Mount Diablo Camping 4/30 - 5/1

On April 30th, scouts held a one-night campout at Mount Diablo State Park which ended the next day on May 1. Despite the fact that we only had one day, we were able to accomplish a lot through the experience.

When we reached the campsite, we set up all of our tents and equipment. Then we went on a short hike in order to find our trail for the next day. Before actually arriving at the campsite we were prepared for it to be a relatively rural campsite, meaning it would have no water and no bathrooms, but we were pleasantly surprised. Not only did they have running water there, but the water was also warm. Not freezing, not room temperature, but warm, that was a luxury none of us expected. They also had porta-potties that were surprisingly clean. Going back to before, we went on a short hike, maybe 1 mile long. We cut through a field of flowers and found a large rock where we spent the majority of our time trying to climb. We also saw a sign which pointed towards Mount Diablo’s summit. From the moment the adult leaders saw it, it was decided that we would be hiking up to the summit. After our short field trip, we came back and split into groups to do certain activities.

1) We set up a dining fly. That took quite a bit of time and finessing in order to get it right.

2) We made a makeshift stretcher.

3) We created a fire using a magnesium fire starter (i think). Then we started making dinner. For dinner, we made burgers with a side of celery and hummus. While eating we talked about a guy (Alex Honnold?) who does free solo ascents (rock climbing without gear) of really big mountains, Elon Musk acquiring Twitter, school, and everything else in between. The rest of the night was filled with talking, laughing, and singing before we ended up falling asleep.

The next morning we made breakfast (bagels with cream cheese) and packed up all our stuff in preparation for our hike to the summit. The hike was going smooth, it was going slowly but it was going smooth. That is until we reached what I would say was the halfway point, probably even more. One of the adult leaders had a navigation app pulled up on their phone, and according to the app, we were going the wrong way (keep in mind all the signs on the trail said otherwise). We were all tired, it was a hot day, but after a bit of complaining, we turned around and went on a different trail. We were pretty far deep in that trail too, but lo and behold, we were going the wrong way again. This time, instead of us changing routes because of a device, it was because of some hikers nearby. After even more complaining we went back to our original route and after 30 minutes or so we were at the summit. At the summit there was a visitor center, where we were able to take a closer look at the wildlife living on Mt. Diablo, they also had a separate room where they stored pressed butterflies. In that same room, there was a tarantula that many of our troop members got to hold. The moral of the story, even when the journey is difficult the end is always fruitful. Also, don’t be too reliant on your devices.

One thing that I will say about this campsite was that it was very, very pretty, but also very, very windy. Putting up the tents was very troublesome, not only because of the wind but also because of the soil as it was very hard. Like I said before though, it was a very beautiful campsite, and I would recommend this campsite to future campers. All in all, the campout was very fun and has become a very good memory for all those that went.

YIS,

Ria