. Oh, attendees: me, Yhow-Wei, Tony A, Galen, Tony Q, Jonathan, David, Kurt, Remi, Jesse, John, Ted, Marck, Tuan, Andy, Scott, Steven, Travis.