So the buses dropped us off at Los Alamos Campground, near Pyramid Lake, at around 6pm. Then they drove back to LA, leaving most of us wishing we were going with them - it had already gotten pretty cold, and the prospect of staying the night out there was not looking good to anyone (except maybe Dr. A, who was way too excited to sleep on the ground).
Dr. A rented two adjacent campsites - one for himself and the TAs, and another larger one next to it for the students. This photo was taken at the campground. Our lot was nearby where this picture was taken, but it was tucked farther back into the canyon wall (which was good, since it acted as a windbreak) and much less green.
One girl in my group, Rebecca, brought a 6-person tent from home. Rebecca, Sophia, and I got our tent up surprisingly quickly while the other three girls got diner going. Sophia and I had definitely never done anything remotely similar before, and we were pretty proud of ourselves for setting up the shelter. It was a big tent!! Exactly this design, but in blue and gray.
Tents went up pretty quickly all around, with people hurrying to finish before dark. Soon, the whole area filled with dozens of tents of all shapes and colors, and with almost two hundred people milling about in between, we looked like a weird sort of modern shanty village. It was very surreal. I'll post a picture if someone posts one of Facebook - I wish I'd had my camera, but it's still in Seattle somewhere.
A big bummer - aside from the plummeting temperature, which prompted all of us Southern-California students into our warm clothes faster than you could imagine - was the burn ban, which prevented us from having a campfire. The eating s'mores had been almost as big a draw for me as the grade thing, so I was really bummed. Dr. A was even more upset, but he cooked his steaks just fine over a propane stove.
A girl in my tent group also brought a propane stove. We had all previously assigned different members of the group food items to bring, but of course we all brought extra, so we ended up having way too much food. We feasted on cheeseburgers with all the fixings and condiments, homemade veggie wontons, and bow tie pesto and had plenty to share (other groups were eating PB&J!).
Although most of the groups didn't bother with bringing supplies for a hot meal, they all seemed to have plenty of alcohol (the one thing my group DIDN'T bring) so the party started pretty quickly. Dr. A even came and joined, after clearly having some wine at his own campsite.
Two of the girls in my tent group stayed out pretty late, but the rest of us - exhausted form the day and anticipating an early morning - went to bed early. We could hear Dr. A's voice ("WHOOP! WHOOP!!") late, late into the evening, pointing out planets and constellations (the stars were INCREDIBLE!) and joking around with his students, who thought a teacher joining them to party was just hilarious, great fun.
Actually, that night explained a lot. I wondered why we took a seemingly pointless hike that ate up several hours, when we otherwise could've hit all the stops in one day. I realized at the overnight that Dr. A intentionally did that just to have the overnight, so he could be a crazy, partying, pseudo-celebrity (EVERYBODY loves him, he's kind of a USC legend) with nearly two hundred college students. Sort of like borrowing his own youth back, I guess.
Anyway, the tent worked out great. Plenty of room for all six of us, and it was kind of cool sleeping in a shelter I helped build (though I don't want to do it again). It got really cold - around 40F - and I was super grateful to Christine, who lent me the most incredible sleeping bag ever created. I could dedicate the whole post to this sleeping bag - warm, but somehow well ventilated, cozy, cushy, light, easily packed, soft (there's a "comfort shell" on the inside so you don't feel like you're sleeping in a parachute), and you can remove the comfort shell and/or the hood to adjust the temperature rating if you're like my Dad and hate to be hot - but instead of going on FOREVER, I'll just post a picture:
Incredibly, this sleeping bag made me forget I was sleeping on the floor of a tent. When everyone was talking about how cold they were, and how they had to sleep in all these layers and parkas, I had been toasty warm all night, and slept surprisingly deeply in only leggings and a crew neck sweatshirt. So than you, Christine, for the use of your fantastic sleeping bag!The next day, despite his previous revelry, Dr. A was back to his responsible - though wacky - self, waking the camp up with his "WHOOP! WHOOP!!" at 8am. My group (or at least those of us who didn't get crazy the night before) had gotten a head start getting cleaned up.
I became the most popular girl in camp when the other girls realized I had a whole roll of toilet paper (the gross "bathroom" was out). What can I say? I am my mother's daughter, and I think of these things. Anyway, that toilet paper was gone in about five seconds when word got around.
Shockingly, camp was packed and the buses were moving by 9:30am. I had totally expected to be waiting around forever for people to get up and going, but we were off to the remaining stops early!
But the trip wasn't over yet...
STAY TUNED FOR: Geology Campout, Day II
