Phase 2 of Retirement Sabbatical Year of Discernment

Here we are ready to begin Phase 2 of the Retirement Sabbatical Year of Discernment in our Camp Host "uniforms."

Camp Taylor at Samuel P Taylor State Park

    After driving 13,135 miles in July, August, September and October through 34 states, 20 National Parks and countless other locations we spent a week at our Colfax home base with daughter Ruth and granddaughter Avi. Avi really enjoyed the cats and spent as much time in LesThora as she could determined to get them both to let her pet them. She learned all their hiding places and finally they gave up resisting her attempts at getting close to them. Cats, at least these two, seem to be naturally wary of small people, and of course Straus rarely lets anyone but Rob and I even see him.

    While in Colfax we retrieved our Subaru from the garage in San Bruno, took care of doctor's visits, did the laundry, and I bought new walking shoes to replace the ones I had worn out.

Avi's determination to make friends with Straus was rewarded by his letting her cuddle with him.

    Sunday, November 1, we left Colfax with Rob driving LesThora and I driving the Subaru to travel 145 miles to the Camp Host position that awaited us at Samuel P Taylor State Park just 15 miles west of San Rafael in Marin County. We were both feeling excited about embarking on this new adventure. As we left the urban area surrounding San Rafael and entered the second growth redwood forest on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard I was reminded of Guernewood Park on the Russian River. Rob's grandmother had a cabin there and Rob has lots of memories of childhood and teen summers spent there. After Rob and I met and married we visited his grandmother every summer at the "Cozy Nest" on Lover's Lane in Guernewood Park until his grandmother's death in 1980. I knew we would not be hot at Samuel P Taylor State Park, especially in the late fall and early winter, but entering the redwoods I was reminded of how cold it can feel in the redwoods any time of year. We are loving our new location, but we need to go back to Colfax to dig out the serious winter clothing, and we're building lots of campfires. I kid that our cats, Elsie and Straus. let us know what the temperature is. Before leaving Eureka in June Straus started hiding under the quilt on our bed. That continued until we were in Colfax a day or two and the hot weather brought him out. On the hottest of days in Colfax or elsewhere on our travels we could tell it was a hot day when we would find Elsie laying on the floor in LesThora's hallway. Since the first day at Samuel P Taylor Straus has taken to going back under the quilt for much of the day, letting us know it is cold. 

Arriving at Samuel P Taylor State Park on Sunday, November 1, 2020

Our "home" campsite for the next three months

    We feel that we have "landed well." Our responsibilities as volunteer camp hosts involve being on duty 30 hours a week spread over 5 days. Currently the campground does not have a supplier for firewood so we don't sell firewood, but we do sell shower tokens for $1 a piece. One token is good for a four minute shower, which I think is bit pricey, but at least as camp hosts we get free showers. Our other major responsibility is to do a campground check once a day about noon on the five days we are on duty. We can determine our own schedule of when we will be on or off duty, so seven days into this new gig we put in a couple of hours early in the morning, an hour or two around noon and a few hours in the late afternoon. We have been hiking mid mornings and bike riding mid afternoons. Our campsite is right on the 6 plus mile long Cross Marin multi-use bike trail so we see a bit of a parade of bicycle riders, hikers and even some horses. People often greet us to ask questions about the trails or other things about the park. We have already hiked and ridden our bikes on all the trails immediately adjacent to the campground so we are able to answer most questions about the trails. This is a beautiful park, the rangers and other employees and camp hosts are friendly, and we've met wonderful visitors to the park. In exchange for our pretty laid back "work" we get our campsite with electricity, water and sewer for free. And we both agree that as much as we enjoyed the past four months of travel we are happy to stay put for awhile, and there are many trails to explore beyond this park in the adjoining National Recreation Area, nearby Tomales Bay and the Point Reyes Seashore.

    We didn't really start "work" until Monday afternoon when Ranger Nick came by to "train" us so we spent that morning taking a long hike to the top of Barnabe Peak. The trail brochure said it was a five mile round trip hike, but the trail signs and my fitbit watch told a different story. The "loop" was 7.1 miles, and it was almost a mile from our campsite to the loop, so what we thought was to be a 5 mile hike turned into about 9 miles - a great way to start our new adventure!

Our first hike at Samuel P Taylor State Park was to the top of Barmabe Peak, the highest point in the park at 1,466 feet elevation, more than 1,300 feet above our campsite. 

