Morning Explorations

Lately I have been going on earlier morning explorations of the Mountain - chasing the fog and finding dewey spider webs in my path. There is a serenity in tracing the movement of the clouds and being the only person to see it.

Basecamp 01: Backyard Camping at Mountainhaus

Brook and Kuma enjoying the view.

As Hikergorlz, we wanted to test out our basecamp model and create a launchpad for our expeditions and explorations into the Santa Monica Mountains. Mountainhaus is nestled within these mountains and acts as our official trailhead. So far, we’ve gone on 2 treks - the first of which was 10 miles with a 2,000 ft climb, the second was 8 miles with a 3,000 ft climb. This trek would be our longest and most difficult yet - 15 miles with a 4,000 ft climb.

The only way we would be able to attempt to accomplish this trek would be to start super early in the morning. Normally, Gina and Brook would come to Mountainhaus in the early afternoon and we would set off for a few hours, getting back in time for dinner. This time would be different - largely due to the heatwave that we’ve been experiencing in California. In order to beat the heat, we thought it would be best to leave early morning. How do you make a safe sleepover happen? My backyard was our best friend.

Our first attempt at camping at Mountainhaus was pretty successful. We made a big pasta dinner with our mini stoves outside, s’mores using my weber grill, and drank wine under the stars. Each of our tents matched our personalities perfectly.

Gina’s tent was a classic 4 person, big family tent that you’d bring along car camping at a fishing-friendly campsite. She brought an inflatable mattress but it was completely useless due to a mini hole that refused to be patched up. I had an outdoor lounge-chair mat that worked as a great substitute. Gina basically had tempur-pedic level comfort.

Our Camp Kitchen.

Brook’s tent was an ultralight Big Agnes 1 person tent that she was able to pitch in about 2 minutes. Hers actually was the coziest - she created a cocoon of blankets and pillows atop a cushy sleeping pad. Brook has the most camping experience, and it showed in how quickly and efficiently she was able to set up.

I wanted my camp to feel like a sort of Wes Anderson nostalgia. I found a beautiful Nordisk Ydun 5.5, which could sleep 4+ people with plenty of room to spare. It looks like an old canvas boy scout tent but feels modern thanks to the technical cotton flysheet, tarpaulin floor, and mesh mosquito net panels that keep the little bugs out (or try to!). The tent was surprisingly easy to set up, though it does require stakes. My sleeping situation started out minimal, but then more pillows were added, so was a comfy dog bed for Milou. I had an inflatable ultralight sleeping pad (Nemo Tensor Insulated), Therm-a-Rest Vesper Quilt (also ultralight and very very compact), and my beautiful white Mountain Hardwear Lamina Eco-AF sleeping bag, which is made out of recycled materials and saves gallons of water due to its undyed nature!

What would we do differently next time? Well, for starters, we would bring coolers with us. I had to keep running into the house to get snacks and ingredients - so obviously we would need to imagine that the house doesn’t exist and that whatever we brought with us is what we have. We would also need to go more minimalist next time. Having all the comforts of home is nice, but not necessary. We ultimately want to go backpacking and having 4 comfy pillows and insulated thermoses is just not practical or possible. We definitely need to make breakfast a priority and not an afterthought. Fueling up properly before a long heatwave trek is the most important part of preparation. We hastily made thick toast with peanut butter before packing up, not thinking much about just how many calories we would be burning on our trek. I also realized that I need to sleep outside more often with my 8-month old puppy to accustom him to more wildlife noises. He was up and alert all night, growling at every bird and coyote howl he heard. Completely normal, but something to consider if getting a good night’s sleep is a top priority.

I did love my sleeping setup, though I could have been fine without a sleeping bag. A quilt would have been more than enough in this heat! My tent was great, though I should have checked for little bug entrances and completely zipped everything up before bed. I woke up next to a couple of creepy crawlies… I ordered some citronella candles and incense to combat them next time. Let’s see how well that works!

The next post will cover our heatwave trek into the mountains along with a video documenting our mini-expedition.

\ Hikergorlz