Coyote Lake Camping – August 16-18, 2013

IMG_6965There you have if folks, another successful camping trip in the books!  Brandee (my wife), Jack (our dog) and I packed up the car once again to make our second camping trip in three weeks.  The weather conditions were ideal; not too hot, not too cold and no rain in the forecast.  We were ready and eager to head-out on an adventure.  The anticipation in our house had been growing as Brandee and I were making our plans you could also feel that Jack’s eagerness to head into the wilderness was also building.

IMG_6966After several weeks of planning with a bunch of my technology-minded friends, we all packed up our gear and headed out to Coyote Lake Park for two nights and three days of fun, sun and socializing.  Coyote Lake was the same place Brandee and I were at a few weeks ago and we were nearly in the same location this time so we were well-prepared with knowledge of the campgrounds.  I reserved a total of three campsites.  Each campsite is big enough for 2-3 tents and Coyote Lake is also a dog-friendly campground so the finally tally of people and pets was as follows:

  • People:  17!
  • Pets:  7!

Yep, you got that right, 17 people and 7 dogs (pets)!  It was SO much fun with all the activity going on.  Never a dull moment.

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IMG_6972On this particular adventure we were joined by Marc (with his family, friend and three dogs), Semyon (with his family), Eugene (with his wife), Chris (with his wife and three dogs), and Ivan (with his family).

We all arrived at Coyote throughout the day on Friday afternoon so between 3pm and 8pm-ish most of the time was busy just helping get everyone setup and conformable with the settings.  By evening everyone was well prepared and ready to have a great time for the weekend.

 

semyon eugene kevin ivan coyote lake 08 17 13So all of us technology nerds arrive at the campground with either non-existent, or at the best, weak internet signal so this indicated our sincere dedication to disconnecting from the cyber-world and connecting with each other (face-to-face) as people.  Overall, this is absolutely what I enjoyed most about this particular excursion — the social interaction between all the groups was tremendous.  One of the most amazing events happened, by total coincidence, which was remarkable.  Four of us had worn t-shirts advertising different U.S. cities such as New York, Boston and San Jose.  I assure you this was not planned but it was quite a hilarious experience!

 

eugene kevin chris marc smoking cigars coyote lake 08 17 13One special moment that was absolutely noteworthy was that one of the camping participants (whom shall remain nameless) brought a bottle of nice Scotch and a few cigars for ‘the boys’ to enjoy. So we all gathered our lounge chairs on Chris’ camp site and talked about solving the world’s most serious problems (insert sarcasm here) as well as other topics way beyond my meager brains compute power. This picture does not pay true justice to all the fun of the event, however.  Not pictured are all of the other campers, friends and family that came to socialize together.  This was an absolute highlight for me to gather everyone in an informal setting and just being fun together.

A personal highlight of this trip was a long, roughly 5+ mile walk I went on with Semyon and his wife.  When I say long, I mean extremely long :-) but it was great fun.  Neither Jack nor I are used to so much physical activity.  Give me a computer keyboard and internet access and I’m wickedly active but long walks, I’m just not accustomed to.  We walked nearly the entire length of the lake and back!

IMG_7006I would like to say that Coyote Lake has some of the most wonderful and kind park rangers.  Every single one of them has been so kind and helpful.  Coyote Lake is highly recommended as a convenient place in the San Francisco Bay Area for overnight camping, day picnics, fishing or all sorts of water activities.

In summary, I would like to thank everyone (and of course their willing families) for such a great memory.  This was the sort of adventure that lasts a lifetime.  So much fun and I can’t wait to do it again very soon!

Additional Photos of our fun:

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This article has 1 Comment

  1. Nice! Dont forget to start booking your Yosemite trip, Reservations are now open for Spring 2014 (march only), The rivers will be flowing nicley as the start of the spring run-off will be in full force.

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