Here is a picture looking down the winding, steep fire road that we hiked to the top.

A view looking west from near the top of Barnabe Peak with Tamales Bay barely visible through the smokey haze. We will wait to return to Barnabe Peak when the skies have  cleared of smoke after the much needed rains arrive.

Looking east from Barnabe Peak through smokey skies.

Looking down to a switch back below us on Bill's Trail - a much longer trail, but much more gradual elevation change than the fire road. It is a beautiful trail through the forest.

    Monday afternoon we rode our bicycles three miles west from our campsite on the Cross Marin Trail and of course three miles back. This paved trail follows the bed of a former train track so it is pretty level. On Tuesday afternoon we rode our bicycles a little over two miles east on the same trail. On Thursday we rode east again on the trail and then an additional 3/4 mile on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard into Lagunitas to see what the deli there had to offer. Tuesday morning began our regular "on duty" routine with me sitting by my campfire early in the morning to be available to campers with questions or who needed shower tokens. After we had breakfast we headed out to explore the Pioneer Tree Trail, a beautiful 2.1 mile trail that included old growth redwood, making us feel at home after having spent the last 8 years in Humboldt County.

Pioneer Tree on the Pioneer Tree Trail  - we were wondering why the trail was called the Pioneer Tree Trail and we found out when we came to this tree that was named that because it and a small grove of old growth redwoods were here when the pioneers were.

    Tuesday at noon I road along on the park Gator with another camp host to learn the details of camp checks. This park is largely occupied by reservations so we take down the expired reservation signs, make sure the campsites have been left in good shape and post new reservation signs if there are new ones. We were very surprised at how full the campground was mid week this past week being that it is November and the nights are pretty chilly. It is of course full for the weekend. Many people we have talked to are camping now because they had reservations here or elsewhere early in the summer and due to Covid and then fires those reservations had been canceled. They are so happy to finally be camping. We have also met families who are distance learning with their children. One high school freshman from Sacramento charged her computer at the electrical outlet at the bathroom next to us for a couple of hours three afternoons this week. 

     Our Wednesday morning hike was down the South Creek Trail that begins near our campsite and goes to the old paper mill site and a spot on the creek called the swimming hole. Samuel P Taylor, for whom the park is named, built a paper mill here following the 1849 Gold Rush that supplied paper to San Francisco, and it was here that the square bottomed paper grocery bag was invented. We returned to our campsite by crossing a bridge, walking along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, exploring the beginning of the Devil's Gulch Trail and then back to camp - about a three mile round trip.

One view of a bridge across the very picturesque Lagunitas Creek.

    Thursday morning our hike partly reversed Wednesday morning's hike by exploring a trail that is partly closed due to a wash out, and yesterday we hiked to Stair Step Falls, about 4 1/2 miles round trip. We will have to wait until the rains come to see water in the falls. Mid day on Friday our son Shawn and granddaughters Sophia and Naomi who live about 45 miles away in Richmond came to visit so Shawn could help us with some technology issues. The girls had lots of fun exploring the "wonders" (so named by Sophia) of Samuel P Taylor State Park, and Sophia was able to use my wifi hot spot to "attend" her afternoon Zoom science class. The reason we chose to be camp hosts in this part of California was so that we would be closer to our three California children and our four California grandchildren. During this first month here we plan to go to Colfax on our days off, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, to help out with granddaughter Avi and her "hybrid" school programming. There is no way to over emphasize what a challenge this pandemic is to children and their parents.

This is where Stair Step Falls is when there is water in this little creek. 

You can just barely make out the large stair step rocks in the midst of all the vegetation.

With granddaughters Sophia and Naomi and the Gator, our official State Park vehicle.

It was expected that we would drive this vehicle around the campground for the campground checks as other hosts have done, but we find it noisy and getting in and out more bother than just walking what ends up being about a a 2 1/2 mile round trip.

You can see Naomi's natural climbing technique

Two girls on Lagunitas Creek, being careful to stay out of the water until Naomi wasn't so careful.

Here is Naomi warmed up after getting wet in the creek wearing one of my sweatshirts for her ride home.

    We've only been at it a week, but so far we are truly enjoying being campground hosts, helping all who come here to enjoy this beautiful part of our world while we get to enjoy it too!

The kitties at home in a new place with the redwoods behind them.