Mono Lake

It's actually been a week since I came back from the camping trip. I've been too busy to write about it, but I thought I should so that I remember this trip.

Every year, we take the kids to the Mono Lake, which is about 6 hours drive from Los Angeles (including about 3 bathroom breaks). The group consisted of 15 kids and 4 staff members. Since I was the only driver with class B license, I was responsible for driving the big van to transport all the boys. The drive was not bad at all and the size of the van did not bother me one bit. The only thing was that there was a crack on the windshield right in my view and that annoyed the hell out of me.

Day 1
I took this first picture on the way to Mono Lake on the first day. It looks like I took a picture of an empty field, but this pastel-colored land was once a big lake called Owens Lake. The aqueduct that was built in the...40s? provided water for the city of Los Angeles but the lake was completely dreained in 16 years. Mono Lake became the next source and its water level was going down quickly. The Mono Lake Committee was founded to protect the lake. We also passed Manzanaar on the way.

After we arrived and unloaded the van, we started the program (tour) with an opening ceremony. The committee welcomed us to the cabin with a water toast. We each had to chug a glass of water. They urged everyone to drink lots of water to prepare for the hike. Actually, I don't think it was just for the hike. I had no problem doing so because it was very dry up there. We each got a big bottle of water and kept drinking nonstop. I drank so much water that I went to the bathroom about 6 times in about 5 hours.

After dinner we went out for a night walk. They took us to a Jeffrey Pine forest, which I believe are these tress in this picture. We brought no flash lights and walked in complete darkness. The moonlight was enough to know where everyone was and to see the difference between the trail and other parts of the ground. The trees smell sweet like vanilla.

We hiked a little bit as a group, then we did a solo walk down the same trail. I walked slow enough that I would not catch up to the person in front of me. I wanted to feel completely alone in the woods. It really did feel as if there were no one else around. Some kids were scared and thought that there might be people hiding to scare them. but really, who's gonna come all the way from LA, hide in the middle of nowhere just to mess with you? I tried to stop a few times just to feel the silence and the feeling of being alone. It was quite amazing.

It was mandatory for us to sleep outside with our sleeping bags. The temperature dropped to somewhere in the low 50s or so. Brrr!!!!! I had a pretty decent sleeping bag but it wasn't enough. I woke up many times :(

OK I'm sleepy now...more tomorrow. That's the end of day 1.