Camping in Big Basin

We seem to talk about camping all the time, but haven't actually managed to get away since Thanksgiving. Faced with a three-day weekend (for Adam at least) and beautiful weather, we decided to try a new, semi-local destination: Big Basin. It was very enthusiastically recommended at a party recently.

Drive time from Oakland is roughly 2.5 - 3 hours (the southern route, up from Santa Cruz, is longer but much more interesting). We had some car trouble in Los Gatos, lunch at Rocky's Cafe on Highway 9, and made it to the camp headquarters by 2:30 - just in time to get one of the last campsites. As we've discovered so many times, if we decide it's a good camping weekend, it's likely that the rest of the Bay Area feels the same way.

Saturday's hike - a heavily trafficked 2.5 hour loop near park headquarters - was perfectly adequate and not at all inspiring. Big Basin has a LOT of campsites in a very centralized area. This is great if you want to walk through the redwoods with a stroller or a cigar (or both).

But, we had a great night's sleep (yes, the "beast" guzzles gas, but it does fit a queen sized air mattress!), and were up at 8 am for a more ambitious hike on the northern boundary of the park (our route shown in white on the map; this is panel 2 of this map. Total hiking time at a fast pace = 3.5 hours. Total people seen: 7 (1 trail runner, 1 photographer, 3 camping hippies, and 2 mushroom pickers). It was great - absolutely worth the trip.

The Biggest Tree in Big Basin

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Not really - but it's pretty impressive still!

The Ascent

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Really, I was enjoying myself. You just wouldn't know it here...

Not a Bad View

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Northern Boundary of the Park

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Big Basin Campsite

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Fairly nice and private, if a little small.

Yum!

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Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

Oysters

Oysters
Originally uploaded by aliciamalia.

As you can see, we take our cooking really seriously.

Adam and I hosted our first large-scale event with merged friend groups yesterday. It went off without a hitch - the rain even stopped for us. This platter Adam is holding definitely won the prize for best cooked oyster - you soak the oysters in an olive oil/salt/cilantro/vinegar base, then grill them in the shell, topped with a butter/ancho chile glaze. Yeah, they were pretty good.

We got the oysters - 150 of them - out at Tomales Bay Oyster Company. I can't wait to go back there on a sunny day - they have picnic tables and grills, so you can picnic right there at the source. It's out in Point Reyes, a little over an hour from Oakland.

January 2007 Reviews

My library queue - which has been stalled for what seems like months - seems to be moving again. I was able to get through a few titles that have been on my "to-do" list for quite some time. There's not a loser in this bunch, either - all were great reads.

1. The Painted Drum, Louise Erdrich, Rating: 4.3
Erdrich, an author I read for the first time back in October, really has an exceptional talent. The plot is layered and complex, full of well-realized characters and interesting twists. My only quibble is the cover, which depicts a woman obviously far too young and inappropriately dressed to be the narrator, or any other character. But just ignore that, and read the book.
2. Love and Louis XIV, Antonia Fraser, Rating: 4.0
Give me another six months, and I'll be an expert on European royalty. This is one of the best accounts out there. It chronicles the life of Louise XIV, and the women that shaped his life. I found it fascinating, never tedious, and extremely well-researched.
3. Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami, Rating: 4.2
I can describe all of Murakami's books in the same way - odd and fascinating - but that doesn't mean each book is at all alike. Each is odd in its own, very special way. This is no exception.
4. The Perfectionist, Rudolph Chelminski, Rating: 4.1
I realized recently that I'm swiftly heading towards the day when I'll read more non-fiction than fiction (this assumes that we consider memoirs non-fiction). It's a few years off, but coming. The Perfectionist is a prime example of what's pulling me over - carefully researched, packed with interesting information, beautifully written, and "worthwhile" - you feel like you learned something by reading it. It's the story of Bernard Loiseau, 3 star chef, and the Michelin rating system. If you like food and France, you'll enjoy this book.
5. Between Meals, A.J. Liebling, Rating: 3.8
This was a lovely follow-up to The Perfectionist. Liebling, a deceased New Yorker writer, published this collection of articles near the end of his life. The subject: eating in France. Most of the narrative concerns the late 1920s, when he was a student in Paris. Liebling considered himself a "feeder" - not a gourmet - and describes the truly massive meals he ate on a regular basis. Here's a funny little tidbit about the author: He worked briefly in the sports department of the New York Times, and was fired for listing the name "Ignoto" (Italian for "unknown") as the referee in results of games.