We had been so busy with work, that our family needed to miss our annual church camping trip in September. To try to make up for it, I reserved a campground at Point Mugo State Park, north of Los Angeles for a few nights. I wanted to show a few pictures and make some tree comments!
Campsite at Point Mugo State Park, CA
We set up in a really nice site with huge Sycamore trees shading us. We reserved a site online and chose one in the canyon across Hwy 1 from the ocean, rather than one on the beach. I think the beach sites would be nice with an RV but not so nice with tents. I wondered about the trees structural integrity, especiallly with the strong offshore winds that kicked up several afternoons. I hoped the California State Arborists were on top of things! There were some huge old pruning cuts that had healed over well. Here is a big one that was close to the ground:
Mostly healed over pruning cut that was huge!
We didn’t have a lot of pressing things to do, so we took some extra time and prepared some nice meals using firewood. We brought a barrel of cured Mesquite from some of my tree jobs over and it burned very nicely.
Mesquite Campfire
After the fire died down, we used the Dutch Oven to cook various things on the different nights we there. Cooking with coals from the campfire is a little more difficult than using charcoal brickettes, but it seems more authentic. The first time we tried it we put a temperature probe into the Dutch Oven and tried to get it up to the prescribed baking temperature – it never got that hot, but the desert was charred! Now we just cook for a while, peek now & then and test it when we think it is done. It worked very well this trip!
Dutch Oven Cooking Desert!
The children enjoyed getting their feet wet although the water (and air) were very cool. The good thing about the low temperatures was that there were few people around and we were not overrun with crowds. I think during the heat of summer this area would be too busy for me!
We spent most of the time on the beach looking at the water but did go for one short hike in the hills. I recognized some of the plant species and more of the families, but many of the trees and shrubs were new to me. I picked up a couple seeds that I want to try to grow in the greenhouse. The will probably not like the Sonoran Desert summers, but who knows, they may make it!
Sunset, Hwy 1 and the beach campsites from the Overlook Trail.
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