On the last weekend in California, October 6-8 we went camping to celebrate Andy’s birthday. It was Leilani’s first backpacking trip (hiking+camping, as opposed to car camping), and her coldest camping. The resident ranger even took our photo, because it is so unusual for people to go camping with babies there—and because Leilani is so cute in her little mouse-ear hat.
We drove up highway 9 from Santa Cruz, through the beautiful redwood forests. We hiked in pretty late on Friday, the trail was 3 miles instead of 2, it was cold and misty and we were wondering if this was such a good idea. But we got to the deserted campsite in plenty of time to find the best spot, build the tent, and eat dinner. Then Leilani got very cranky and started crying a lot—we thought she was tired or afraid of the dark, unfamiliar surroundings so we walked and bounced her until she calmed down and fell asleep 9:30 pm or so.
Fortunately she slept most of the night pretty well, just from 3:00 to 4:30 she was awake, occasionally nursing, grabbing a nose or whacking Andy, or talking loudly to herself. The next day we found a big insect bite on her, so maybe that’s what set her off.
We all slept until 7:30, quickly had breakfast, and hiked out, just in time to meet our friends. Peter, Alan and Anant showed up very much on time, so we did a short walk to Castle Rock and had our picnic lunch while we were waiting for Ruwan and Eric (Xiangrong). After watching the climbers for a while, we climbed into some eroded formations and on some of the nearby rocks.
Around noon we loaded up with some more food (and “beverages”) and hiked back to the campsite. The weather was perfectly sunny this time, and the views spectacular.
We had a relaxing afternoon mostly sitting around at the campsite, playing with Leilani, and drinking beer. Peter and Alan came only for a day-hike and went back to their cars, then Lisa joined us in the late afternoon, and Ruwan showed up in the evening.
Leilani made a lot of noise at one point, she had not taken long naps and was cranky, and so the campers at the next campsite moved their tent. Later she was good again, and slept well all through the night—thank you, Leilani.
Leilani got up really late (2nd last of all the campers!) the next day, we had a warm breakfast, and slowly packed up. Jane showed up a few minutes before we were ready for the hike out. We took a different route than the day before and again we had great weather and views. Leilani even fell asleep in her carrier.
The adventure of the day was a rattlesnake right in the middle of the trail, but everyone made it out alive and unhurt. When we got back to Kauai, we found a black spider in the backpack (actually on Leilani’s suit) so maybe that’s what bit her.
