My friend booked a campsite in December, but had to reschedule… for the most beautiful post-time-change couple days in Bay Area memory.
First principles: What bike? Fitz or Stooge?
My friend says SAME DAMN BIKE, and he’s not entirely wrong.
The Bike Peddler fixed up my shifting issues (hub loose, bent hanger, something else), the Fitz was the clear winner. “Shifts like buttah!”
Second principles: Food, water, fire.
REI dehy food is SO EXPENSIVE. $13 a meal. $17 a meal. I bought two gas canisters for my basic Primus stove and went to Trader Joe’s. Bagged Indian food for $3.69 a meal, two kinds of oatmeal, DEHYDRATED FRUITS, nuts, bars… all basically free compared to REI. I made a couple baggies of fruits and nuts to buff the oatmeal, crammed two Pizza Port beer cans into my packs and was set.
Getting there. Our friend Bob rode down on the SMART train with us, and regaled us with stories of float planes and remote islands and homes built of clear cedar washed up and milled on site. He went part way on Paradise Drive before turning back.
The Paradise Drive route is good, even with loaded bikes.
The bikes. We have three approaches to bikes and bike packing. Fuji Del Ray, a Specialized HardRock, and a custom Fitz Cyclez.
Ferry! Almost no one was on the last “campers only” 3:00 ferry, but we realize we could have taken the GGT ferry to do the same thing. Both ferries want you to buy a round trip ticket in advance, but you can just show up and pay (or swipe your Clipper card).
On the island.
The ranger at check-in said the secret to Angel Island was that springtime is the best time. “Summer here can be miserable,” and the look in her eye made it clear she was out here last August.
March is pretty spectacular on Angel Island.
She laid out the rules: go anywhere you want except the coast guard station and the Nike site. Stay out of the abandoned buildings after dark. “Oh yeah, dangerous?” “Ghosts.”
Camp. The #2 campsite was nice, but fitting 8 people there was laughable. Our three tents took some squeezing.
Butterflies, spiders, and coyotes. Black butterflies, yellow swallowtails, tiny orange butterflies and maybe some Monarchs. Spiders of all kinds.
We were serenaded by coyotes the first night, yipping and yodeling.
At dusk we hiked (most of it was a nice stroll but it did become a hike, yes) up around the mountain (it’s a mountain?!) and up to the peak. Holy cow it was incredible.
Meeche and Sid think the salesforce tower looks like an uncircumcised penis. I say there’s nothing wrong with that. “Yeah but why do we all have to LOOK AT IT?” Hm.
Perspective shift. If you look at the bay from the top of Angel Island it’s not an island in a single bay, it’s several small bays laid out around this pinnacle.
Monday. Monday we walked down to the museum and fooled around on the beach.
Then we rode the fire road loop and the Perimeter Road. Saw some more haunted buildings, learned about the Nike Missile site, and saw a couple hawks just hanging in the air.
Tuesday. Eat food, break camp, ride to the ferry. Realize the Golden Gate Ferry actually stops at Tiburon before heading to SF. We were pretty set on burritos though so we stayed the course.
Farolito burritos in North Beach, eaten in Washington Park with the dog walkers, bikini sunbathers, and an older couple playing Taylor Swift on a boom box. (apparently) exorcising the big church with Dasani Water, and (obviously) pole dancing the stop sign.
So how did it go? Perfect.
“What if it all goes perfect?” this is my core philosophy since my dad died and I was the admin for his estate. Lots of things can go wrong, but a perfect outcome is a possibility. Entertain that. Eyes on the line not the rock; focus on the trail not the cliff.
