Sep 22 2009
Big Sur Camping Trip
Matt and I enjoyed a wonderful Labor Day weekend with a 2-night camping trip at Big Sur! We’ve had reservations for a few months, and we were really excited to head out. We’ve both been going a mile a minute with work, church, and rehearsals, so a weekend in the middle of nowhere sounded AWESOME!
We took a leisurely drive down to Big Sur, and stopped to take pictures on the INCREDIBLE view on Highway 1. Highway 1 runs along the coast, so you can see mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. We are always astounded by the beauty of the scenery, and it makes for much more enjoyable driving conditions 
We picked out the perfect campsite online, and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was large and mostly secluded. Unlike Yosemite, where the campsites are literally on top of each, Big Sur had quite a bit of separation and trees between each site. We decided to be really high-maintenance and bring our blow-up mattress to sleep on… and I have to say, why haven’t we been doing this for all of our camping trips? It’s AMAZING, and it’s not like we’re having to carry our gear on our backs, so why not? Matt also cooked wonderful steaks, chicken and potatoes for dinner. We used most of the chicken to make sandwiches to take on our hike the next day.
We had a lazy breakfast of bacon, eggs, and coffee, and then headed out the see the falls. BIG disappointment! After you’ve seen the falls at Yosemite, a little 20 ft. drizzle of water is not impressive. However, the weather was nice, and it was a good warm up for the day We decided to hike up to Buzzard’s Roost after lunch, and enjoyed a great view at the top. You could see the moutains all around, and there was no one at the top. Both trails were pretty empty during the day, so it was really fun to spend some alone time together. We put our feet in the stream on the way back, and the cold water was so refreshing on our tired feet Matt made pork for dinner, and we roasted marshmallows by the fire.
We debated going on an 8 mile hike during our fireside conversation, but made the final decision on the way to the park down the road. The hike began with a 1 mile route to the beach, which was surrounded by huge hills… that we realized we would be climbing on the next leg of the hike. We started up the hill at a strong pace, and made it to the half-way point in about 2 hours. Make no mistake, this “hill” was at a pretty steep angle, with plenty of wind and sun to beat us up However, the scenery was well worth it, and the view from the top was all the gratification we needed We thought it would be easier to head down, but we found out that the other side of the trail was only about 1 foot wide, with brush and grass on either side. We each slipped a few times, but managed to make it down in one piece We realized that we are a bit out of shape for our spring Half-Dome trip, but hiking is such a fun past-time. We topped off our strenuous exercise with the utterly healthy Round Table pizza. Bad choice, to say the least!
Big Sur was a great weekend, wait ’til you see the top of the hikes…. you’ll be jealous!