These were the days of paper maps,
AAA Campground Guide, and no cell phones.
Summer of 1989 I (Marcia) took our
children on a white water rafting trip.
I was a Girl Scout leader at that time and found a company on the American
River near Sacramento that the Girl Scouts used and approved.
Each of my 3 children brought along a
buddy and the seven of us would go on a 6-day trip in my blue Volkswagon
Vanagon. I invited my god-daughter
Carrie Ann, then a college student nearby, to come along to be a buddy to
Charles, my eldest son. James invited
Lars, and Stephanie invited Nancy. I
would be doing all the driving since none of the others were either old enough
or could.
We packed our gear in our VW
Vanagon and a car-top carrier. I had my
own tent and each pair of buddies had a two-man tent. We packed sleeping bags, clothing, food, camp
stove, dishes, and standard camp gear.
This was going to be a long 2 day drive each way so they all agreed to
share the front passenger seat at intervals when we made rest stops. Whoever was in the front, had control of the
radio and cassette player. Yes, they
brought their cassettes. The others had
to listen and wait their turn for their favorite music. They had their favorite snacks and
drinks. Since I was the only driver, we
would stop almost every 1 to 1.5 hours for a rest stop, seat change, and potty
break.
Our first overnight stop was at
Pine Lake campground. We found the
campground deserted. There were no other
campers there. The lake was only a puddle due to the drought in
California.
We all piled out of the van and surveyed the place.
“Do we have to stay here?”
“No one else is here!”
“It’s HOT!!!” one complained
“Let’s go someplace else.”
They all agreed.
They studied the maps and campground
book so we decided to move on to another campground outside of Fresno.
CRUNCH!
“What’s that?!” I
asked?
Everyone got out to look.
“You backed up into a dumpster!”
“The back gate is smashed!”
“Try opening it.”
“It’s stuck. Can’t
open it.”
The top of the dumpster was just
below my rear window and not in the view of either side mirror. I did not see
it but felt it. The van was dented
enough to disable the back door but the car was unharmed. Now we would have to pack and unpack all our
gear through the side door and over the backseat.
As we drove to Fresno, we could not
find the campground we thought we were headed for.
“Let’s just go into Fresno and go
to a motel for tonight,” I suggested. “It will be cooler and I don’t want to
wander around a campground in the dark.”
They all protested. “No.
We have all the stuff. We want to
camp. That’s what we came for. We can do
it. It’s still light.”
The children kept studying the map. They read the map and as I drove. The sun was setting and I really didn’t want
to set up camp in the dark. We finally
found a campground, Milliton Campground off Lake Milliton.
“How are you folks this evening?”
the Ranger greeted us at the gate.
“There are 7 of us with 4
tents. Do you have a campsite available?”
“You’re in luck. The last one is a large site. Follow this road to the left until you come
to the restrooms. It is just next to the
restrooms. How long are you staying?
“Just for tonight.”
“OK. Enjoy,” she said as we drove off.
With flashlights on, they searched
for the site while I drove slowly. We
finally settled on what we thought was the site as it was large area not too
far from the restrooms. It was too dark to check out this lake.
In the dusk, the kids set up the
tents while I fixed supper. It wasn’t
easy as it was getting dark and we had only a Coleman camp lantern. We were all hungry enough so whatever I
prepared was good. We turned in for the
night.
At dawn, we discovered we were not
in a campsite at all. We were in the
middle of an open space leading to the restrooms!
We broke camp to move on. After a breakfast of muffins, juice, and
fruit, we repack all the gear through the side door lifting everything over the
back seat. This is the first awkward repacking
so it took a while to figure out how everything would fit from this angle. Fortunately, Lars and Carrie were tall to
reach up to the car top carrier without much trouble.
Off we went to Sacramento to the
white water rafting campground.
When we arrived at the campsite in
the afternoon, we were greeted by the crew.
There was a section reserved for us as I had made arrangements. We were given instructions and time to set up
camp. Dinner was served by the camp
staff. I was relieved to not have to
cook.
After-dinner campfire time was
spent with the other guests. They were
adults and our group was the only one with kids. Well, Carrie Anne was 23, Charles 16, James
and Lars 14, Steph & Nancy 11, and of course adult me.
The next morning, after breakfast
served by the camp staff, we all assembled near the river to receive safety
instructions and boat assignments. Our
group was divided with the other adults so that the boats would be balanced in
weight. The girls were together and the
boys were in another boat, each having other adults. We all wore life jackets, given a paddle, and
were told to tie down any hats, jackets, or shoes. Each boat had an oarsman who sat or stood at
the back to steer the rubber boat and give instructions when to paddle and on which
side. We all face forward as he called
out over us.
First, it started on smooth
waters. We were told to paddle
gently. As we came upon rapids, the
oarsman shouted “paddle, paddle, paddle!” and we would all dig in. “Stop! Rest.”
would be the next command.
As the rapids got rougher we
paddled harder, screamed louder, and got wetter. The weather was beautiful, the sun hot, and
the water cool. After about an hour of
excitement on the river, we stopped for lunch provided by staff who met us on
the banks. This stop included lunch, a short rest, and potty stop in the woods.
After lunch, we returned to the
boats for the trip back to the camp. Somehow,
the river moves in loops because I could not figure out how we kept going
downstream and end up at the same place.
At least that was my memory.
At one point the rapids were quite
large. The boys’ boat went over the
rocks first.
We were bracing ourselves for our
turn over the rapids.
“Somebody fell out!” Carrie Anne yelled.
“It’s James!”
As his mom, my heart pounded. My thoughts ran, “Will he drown? Is he hurt?
How will he get back in the boat?”
Then we saw his oarsman throw him a
life ring and pull him in. Despite all
my trepidation, James thought it was the most exciting thing that happened.
At the campground, we cleaned up
and had dinner with all the others sharing the adventure of the day. We learned that since the weather was so hot,
the dam was opened for greater water flow to the electric plant downstream to
meet the demand for electricity. That’s
why we had good swift rapids.
Later that evening I asked one of
the oarsmen, “How do you do this with Girl Scout troops with little girls? As it is you balanced us with other adults.”
He told me in a low whisper, “Each
oarsman can maneuver the boat downstream by himself without any paddling. We just yell “paddle, paddle, paddle” to make
it exciting and the kids think they are really controlling the boat. All the coaxing and advance prepping was to
make it exciting.”
We spent the night there and the
next day headed for the Milliton Campground outside of Fresno where we had
been two nights ago. This time, we knew
the way and arrived in daylight. The
ranger recognized us and assigned the same campsite. We were able to find it this time. We checked the lake to discover it too was
very low. Over dinner, we relaxed and
told stories about our adventure.
The next morning, we packed up and
headed back to Santa Ana stopping every 1.5 hours for driver breaks, potty
stops, and seat/music changes.
When we got home, I had to figure
out how to fix the van back gate.
That would be another story.
