Originally, we were going to kayak at Elkhorn Slough, but very high and low tides on the same day made the conditions too difficult. We hopped back into our vehicles and drove the 30 miles to Monterey Bay. The bay was very calm and after a short class on kayaking and safety, we buddied up and set out on the bay.

We paddled near the Monterey Bay Aquarium and saw jellyfish, kelp, California Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Homo Scuba divers and other sea life. On our way back, we kayaked into the marina to see Sea Otters, starfish, sea cucumbers and a HUMPBACK WHALE! The whale was around 30 yards from us and we saw the ridge back of the whale.

After kayaking, we had lunch there before heading over to the campsite. We headed up over Hecker Pass to Mt. Madonna County Park. We had a great campsite among California Redwoods and were secluded from the winds. The scouts in charge were Thomas Clegg and Michael Ahn. After setting up the tents, we set up a tarp canopy over the picnic tables. This really proved to be helpful as it was a dry place for us to cook breakfast and to store extra gear during a brief rainstorm. The brief rain showed why it’s better to camp in the open rather than under the trees. The rain started after midnight and lasted until 2:30 AM, but the redwoods kept dropping large droplets of rain until 6 AM.

We also found out that we needed to teach scouts how to properly set up the flies on the tent as well as the tarps beneath them. We had two tents that were equipped with ‘indoor pools’ due to the fact that the flies dripped rain onto the side of the tents as well as the tarps sticking out from under the tent, thereby collecting rain and diverting it under the tent. But we survived and built a large fire in the morning to dry us out. The tents also needed to have the seams resealed and we made a note of this for the future.

Modified Jan. 23, 2016