Shakedown #1, Part One

Planning

We began our first shakedown by changing our plans.

(BTW: Chris better explained to me why he calls it a shakedown: “It’s like taking a machine and shaking it to find the loose parts.” His grandfather confirmed that this was, indeed, a Navy term that refers to testing a ship before a big voyage and a quick Wikipedia search on my part further substantiated these claims.)

Originally, we were planning to do the bike-in campsite closest to home, at Half Moon Bay State Beach. We were going to bike right out of our house, go 10 miles down a mountain road and another 6 miles on HWY 1 (aka Pacific Coast Highway), to a campsite we’ve ridden by a million times, a 20 minute drive from home.

However, the morning of Shakedown Day, Chris and I were both feeling underwhelmed at the thought of camping so close to home and I decided to look up some other hiker/biker campsites in the surrounding counties for something new. (Hiker/ biker campsites are different than drive-in campsites by being cheaper, more primitive, and–important in California, where campsites are ALWAYS full–don’t require reservations.)

I found Henry Coe State Park in Santa Clara county offering hiker/biker campsites. I told Chris it was less than an hour drive away (which turned out to be wrong…more on that later) and it was one of the biggest parks in the state, one Chris had previously heard was ranked in the Top Ten, so we decided to go for it.

Destination: Henry W. Coe State Park. This was decided at 10am, with a 1:00pm departure time. Campsite ETA: 4:00pm

Packing

We had everyone lay out their stuff–sleeping bags, sleeping pads, camping pillows, clothes, shoes, camping accessories–on the living room floor, with Chris being in charge of the cooking gear and tents in addition to his personal things: our deal, as I am riding the heavier tandem with our 7-yr-old on the back.

For the most part, everyone is assigned a color for this trip, to help keep things straight. Whenever we can get gear in the color (panniers, headlamps, toothbrushes, mugs, clothes), L gets orange, T gets green, S gets blue, and Chris and I seem to default to black and/or gray, with the same yellow panniers.

Our first big question, Will everything we need for the trip fit into the panniers? was answered with a big, YES.

While we didn’t pack all of the clothes we’ll need on the trip, we did pack the bulky extras, like raincoats, thick socks, and our heaviest clothes, and still had room to spare. Chris and I even threw in down coats as a test and confirmed, after the sun went down, that these were necessities.

L was able to fit his specially-requested 1-person-tent in his own panniers, making him an entirely self-sufficient 12-year-old on a bike.

Arrival

This is when things get sketchy. I’ll admit: I missed some important details. When I looked up how long of a drive it would be, I searched for the town nearest the state park, Morgan Hill, less than an hour away. I failed to understand that the park is another 45 minutes from town. By the time we got to Morgan Hill, picked up groceries for dinner and breakfast, and drove another 45 minutes up a mountain road, we got to the Visitor’s Center right when they were closing, at 4:00 pm.

Let me emphasize this: WE WERE STARTING THE BIKE TRIP AT 4:00PM. This is, really, hours past the time any sane person has ended for the day. On our actual trip, we should be putting the most miles in before noon!

I also failed to look at any kind of topographical map, not realizing that Henry Coe State Park has crazy elevation changes and rugged trails, suitable for hikers and mountain bikers, not cyclists on touring bikes.

BUT ANYWAY. Here’s what I already know about life: stuff works out. Yes, we got there right before they closed. But they hadn’t closed yet. Yes, they were surprised and amused that we thought we could show up and get a campsite when they were hosting a huge Mothers’ Day Weekend Event, making every possible campsite taken. Except for one. Yes, it’s true that this really was a hike-in spot, not bike-in, as it was an incredibly steep grade on a jeep road, but at least it was the first one on the trail, a mere mile from the Visitor’s Center.

So. This is what we did. We paid for the last remaining parking spot and campsite, loaded the bikes in the parking lot, rode maybe 1/4 of a mile, and pushed the bikes the rest of the way up the jeep road to the campsite trail. Once we got to the trail itself, we left the bikes in the grass and carried our panniers the last 1/4 mile to the site.

And I will say this: It. Was. Beautiful. And, most importantly, somehow no one was upset. We all just went with it. Which may have been the most important thing to know we were capable of.