Presidents Day Campout
February 15-17, 2003
By Jeff Shipley
We had to go early on Friday Morning, (Valentines Day), to meet friends who were traveling to Spokane on the train. They were to be at the Santa Barbara station near noon. Shirley and I left a little earlier to get there on time. This gave us some of the going to work traffic. However, we did go the 210 to the 5 to the 126 to the 101, which made it fairly easy, only a few hang-ups.
The train was running late, a usual occurrence we understand. It was good that the train was late, as we did not know how to maneuver our trailer to the appointed station. The friends had requested us to bring ice for their beer; apparently ice is limited on the train!
|
|
El Capitan State Beach |
Anyway, we met them only for a few minutes, then traveled north to El Capitan State Beach for our campout. It is located 20 miles north of Santa Barbara. We had been to El Capitan only once, when we were flooded out of Refugio State Beach, just 3 miles north. At that time we were put into an overflow parking lot. Also the rain and wind prevented us from exploring the rest of the park. This was to be quite different. Arriving at the gate at 2 PM, the attendant told us to go explore the different loops and pick out a group of spots for our club.
This was great and we found a nice group of spots in the middle campground. Very soon Judy and Walt Schenkel joined us. The weather was great, sunshine and 8 MPH wind, just enough to put a chop on the water. I knew that there would not be any diving, due to the recent rains, causing muddy water out 300 to 500 feet from shore. But this was to be a very relaxing weekend. As the weekend progressed, the attendant was changed at the gate, causing Linda and Lloyd Howell and their three boys to be sent to the first loop, where the train trestle is very close! Later Carol and Rick Gold were also sent to that very undesirable loop, and they were directly under the train trestle!! When we found out the mistake, Rick and Carol moved and the Howell’s decided it was not necessary to move. When Rosa, Jack and Faith arrived we had everything set out for a spot in the center loop. Finally we were all happy.
El Capitan has many trees and a very nice beach. There are a lot of things to do around this area and we only covered a few. Bicycle riding from El Capitan to Refugio, beach combing, hiking in the hills, etc. Part of the group decided to hike to the hot springs, just north of Gaviota pass. This was a 45-minute uphill in the muddy trail to get to the hot spring pool. Walt and Judy got their bathing suits on and did get in as the rest of us just watched them dip into the rotten egg smelling water. (These are supposed to make you younger, something about the fountain of youth). The walk down was easier and then part of us decided to go further up the pass and travel to “Nojoqui” Park. There is a 240-foot waterfall that runs all year long. (It is the highest in Southern California). We arrived at the park and took the 10-minute, not very steep walk up the canyon. It was spectacular! I had been there over 20 years before and had forgotten how nice it was.
The Saturday night potluck dinner was great! As always, we have a lot of wonderful cooks in the club. Rain had been predicted for Saturday night, although we were able to sit around the campfire telling stories, cooking mars mellows and making “smores” for a while, before the light mist began and chased us back to our trailers and tents. We had our usual ice cream social and played dice games throughout the weekend. It was sad when we had to pack up on Monday and get back to the normal grind. We will probably go to El Capitan again, as it is very nice.
Back to Camping
(Home) (Boat Dives) (Buddy List) (Campouts) (Diving Links) (Dive Spots & Dive Boats) (Diving Time Line) (Email) (Meetings) (Membership) (Recipes) (Safety & Education) (News Letters AKA Snorkel Talk) (Non Sequitur) (Updates)
Updated September 16, 2003