Californian campgrounds are weird

8/4/2017

Well, crossing my fingers was less than helpful. My first glimpse of the outside world this morning yielded a depressing array of grays that somehow did nothing to slow the rapid increase in temperature. Ugh!

I set off with my sights set on California’s Mount Shasta, a magnificent beast of a mountain that surely couldn’t succumb to obscurity due to smoke. As I drove, things seemed pretty grim. If anything, the smoke got thicker!

I eventually arrived at the mountain, my plans of hiking through flower-filled meadows and along peaceful green creeks with the mountain majesty in view quite shattered. I don’t think that the B.C. fires were entirely to blame for the amount of smoke wreathing the mountain, but I had no map of current wildfires so I really have no idea. I suppose it’s irrelevant anyways – all that matters is that I had been foiled in my hiking plans for three days in a row and I was starting to get mad.

Well, at least the nice yellow grass is visible. Shasta there in the background... not so much.

Guess this is the best view I'll get!

I opted to get into the campground so I could roast some marshmallows for s’mores, an endeavor that would surely improve my mood. And that’s when I was abruptly reminded of something that is very strange about California. In other states, campgrounds are for families and outdoors enthusiasts and people on the road. In California, campgrounds are frequently places where people who can’t afford the absurd housing prices live. Most of them are friendly, which is great, but maybe they might be a little odd. I mean, I get pretty weird when I live in my tent for a few weeks, so I can’t blame them for it when they’ve been living in tents for months.

My campsite neighbors were true-blue hippies – peace banners and VW van and all – who had been living there at the Mount Shasta campground for eight months. One of them, Dee, followed me around my campsite while I set up and told me all about how they moved up here to find work but how they hadn’t accounted for pay scaling that occurs when you move out of the city, so they were having a hard time saving money but that’s okay because Shasta is great, man. And then he told me all about the underground party scene in the Bay Area, and how he was a big part of it, but it’s so much easier to have parties out here man because the cops aren’t everywhere. And then he told me all about how much he loves concerts and all the bands he’s gone to see and how California is just so great for music, man, though underground stuff is always the best because it’s so raw, ya know. And then he told me all about all kinds of other things and I nodded noncommittally and kind of hoped that he would just let me eat my marshmallows in peace.

Eventually his sister reminded him that they had a party to get to so he bugged out and I got a bit of quiet for a while. I have to admit to being totally fascinated by my encounter with a real hippie, since I never really got to experience the hippie movement in the 70’s due to not being alive at the time. It was exactly as I expected, which was almost unexpected. It turns out that people still want peace and love and happiness with a little dash of rebellion, and I guess they probably always will. But really, the lifestyle is not for me. Peace and love and happiness is lovely and something I strive for every day, but I am just not good at drifting along with the slow flow of life. Even while at peace, I’m all about screaming motors and open road and reaching the horizon and stretching beyond, going faster and further and longer. In the end, I’m all about pursuit. So I guess I just wouldn’t make a very good hippie.

Anyways, the marshmallows did some to calm my temper, though probably the sugar did nothing to lower my energy to manageable levels. When you get used to hiking ten miles a day every day, suddenly dropping down to nothing makes you a bit irritable. But no worries! Tomorrow, I’ll hit the road again, and I’m determined to find something worth hiking. Until then, Kelly signing out.