Easy Getaway: China Camp

Trips, Weekends

There’s a place just north of San Francisco that used to be home to a fishing village of over 500 Chinese immigrants. Before that it was a dairy ranch belonging to a wealthy Irish-American family. And long before that it was the home and hunting grounds of the Miwok people for hundreds of years. After most of the Chinese fishermen left, the land was saved from potential developers, and turned into a protected state park for us to enjoy.

These pieces of land transfer from one hand to the next, serving different purposes for each. Who uses it best? Who deserves it the most? Who should it belong to? Now it belongs to the State, and therefore to all of the people, more or less. Although you can’t use it to farm your cows, catch shrimp, or fully sustain your life anymore, you can use it to enjoy the outdoors, and to be thankful that one more stretch of the Bay’s coast so close to the ever expanding city was spared. Happy Earth Day!

All photos taken with 35mm film on a Canon AE-1.

Until the Dam Breaks: Hetch Hetchy to Tiltill Valley

Trips, Weekends

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to Tiltill Valley

Out and Back – 18.6 Miles

Saturday – Hetch Hetchy to Tiltill Creek (in Tiltill Valley) – 9.3

Sunday – Back to Hetch Hetchy – 9.3

The mark is still there from the mid 90’s, the painted-over crack and words that an environmentalist artist repelled and painted in the middle of the night on the O’Shaughnessy Dam. The words echoed John Muir, “Free the Rivers.”

It’s hard not to agree; hydroelectric power is on its way out, and wild salmon populations have been decimated by the hatchery system. Restoration seems appropriate now, seems necessary now if we want wild salmon to have a fighting chance of survival or hope to see some of our most scenic rivers run free.

There are 75,000 dams in the US alone, a third of which are over 50 years old, and 14,000 of which are considered “high-hazard,” meaning their failure could result in the loss of human life. This isn’t just an environmental issue, it’s an issue of infrastructure in disrepair and public safety. It just happens to have an environmental facet as well.

Stepping down from our soap box, we can think on this from the point of view of the future; of what our children and our children’s children are able to experience and share with their friends and families. Of what they are able to gain knowledge and experience from, and what kind of people we give them the ability to become. There is a direct correlation between our decisions today and the outdoors and America’s natural lands tomorrow, it’s time for that to be recognized.

cramped up hetch hetchy reservoire

All photos taken with 35mm film on a Canon AE-1.

A Walk through the Wildflowers: Merced River Trail

Trips, Weekends

Merced River Trail

Railroad Flat Camp to North Fork intersection – Out + Back – 5 miles

Spring engulfed the land surrounding the Merced River. Every step we took brought us to a new spread of flowers, tall grasses, and butterflies. Literally butterflies everywhere. As the warm sun cloaked our shoulders we felt lucky to be in such a place for two entire days. With not so far to go, the river and its creeks and its bursting flowers were ours for the taking. Walking, dipping, napping, collecting, eating, drinking, and singing. That’s all we needed.

Merced River - Josh - Cramped Up

Merced River - yellow flowers 2 - Cramped Up

Merced River - flowers 2 - Cramped Up

All photos taken with 35mm film on a Canon AE-1, except yellow poppy photo.

Backcountry Dinner: Burritos

Campfire Eats

This is a bit more complicated than our usual ramen or tortellini dinner in the backcountry, but it’s relatively easy, feeds at least 6 people if needed, and is damn good!

– Burrito Recipe –

Tools:

2 Pots and 2 Cookstoves

1 Hot Fire (or a 3rd Pot/Cookstove if no fires allowed, or you’re using dehydrated beans)

Spoons/sporks

Ingredients:

6 Flour Tortillas

1 Can Refried Beans (or dehydrated beans for less weight)

2 Pouches of Instant Rice

1 Lb of Lean Ground Beef, Dehydrated

1 Packet of Taco Seasoning – mix with dehydrated beef in a ziplock at home

Block of cheese of choice

Avocado

Bell Peppers (optional)

Hot Sauce Packets (steal from your local taco bell)

Water

Do:

Boil two pots of water (one full, one 1/4 full). In the full pot toss in the instant rice packets (follow the box instructions, usually needs to boil for 10 min). In the 1/4 pot, stir in your dehydrated beef with taco seasoning, add more water if needed. Keep cooking and stirring for about 10 min until the beef is hydrated and tastes flavorful. Meanwhile have a friend heat the can of beans in the fire, or re-hydrate your dehydrated beans in the third pot.

