Camping Solo, pt 2

I woke up early, and very cold. Dang, it gets cold up here! I broke camp quickly and made my way to the vista point to see Castle Crags. Although the view was nice, it was so far away! So, nothing to do but get closer. With a little bit of hunting about, I found a trail titled “Crag Dome” that seemed promising. According to the sign post, it was 3 miles away. no problem, I jog that most morning. I quickly learned the error of my ways; the route I jog is most assuredly not straight uphill. Still, after a considerable amount of huffing and panting, I finally emerged above the tree line and in the rock field at the base of Castle Crags. There had been just the tiniest bit of rain at dark o’thirty, which served to settle the dust on the trail and clear the skies so that the view was just glorious.

After climbing for so long to get up to the crags, the temptation to climb to the very top was quite powerful. However, when I found myself plastered against a gravel spill trying to inch upwards, I became very aware of the complete lack of other hikers the entire morning, and visions of broken bones swam before me, and the lousy chickenshit side of valor asserted control. So, I contented myself with wonderful photos that still failed to exactly capture how wonderful it all was.

As I trotted back down the trail, I passed about twelve different groups making the assent, and I was suddenly glad I had started so early.

After all the excitement, the remaining drive home was uneventful. Fast, boring I-5. I did decide to stop in San Leandro to have a soy mocha at my most favorite coffee shop ever. After spending some time mooching net access and answering some emails, Mitch and Tim and Calvin happened to come by and we were able to have dinner together. Calvin was bright and attentive and bubbly and I got to scratch my “baby” itch for the day.

After all that, I finally made it home to Cupertino for a most delightful homecoming. Life is pretty damn good. 🙂