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| In the elevator at the train station - Jim's peg leg hit the ceiling |
Ashley, Jim, Marty and I went on an epic urban backpacking adventure to Angel Island. We got incredible fall weather for early November -- it was mild, no fog or wind and beautiful blue skies.
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| Waiting for our train |
Our "Goober Driver", Renee, dropped us off at the train station at about 9 am and we headed up to the city.
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| Jim scootering thru the City with this peg leg on his back |
We got to the city and stood around for awhile trying to decide which direction to walk in order to catch our ferry at Pier 41. A local homeless man decided it was his job to help us while he was eating a tamale! He gave us all kinds of advice the last of which was, "You'll never make it. You have a cripple with you. I am a local. It's way too far to walk." With that advice, we headed off towards the pier, walking the whole way along the Embarcadero. It was a 3.1 mile flat walk - which may seem like a long way for a city dweller, but for a backpacker, it was a walk in the park!
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| Under the Bay Bridge |
We took in all the sites and made it to Pier 41 with about 30 minutes to spare. So Jim and Marty decided to spend their free time eating hotdogs. Ashley and I decided to get a bucket of donuts!
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| Bucket of Donuts |
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| Our ferry ride took about 20 mins |
We all ate some more snacks on the ferry and were ready to hike a mile to our camping spot when we got to the island.
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| Marty helping carry Jim's back off the ferry |
While waiting around to check in for our camp spot, some woman approached Jim and said, "I saw you in Santa Cruz a few weeks ago....you sure get around." LOL! He must make an impression rushing around on that scooter.
The road to our camp spot was a bit steep in spots so it was slow roll, literally, to get there. But that allowed us to get some great views.
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| An old building - no longer used. |
Once we arrived at our campsite with amazing views, we settled down for traditional tea time on the trail! Everyone had tea and shared their snacks. This was Ashley's first backpacking trip and I was thrilled when she declared that "Tea Time" was her favorite part!
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| Our tent with the Golden Gate bridge in the background |
After tea time, Marty, Ashley and I hiked down to the beach and left Jim to fend off the aggressive raccoons that the ranger warned us about. In reality though, we never saw a racoon!
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| Ashley drinking her backpacking brew |
After a beach walk, it was beer time and time to watch the sunset and the lights come on in the city.
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| More beer as the sun set |
Once the sun set, we started making dinner. Jim and Marty brought steaks that the bbqed on the grill provided at the camp site. What a backpacking treat for them.
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| At about 7 am, the turkey vultures were waiting for Ashley to get out of her tent |
The night was mild and held an almost full moon! The next morning we woke up to another beautiful day. We had some breakfast, talked about our gear and packed up to catch the 10:20 am ferry.
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| Waiting for our morning ferry |
When we got back to the city, we walked to the Ferry Building, did a little lookey loo tourtisty stuff and then had a delicious lunch at the Hog Island Oyster Company. Ashley and I split a delicious arugula, roasted corn, yellow tomato, avocado salad with a lime yogurt dressing! It was especially yummy since the nite before we had eaten freeze dried corn in our top ramen dinner!
Then we headed to the train station where we caught the 2:00 pm train home to Diridon Station where our "Goober Driver", Renee, met us! All in all it was a great boondoggle that we would like to do again but stay two nites so we have time to explore the island more. Plus, we would like to go when Jim has two working legs!
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| A man. A beer. A peg leg. |
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