I was pretty excited about this trip. I was going to meet up with Mike in the LA area, but I also wanted to go to the Woofstock dog show in Vallejo, CA because Litha only needed 3 more points to earn her AKC championship. I was able to leave early enough to stay a couple nights at each state park on my way to Woofstock. Finally, a chance for campfires, marshmallows, and dinner grilled on an open fire! I could not have asked for any better weather and I think I got some really great photos along the way.
As you can see in the photos below, Litha was having a terrible time!
Jessie M. Honeyman is a great little park, nicely wooded, friendly and helpful hosts, good programs, and nice facilities. Camping spots were fairly private and comfortable. Surprisingly, this was the first trip that I actually cooked a complete meal instead of making sandwiches or other easy stuff. I used the Instant Pot to make something called "Crack Chicken". It was basically shredded chicken with ranch, bacon, and cheese. It was definitely tasty, but healthy... not so much. We didn't spend much time exploring the park this time. I really felt like I wanted to spend our time in the campsite next to the fire. I've missed that. It had been years since we had gone camping.
Humboldt Redwoods is not what I'm used to. The campground has little to no understory vegetation, so there is zero privacy. California parks have not been upgraded with electrical or water hookups and they have a very tight policy on running generators. My dry camping skills are not great yet and I struggled with my power management. I was concerned the entire time that I wasn't going to make it through the night on my battery given that the entire camping area is in full shade, preventing any contribution by my solar system. This park is not on my list to revisit.
An interesting thing happened with another camper while I was there. I'm pretty sure that finding it entertaining makes me a jerk... A man was camping a few sites away from us and he clearly did not know what he was getting himself into, nor had a concept of camping etiquette. Our site was next to the path to the bathroom building. Instead of staying on the path and skirting around our site, he walked right through my site. No kidding. Like, he walked between the exercise pen I set up for the dog and my campfire. Dude basically walked right through my living room. Multiple times! On his way back to his campsite, as he walked through mine for the second time, he asked me if I had camped there before. I said I hadn't and he went back to his campsite. The next thing I know, there's a roaring fire in his campsite, and I thought he was figuring things out, kind of impressed at how fast he got his fire started. At least until I saw him trying to beat a fire out of his comforter. As in bedspread, not sleeping bag... I'm not sure how it even happened, because the fire rings were knee high and solid cast iron. I saw him put the fire out and thought about whether or not to go over and sort him out, but I selfishly decided I didn't have the energy since he wasn't in any real danger. Temps weren't going to get below 50 that night. He'd be uncomfortable, but not at any real risk. He must have thought camping in state parks meant cabins. I bet he won't make that mistake twice...
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