As an extra not-necessary-but-delicious addition, we fire roasted some bell peppers. Once hot and lightly charred, slice up for serving. Slice up the avocado. Slice up the cheese into thin easily meltable shreds. Display your hot sauce packets.

Once everything’s cooked, lay out your tortilla, load it up with all the fixings of your choosing, and roll it up tightly. Burritos!

Click CONTINUE READING for more photos.

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Tread Lightly: Walking the Lost Coast Trail

A Little Longer, Trips

Lost Coast Trail – Mattole River to Black Sands Beach

North to South – 24.6 miles

Day 1 – 8.3 miles – Mattole River to Randall Creek

Day 2 – 9.7 miles – Randall Creek to Shipman Creek

Day 3 – 6.6 miles – Shipman Creek to Black Sands Beach

Slowly. Step, wait, step; balance, step. Head down, eyes on your feet, step, look up to the hazy California coast dropping to the fury of the winter Pacific, step; the rock you’re on wobbles, slides, and down, propped up by a hand. Struggle. A push up with forty on your back, a knee that says no, an aching body that only wants a view; affirmation.

Sand. Soft dry sand, wet firm sand, granular sand, powdery sand, sand with rocks, sand with sticks, sand with seaweed. Step, sink, step. Slow going on this section, tide is returning and your race to escape it takes on new urgency. In a few hours violent waves mercilessly pummel rock into sand. Move along.

Blocked. Stuck, knee deep and rushing; gallons upon gallons screaming for escape. You gaze up and down the stream, hoping to see something different, a log, a series of rocks, nothing. Pack off, bend down, laces untie, boots off; step. Slowly, carefully, propped by a pole, still slipping; stub a toe, a curse. Other side, trail in front, boots on, laced up, forty on your back; step.

A bluff; bright green, well fed grass, a worn trail of firm dirt to coast along. Up and down, side to side, eyes ahead; take it in, and down. Rocks. A uniform groan and it begins. Slowly. Step, wait, step; balance, step. Head down, eyes on your feet, step.

Cramped Up Lost Coast 1

Cramped Up Lost Coast 4

Cramped Up Lost Coast 12

Cramped Up Lost Coast 4

All photos taken with 35mm film on a Canon AE-1.

First Tracks: Jerky Making

Campfire Eats, Misc.

We love jerky; we love it on the trail, we love in our house, we love it when we are driving in our car from our house to get on the trail. If you’re like us, and can get your hands on a dehydrator, this super easy recipe might be for you. A disclaimer: while we are all about making our own marinades, rubs, etc… when something is done well for you, there is no need to screw with it. Soy Vay is by far the best teriyaki flavor for meat (poultry, beef, pork, fish) we have ever come across and thus we use it. Feel free to judge but, you’re the one missing out.

Tools:

Nesco Dehydrator

Ingredients:

2lb London Broil (yields 3/4 lb jerky)

Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki

Do:

So easy! First, take your cut of meat and put in the freezer for a couple hours, this will make it easier to slice thin. Once the meat is a bit more firm, not frozen all the way, slice it into 1/4″ strips. From there marinate your strips in Soy Vay – Veri Veri Teriyaki overnight.

Next, you will lay out your marinated strips on your dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 160 degrees for 10-12 hours taking a paper towel and soaking up any moisture periodically as the meat dries. That’s it, that’s all. Take it out and enjoy it, we aren’t sure how long it keeps, but chances are it won’t last that long anyway.

Gear: What we’re cooking with

Gear

MSR – Whisperlite

The MSR Whisperlite has remained relatively unchanged for upwards of twenty years; this alone is a testament to just how awesome this piece of outdoors gear is. We have put tons of kitchen time in on ours alone; we’ve cooked turkey for Thanksgiving, countless trout in the Sierras, and most any other camping delight or mundanity that you could think up. It’s easy to clean, easy to use, fairly light, fairly compact, and generally really reliable; no wonder it’s been around so long. Tried, True, and Tested, we love this stove.

