August 2012 - Hermit Valley part 1

As mentioned in the previous post, we had a great flight to California. We spent the day with my parents and started packing the next day for our family camping trip. I was so excited to be able to go to California the same time my family was going camping at our family camp site, Hermit Valley. I was very young the first time I went camping. I grew up going camping almost every year until I was in high school. Our family has some amazing (and scary) stories from Hermit Valley. Most stories involve some kind of wild animal, usually bears, or a choking child. I am so glad I grew up camping with my family. I have my own wonderful memories from reading Siddhartha on a rock, learning how to fish, hike, make a fire (or at least keep it alive), and I even have a bear story of my own.

My parents wouldn't have gone camping if I wasn't coming into town. I am so grateful they worked so hard to plan for all of us to go camping for such a short time. Whatever they didn't have for me my siblings and other family members brought to the campsite for me. I had a tent, an air mattress, a crib for Bailey, car seats, booster seats etc. Really everybody worked together to get everything we needed. Thanks family!

Driving to Hermit Valley

 There are a lot  of things I love about Hermit Valley. One thing is that it's hard to find. If you don't know to look for it, you can miss it. That just means more space for us and fewer "other" campers. Can you see the turn off here?

It looks like this when you drive by.

There are a handful of campsites once you drive down the rocky and bumpy path. The only names I can remember is First Camp, Far Camp and Sandy Beach. First Camp is, well, the first camp off the road. Far Camp is where I had my bear adventure with my brother Davy and sister-in-law, Maha. (Remember that?)

Sandy Beach is by far the best campsite. It is the largest site and has access to the creek/river.  We put our drink in bags in the water to keep our drinks cold. The kids can play in it and we wash our clothes, dishes, etc in it.

The "beach"

Andrew wasted no time and hurried in the water to play with his cousins and uncle Dan.

I love this little spot! So beautiful.

It had been almost a year since my kids saw my brother, but they had no problem playing with him.

But who couldn't love this goofy guy?!

This is a sneak peak of an upcoming post. This is a mountain we call Mt. Baldy. There are trees going up the mountain, but the top has less trees so it looks rather bald. The photo on the left is taken from camp so you can see how far away it is. The photo on the right is a little zoomed in to show the bald top.

Meet my niece, Shelby. I loved this photo so much that I photoshopped it a few times.

This is the main area of the campsite. The fire is going in the middle and chairs surround the fire with tables for food prep on the left and the beach is just behind me.

Bailey fell within the few few minutes of arriving to Hermit Valley and started crying because her hands were dirty. My kids usually don't like to be dirty. This was their first time camping and what better way to get initiated than to fall and play in the dirt. So that's what I told them to do.

Andrew had fun exploring and climbing on everything he could.

My brother, Davy, the Fire Master.

Andrew wanted to help and be a big boy so we sent him to gather wood. He took that job seriously!