Haypress Trip #2

 Last year's Haypress trip was abandoned because I got sick and there was forecast for rain, so I handed over everything to Mickey and Stephan. Haypress Campground is one of the few campgrounds where I can regularly get a reservation. This year, I grabbed two sites one Friday morning and got Stephan and Kevin to bring their kids.

We got in early, with me making 3 trips to the car and setting up our brand new North Face Wawona tent. The others eventually showed up with the stove and we got in some apple cider and mint tea before heading off on our designated adventure of the day, the Miwok/Coastal Loop with a side trip to Pirate's Cove.

On our last Haypress trip, we'd explored the area while Boen had fallen asleep in the tent. This time, I knew the correct approach was to climb the Miwok trail. The climb is steep but would be more or less manageable with a bit of walking here and there.

Up on the ridge the views of the Bay became spectacular.

Stephan deployed his towline to tow Otto up the hill --- I'd stopped using my towline as Bowen and Boen are now strong enough to ride wherever I can go, and I knew that I'd already spent a few matches towing the trailer back and forth 3 times.

Once past the summit, however, it was a thrilling descent all the way down to the coastal trail intersection with Pirate's Cove. At the pirate's cove intersection, we locked all the bikes together and hiked down the trail to the beach. The benefit of camping at Haypress is that you can go to the beach after all the tourists have gone home, and you get the place to yourself.

Once back to the bikes the descent back to the campground should have been easy, but I'd forgotten that the reason I thought Miwok was a better approach was that the climb up was slippery and full of loose gravel, and Boen crashed trying to keep up with his brother. Bowen had definitely gotten so good at descending since Whistler that on his skinny commuting tires he was confident and fast.

We made dinner at camp and slept well in our nicely ventilated tent --- Calvin no longer fit in his parents' tent and so slept over in our 6 person tent on a borrowed sleeping mat from Stephan --- the perils of growing up!

I got up at 6am to an almost cloudless sky but quickly the fog set in and created nasty condensation on the tent, so I had to pack it up wet. The ride back out to the car was gorgeous, and thanks to all the food we'd eaten and the help of our friends I only made 2 trips!