Big Basis 2011 - notes from a First Timer
Carlos is 8 years old and decided to to go on an over night backpacking trip to Big Basin with his school. We went and had a great time. A few notes to help my memory for next time. Just the facts! * Carlos weighs 65 pounds and we wanted to limit his pack, gear, food, and water to weigh less than 12% of his body weight. That's around 8 pounds. Yep, that's super small so I ended up carrying a lot of the stuff. * We rented a pack, tent, stove, and youth sleeping bag from REI. The rest of the gear we had or borrowed. We ended up buying new sleeping pads. I was under 20% body weight, but can't recall the exact number. We ended up bringing too much food, but it all got eaten. * When we got there the normal trail was closed so ended up taking an alternate path that was slightly longer than the normal one. I think it was 6.5 miles. We started at the park HQ and ended at the camp site. * The trail back was very easy, but it was closer to 8 miles to the parking lot. We started at the camp site and ended at a parking lot near the coast. * The camp site had trash cans and a very smelly outhouse with toilet paper. The water was a short hike away down to the waterfall. We slept in a tent and sat on the ground, one of the few logs, or a ground sheet we brought. * The kids all brought food (that I saw) -- things like cup of noodles or instant oatmeal. Only a few brought enough water or a stove, so we ended up using all our remaining fuel and water by the time we left. * Carlos did get poison oak that showed up after we got home. Fact: It was very fun!
