Camping!

This past weekend, a few friends and I packed up and headed to the mountains for some camping. After a mere 2 hours of planning in the wee hours of the morning, we decided on Buckhorn campground in the Angeles National Forest, about a hour away from Los Angeles... perfect vacation from the busy city.

After some good Vietnamese pho we left the urban chaos for some wild scenery and...BEARS! So everyone thought I was crazy, and maybe I was...but I was convinced that we were in BEAR territory and had reason to worry... it even warns as the first thing on the campground description on the Angeles National Forest website "Be Aware of Bear Activity" in BOLD! So, although it might have been a little much that I didn't sleep the first night, my concerns weren't totally off...Luckily, no bears were to be seen. *PHEW*

The first night we put up our tents, built a fire and roasted marshmallows! Yum! We also had a few beverages =) J. had this awesome set of dishes where you folded the pastic into a cup, bowl, or plate - but when it is not in use it lays flat! Handy!









Day #2 After waking up late =X (remember I didn't sleep for fear of the bears?) we ate lunch and then set out on a hike! Armed with a very simple, broad, and generally uninformative map we set off to see the Pacific Crest Trail via the Burkhart Trail.
The going in the beginning was easy, we were energetic, excited and eager to hike DOWN the mountain.








When we got to the Pacific Crest Trail... it was just a dirt trail and generally not exciting...so we decided to hike further to the waterfalls...sorry don't remember the name.




Getting to those falls was a wee bit shady...it involved some slipper and muddy climbs down on some not so reliable ropes. In the end, it was worth it!



















Dumb and dumber decided to climb to the top of the falls...good thing they have health insurance...psh grad students... Oh so smart... But dumb to climb back down the falls when they could have just gone up a bit further from the top of the falls to meet us on the trail...






We had to hurry back UP the darn mountain as it was getting dark... YES we were sore the next day.








This was JYu wearing the space blanket he stole from me. I used it because it was so flipping windy and cold INSIDE the tent. He was cold in the morning and I took the pic from the view from my tent... High fashion?? maybe not...

All in all a fun trip!