RBW Owners Bunch Bay Area Mt Diablo Ride / Camp Sept 24-25th

[Stephen S]

Starting a thread for pics and talk about the recent bike ride up Mt Diablo with camping trip. Rene has already posted one shot last night but wanted a central thread for pics. 

I'll start with some pics that I posted to flickr earlier : 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/noryia/sets/72157627627950185/

I had a great time.  Rene, Anne, and I met up with Tony, Nathon, and Dustin. Dustin had to finish work but the rest of us took off at a leisurely pace. Even though Rene had some bike issues with his front derailer and his tires and was farther behind we tried to wait up for him at certain spots. Through this we met up with Horace and Erin who were joining us but hadn't actually responded to any of the threads so, Bonus! 

We did make it up before dark and got some fairly spacious camping spots. 

Some raccoons tried to run off with some of our food as we realized that they were smart enough to get into the cabinets that were keeping our food safe. Dustin came to the rescue by appearing out of nowhere with some concrete which kept the doors closed. 

Dustin left early in the morning, after eating some breakfast, to head off to work. Luckily there were some showers at the Juniper camp that we stayed at. We headed down after some group photos. One flat and some time later and we were at the bottom and on our way back to Riv headquarters. 

Thanks everyone for coming out. Thanks Rene and Tony for setting stuff up and getting the sites. I believe the talk was to try and do these more often so count me in!

Stephen

[Eric Norris]

Looks fun, except for the sleeping on the ground part.

What's an "enfused" photo?

—Eric N

Sent from my iPad2

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[Stephen S]

The sleeping on the ground part is not that bad as we were in tents and on sleeping pads. Granted laying down on my bed after getting home reminded me how much I like my bed. =)

I use a software called LR/Enfuse to blend multiple photos together to have a more complete exposure . http://www.photographers-toolbox.com/products/lrenfuse.php I was shooting 3 shots at a time to do some HDR shots of the sunset. 

[Tony]

It WAS a great time. A varied bunch with excellent taste in bicycles
and a common dislike of racoons. Dinner time squeezed around one
picnic table relaxing and sharing chocolate (thanks Erin and Dustin),
talk turned to camp stoves, root beer and cilantro. A few photos I
took include my first bobcat sighting:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51959000@N08/sets/72157627753024026/

There was talk of getting together again, perhaps on the other side of
the bay, and I can't wait.

Tony

[Anne Paulson]

On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 5:03 PM, Eric Norris <campyo...@me.com> wrote:
> Looks fun, except for the sleeping on the ground part.

In my old age, I've resorted to the Big Agnes insulated inflatable air
mattress. Every time I take the five minutes it takes to blow it up, I
swear I'll go back to a Thermarest, and every time I lie down on it, I
remember why I don't sleep on a Thermarest any more.

As Stephen wrote, we went up Diablo at a leisurely pace, which, it
turned out, was great. After a while I found myself alone; I think
Rene was having some problems with his chain hitting his tire, and I
had ridden a bit ahead. And, because it was getting late in the
afternoon, that meant *alone*. The day cyclists we'd seen at the lower
elevations had mostly gone home, as had the motorists, mostly. A
playful bobkitten appeared on the road, completely unafraid of me,
only to be scared away by a rare car. (But it was back when Tony
passed, and that time no motorist appeared so he got a picture which
he will post, right Tony?)
On weekends at midday, with all the bike traffic, Mt Diablo can seem a
bit frantic (though still great), but later in the afternoon one can
appreciate the solitude in the park.

I got to the campground a little after Tony, and we managed to find a
big campsite with a little campsite connected to it, so we had lots of
area to camp, two picnic tables and two food lockers. Juniper
Campground is set on the side of the mountain, with an overlook that
you've seen in the pictures. When we first arrived, I could see the
fog creeping over the coast range far away. By the time the sun set,
we were in an island of land above a marshmallow puff of fog as far as
we could see.

While we were finishing up dinner, Stephen or someone remarked on the
"smoke" blowing around the campsite. No, that was the fog moving in on
us. When I had made my packing list earlier in the week during a heat
wave, I felt silly including a wool undershirt, wool sweater, as well
as a stripy wool hat I made from sock yarn remnants, but when the fog
started rolling in, I was glad to put them all on.

We'd brought an interesting variety of food, much of it shared,
including rather a lot of freeze-dried backpacker food and some
superior salami Dustin showed up with. Erin demonstrated her excellent
taste by bringing *and sharing* some dark chocolate with sea salt.
Super.

I camped under a large pine. We had no rain, but my pine strained
enough fog out of the air that I might as well have been camping in my
own little drizzle. Happily, my tent is waterproof, and though wet on
the outside remained cozy and dry on the inside. The rest of us, I
think, stayed dry, and Nathan didn't even have to put his fly on his
tent.

Raccoon depredation during the night didn't dampen our spirits the
next morning. We rode down the hill, then parted, talking of a future
trip.

Grant Ranch Park on Mount Hamilton, first weekend in November?

--
-- Anne Paulson

My hovercraft is full of eels

[Horace]

Had a great time. Thanks, everyone!

More photos:
http://goo.gl/7aGNm

[Stephen S]

Thanks Horace, Great Shots!

Anne, great right up. Thanks for including my nonsense about the fog. I guess you can't always take the desert out of a person. I believe Tony posted the pic shortly before you posted.

[EastBayGuy]

It was a pleasure to meet everyone last night. It's a bummer I did not get to ride up or down with everyone. That's what I get for doing and S240 in the middle of my work week.

Looking forward to November.

Dustin G
WC Ca

[ercarlso]

It was great to meet and camp with all of you. The route, the
mountain, the weather and the company were all perfect ... well, the
raccoons were naughty. Anyway, it's only my second camp trip on my
Betty Foy, and it just handles great with all my gear strapped on the
back. That really adds to the pleasure of the experience. I hope to
do another trip like this soon.

I have a few more pictures to add to our pile: http://goo.gl/0C4qU

Erin