Obstructed: The Journey to Ventana Double Cone

A Little Longer, Trips

Ventana Double Cone – Out + Back – 34 miles

Day 1 – 8.5 miles – Bottcher’s Gap to Pat Spring

Day 2 – 17 miles – Pat Spring to Double Cone Summit and back to Pat Spring

Day 3 – 8.5 miles – Pat Spring to Bottcher’s Gap

Two women eager to tackle Double Cone. Seemed fitting. But when we read the tid bits of information online about the trail to Ventana Double Cone in Big Sur, the results were confusing. Some “reviews” told of an impassable, totally obstructed trail with zero water, while others spoke of it as a delightful hike with gorgeous views; the mileage was unclear. Per usual with internet findings you have to find the truth somewhere in the middle. Or by just trying it out for yourself. We found out pretty much for sure that there was water at our camp destination at Pat Spring, and decided to take on the potential challenge. How obstructed could a trail really be?

We doubted our negative informers, and we underestimated ourselves. The trail was longer than planned, and invisible at times, but we found our way to the top of Double Cone. And back down. We had nearly enough daylight left to take some photos, write in the mountain-top log book, and begin our 8.5 mile journey back to camp, with the last hour and a half in the dark. We didn’t listen to everything we were told by the internet, or the Eeyore-like ranger, or even those we encountered along the way. We took pieces of it all, said fuck it and went for it, and ended up with a true adventure of our own.

CrampedUp_DoubleCone_1

All photos taken with 35mm film on a Canon AE-1.

Dutch Oven Dinner: Chicken & Okra Gumbo with Honey Skillet Cornbread

Campfire Eats

One of our favorite things to cook in cast iron is cornbread. This time we decided to try it out over the fire to go with an easy-speedy version of Chicken Gumbo. Now Gumbo Purists may scoff, but for a fast, flavorful and we think quite tasty stew cooked over a fire, this does the trick. The spice heats up your body real fast, making this great for a chilly night.

CrampedUp_ making cornbread

CrampedUp_butter castiron

Chicken & Okra Gumbo

Tools:

12″ Dutch Oven

cutting board or cardboard

stirring spoon

measuring cup

medium heat fire

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2-4 tablespoons of secret Gumbo spice, depending on how spicy you want it

2 red bell peppers, chopped [tip: chop these, onions and garlic at home so it’s ready to go]

1 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt + pepper

4cups water or chicken broth

1 package (10 ounces) frozen, cut okra

1 package of smoked andouille sausage (precooked), chopped into half-rounds

1 rotisserie chicken (about 2 1/2 pounds), meat shredded – remove skin and bones [do this at home too]

Do:

Place the Dutch Oven in the fire, where it’s over decent heat but not ragingly hot. Heat up the oil then add the flour and a few pinches of the Gumbo Spice to make your roux, and keep stirring it constantly until golden (this happens quickly over the heat, about a minute or two). Add in the red peppers, onion, garlic and oregano, season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add 4 cups of water or chicken broth to the mix. Add the Okra in. At this point if you have vegans or vegetarians with you, let this cook for a bit (add more spice, salt and pepper to flavor), and then let them eat. Then add in the sausage, and let that cook for about 10 minutes to let the flavor set in. Lastly, add in the shredded chicken. Once it’s fully warm, dig in and serve with a piece of fresh cornbread (see below for recipe).

Click below for full cornbread recipe and more photos!

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A Warm Winter’s Hike

Just A Day, Trips

Winter. It can mean different things to different people. It represents the end of a year, a time to hibernate indoors, and a chance for the plants and animals to take a rest before the cycle starts a-new. It means unimaginable cold temperatures in most of the country, where you don’t dare go outside unless you absolutely must. In these places in January, you know you’re only half-way through this season, and you’ll have to wait until April, or even May, before you’re hanging around in a t-shirt again.

In California, winter is just a New England’s Autumn day, yet it’s cold feeling when you’re used to temperate weather all year round. But every year since we moved to this great state we are granted a few weeks of real warmth and sunshine right smack in the middle of January. It’s like clockwork, and maybe it didn’t used to be like this, and maybe global warming is to thank, but we appreciate the thaw and the chance to enjoy some beautiful places that are usually bitter cold (by California standards) this time of year.

Hike to Upper Yosemite Falls – Yosemite National Park – 7.2 miles round trip

This is North America’s tallest waterfall at 2,425 ft.

All photos shot with 35mm film on a Canon AE-1.