Camping: What worked and what didn’t

We’re back from our first official family camping trip. We’ve definitely done some limited camping before, but never the four of us as a family, just because. In the past it’s always been some portion of the family, joining others on an already-planned trip.

For our first family camping trip we went to Pinnacles National Park, which is about 2.5 hours south of San Francisco. I will admit that I only heard of Pinnacles before the pandemic. I couldn’t believe there was such a pretty park so close, and I didn’t even know it existed. We picked this part first because it was easy to get to, and because there was hiking to do during the days. Also, we were able to get a spot for two nights during the week between Christmas and New Years (no small feat).

We are definitely amateur campers, but we plan to do this more often this year (our 10yo is a 4th grader who is excited about the parks passes he gets this year), so I’m going to do a little run down of what worked, and what didn’t, for my own future reference as much as anything else.

What worked

Packing. We went camping with the 10yo’s class in September and brought WAY too much stuff. Right after we wrote a list of what we thought we should bring next time and we’ve revisited it in early December to make sure we had everything. This time, we did an incredible job packing. We brought exactly what we needed, and we were able to fit it all, and the four of us, in our Chevy Bolt. A couple actually came over to our camp site on the last night to remark on how unbelievable it was that we were tent camping with a Chevy Bolt. It was definitely packed to the ceiling, and we’re looking into an aluminum carry rack and all-weather storage bag for our lighter stuff (sleeping bags and mats, etc). so that we’re not quite so tight the next time. We already have the hitch on the car (for a bike rack) so it seems pretty easy to get a hauling rack.

Meals. We packed food for our trip with maximum efficiency. The only thing we would change is we’d bring the cooked spaghetti noodles in ziplock bags instead of a glass container (so obvious looking back!) We got In-n-Out for lunch on the way down and back up which left two dinners, two breakfasts and one lunch (on the trail). We brought pasta for the first dinner (cooked noodles in the cooler), hot dogs (cooked over the fire) for the second and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the hike. We also brought some bagels (the 10yo doesn’t eat sandwiches (I KNOW!) and the 13yo doesn’t eat hot dogs). Finally we had instant oatmeal and pour over coffee (pop-up pour over cones! What will they think up next!) for breakfast. We also had s’mores stuff and hot chocolate, some chips and pretzels, and walnuts and cranberries for snacks.

Weather. We really lucked out on the weather. It did rain for about an hour our first night (at 6pm – right when the weather app said it would!), but we cleaned up when it started to sprinkle, so everything was safe when it really started to rain. It was a bummer to make dinner on the wet table, and we didn’t get to build a fire the first night, but everyone (and everything!) stayed dry. And it didn’t rain again until we were leaving the park on Friday morning. It also didn’t get too cold at night. The night before our stay the low was 42*, but both nights we were there the low was a balmy 50*! I was very, very grateful for that. Honestly, on the hike we were a little over dressed and we shed many of our layers as we walked.

Hikes. Speaking of hikes, Pinnacles is a great place for hiking. Unfortunately it’s not a great place for parking (more on that below), but despite not being able to do the hike we wanted on Thursday, we still got in some great hikes.

We did a short two mile hike on Wednesday right when we got there. We got to see the caves and hike up to the Moss Reservoir. The caves were hard to navigate, but otherwise it was a pretty easy hike. The perfect way to start our stay.

Thursday there was a major parking-related snag (more below) that meant we had to forgo the hike I really wanted to do. We ended up walking 8.7 miles on Thursday – 5 miles to and from the main trail heads, and 3.7 miles up to Condor Gulch. The kids were real troopers. I was super bummed to miss out on the High Peaks Trail, but we did get to see them from our hike.

Sleep. I, of course, didn’t sleep great either night, but we went to bed so early (around 9pm) and got up at a decent hour (around 7:30-8am) both days, so I did get a LOT of not very good sleep. Honestly, I’ll take it. Neither kid slept super well the first night, but everyone slept better the second night. Probably because we were all exhausted from all that walking. This may seem like something that didn’t go great, but honestly we slept way better than I was expecting.

Charging the car. There were two chargers by the Visitor’s Center and we were able to get our car on one of them the second night. This meant we had more freedom to choose a spot for lunch on the way back home. We were also able to snag a spot in Gilroy, while we ate at In-n-Out. We did need to wait a little while for one to open up, but it only ended up being 10ish minutes.

The kids. The kids did great. The 10yo was super stoked to go, but definitely struggled with the down time. The 13yo was not super stoked to go (even before she learned she was missing out on a last minute trip with friends because of going), but she really showed up with a positive attitude. They definitely bickered a fair amount, but all in all they were positive and had a good time. I really appreciate both of them and their attitudes.

What didn’t work

Parking. Thursday we got up to the Day Use Area Parking, where all the main hikes start, and there was no where to park. And so many people trying to park. We had to drive back to the campsite and start from there, which was 2.5 miles from all the trail heads. There is sometimes a shuttle, but there wasn’t one that day. I was super bummed out, because I was planning on a 5.6 mile hike for us, and there was no way we could do that with the 5 miles of round trip hiking we’d have to do just to get the trail head and back. I read up a lot about which hikes to take, and not one article mentioned the fact that the day use parking would fill up so fast, and then they’d just close it down until 2:30pm. If we had known we easily could have gotten up there earlier. I was super disappointed. Running a shuttle back and forth seems like such an easy fix. Maybe they do it on the weekends? Or in the summer? There are only spaces for about 50-75 cars across the three day use lots. So many people had to go back down to the campsite to park.

Showers. The campsite says it has showers. And it does. But they are cold. Like, just tap water cold. And in December that tap water is very cold indeed. This wasn’t a big deal for most of us, but the 13yo was quite put out about it. She was feeling VERY greasy and grimy by our third day there.

Campsite. Our campsite was right by the Visitor’s Center and RIGHT by the RV dumping station. I did not love this. We knew where the spot was when we picked it. It was the ONLY spot available for the two nights we wanted, when we changed our reservation. Ultimately it was fine, because we were there mid-week and it wasn’t too crazy, but I was not thrilled with our spot. At least we were close to the bathrooms!

Water. We didn’t bring our big water jug because there was potable water, and we really didn’t have space for it in the car. The water spigot ended up being pretty close, but it was still a pain in the ass to keep filling up our water bottles for everything, especially washing the dishes. We will definitely be investing in a water bag for the next time we camp.

Not much “didn’t work,” actually, which is amazing! All in all it was a great first attempt at family camping. We’re definitely looking at carry hauls for the hitch on the back of the cat so we could add a night to a camping trip in the future, but we’re very pleased with how well we did this time (and two nights felt perfect for me.) I have to admit, I have not generally been a big of fan of camping, but I love hiking and can get behind camping that allows me to walk around in nature for long distances. This definitely delivered on that, and I suspect there are many other places in California that can as well.