Our camping trip to the Kern River this year had its high points and its low points, but I'm going to try to only remember the high points. All I'll say about the low points is that I don't understand why large groups of people feel the need to go camping just to drink like idiots and blast their music--it ruins the experience for those of us who are looking to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature. We should be able to fall asleep at night to the sounds of crickets and a rushing river, not to the thump of the radio, the crush of beer cans and the screeching of children who should have been asleep hours ago. Basic camping etuquette seems to have vanished.
The weather was wonderful--hot (as you would expect), but not too miserable like it can be. As long as you had a cold drink in hand, and your feet (at least) in the river, all was right with the world.
We had to move campsites after our first night, but I'm so glad we did--we camped in an area of our favorite campground (Goldledge/Gold Ledge) that I've never been in before, and it gave us so much privacy--and our own swimming area away from the masses. It was WONDERFUL.
I forced myself to use my (Nikon) camera on manual settings only this time around, and only brought my 50mm 1.8 lens. (I LOVE that lens.) I wish I'd brought my tripod because on some of the long shutter speeds I was balancing the camera on a rock and shooting 25 times in the hopes of getting a stable image. It worked most of the time, but didn't give me many options on the angle of the shot.
The view from the middle of the river just a short walk from where we were swimming
Rapids on a slow shutter speed
The view from our campsite looking down at the river
Moon rising over the hills
My dad, fishin' away...
We left the river wanting very much to go back as soon as possible. I call that a successful camping trip.
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