English continous below
Black Mountain Backpack Camp
Im Zeitraum September bis Dezember war ich drei Monate beruflich in Kalifornien. An den Wochenende blieb zum Glück reichlich Zeit meinem Hobby nach zu gehen. Da ich diese Erinnerungen mit meinen amerikanischen Freunden Teile, habe ich mich entschlossen die Beiträge auf Englisch zu verfassen.
Meanwhile I felt quite comfortable in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. It is an awesome place, melt pot of many cultures and people all over the world seeking for luck and fortune in the high tech industry. I kind of got used to the rush hour every morning and afternoon or sometimes even while on my business trips within the area, but that even intensified my wish to dive deeper into the wild nature surrounding those shiny palaces like the famous apple building in Cupertino.
But I also learned that most of the open places are not really open. In Germany, you might enter a forest mainly without limitations. At some point cars or any other vehicles are prohibited, but as a hiker, you may enter the woods. There are many public parking spots in the woods especially made for hikers. At least in the area around here, I spotted many fences alongside the roads. And for parking lots in the woods, you have to buy a permit to park after sunset. My co-worker told me that the rangers patrol the parking lots and a car without a permit might trigger a costly search action.
So I felt better with ordering such a permit – all online. I had to print it out and put it behind the windscreen of the car being parked. My decision was to go to the Black Mountains Backpack Camp.
sun’s dawn puts scenery into a golden shine
Unfortunately, I left office much too late on this Friday afternoon, so it’s already past 6:00 pm when I reach the parking spot. The sign post tells me, that it’s a 1.5 hour hike to get to the camping spot – not an issue because of the distance, but by end of September it might be close to getting dark. The sun’s dawn puts the scenery into a golden shine.
wheather gets nastýAs I approach the camp the weather gets nasty. Fog arises, the wind comes up and it gets pretty cold. Looks like the night will become a good test for my new tent. Frankly speaking the price tags at the REI store made me some headache: shall I really spend that amount of money for my hobby, for a tent I may even not bring back home to Germany? While still running these thoughts I passed by a Dick’s Sporting Goods store on my way home from the office. I only wanted to have a short glimpse at their outdoor section, but what I got was a lightweight low profile tent – and I think it was really a bargain for 35 bucks.
rattlesnake on the wayTo my surprise, I’m not the only person who made it up that hill by tonight. Eric and Ray are two hiking buddies. They also love to go out in nature and stay for a night in front of the fire pit. They are well equipped and even carried a cooling box up that hill. I only have some medium cold beer I picked up in a rush and so we share some beer, sit together, talk and laugh a lot. A really nice evening until it gets windy and cold and we decide to go to sleep.
I got up pretty early the next morning. The sun had not yet come over the mountain top, but I was pretty sure it would be another sunny day here in California. And to not prove me false, with the first rays of the sun and a deep blue sky, Mother Nature presented me with a view I will keep in my memory for a very long time. With nothing else to do but get back to the car, I take my time to enjoy the beautiful scenery. On my way back to the car I got in close proximity of some wild living deer. Not, that I haven’t seen deer in Germany, but not that close and trusting.
another sunny day in California
I was back at the car in time to get home for some lunch and to get prepared for a Saturday afternoon party. As a recommendation of my coworker, I enrolled myself in a meetup group for hiking. Unfortunately, it is the end of the season, but this is how I was invited to the “end of season” party. But this I’ll tell you next time…