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Greetings from the Henry Cowell State Park near Santa Cruz! Last weekend, a couple high school friends and I decided to rough it in the redwoods for a few days. Well, roughing it as much as 5 city girls (and 1 guy) can.
We arrived at the campsite Friday afternoon, both cars laden with barbecue and camping supplies. After setting up the tents, it was time to make the fire. Another friend and I decided it was much more fun to try and spark a fire without matches, so with dried moss as tinder, we spent the afternoon hunched over the pit repeatedly striking the magnesium flint. Two hours and many sparks later, there was a roaring fire and we roasted hot links and sausages for dinner.
That night, we went on a night hike up to the observatory deck to see the stars. By the time we got there, the full moon was just starting to rise over the tree tops.
The rest of the night was spent in the tent drinking and playing card games until 2AM. I also managed to catch this picture of the tent lit from within, lighting up the dark forest. I didn’t take very many photos on the trip, but out of the few, this one is my favorite.
The next day we went hiking up to the creek about 2 miles away, tanned and played around in the water. There were really big crawfish in the stream! I’m not sure what the average crawfish size is, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t supposed to be bigger than my hand.
We were pretty hungry by the time we got back to the campsite, so we got the fire started (the “normal way”, with a lighter this time), and began the barbecue with sausages, short ribs, chicken wings, and marinated pork. We even wrapped yams and corncobs in aluminum foil and set them next to the coals to bake in the fire pit.
At the end of the night, it was nice to spend some time around the campfire watching the embers die down as the last of the logs burned.