Group Chaos Camping in Sequoia National Park

Nearly 20 of us from a Bible study decided to go camping in Sequoia National Park in the age before cell phones and dashboard GPS systems. There was a mixture of a few young married couples, singles and my wife and I brought along two children from Pasadena who lived in a two-bedroom apartment and had never gone camping.

One couple rode with us in our Malibu station wagon since they didn't trust their car to make the mountainous drive up Highway 99 and then on the climb to Sequoia. We had a hand drawn map from one member of the group giving us directions showing the road we needed to take east and showing the route NOT to take to Yosemite National Park a couple more hours up the highway.

We left in the late morning, stopped for lunch and then as we were making the final miles to the national park . . . our wagon conked out.

It was late afternoon but fortunately we were at a local bar and restaurant. I asked around for a local mechanic but as the day was winding down and heading in to the dinner hour there was no one available.

We stood by the highway and flagged to waving cars hoping that another member of our group would see us. Evening came and as the stars appeared in the sky, we waved one more time. A car stopped and we explained to the people that we were supposed to be at a group camp site. They said they would pass along our location and tell someone to come pick us up.

As the night grew later and the last patrons left the bar, we pulled out our sleeping bags and one of the kids with us asked if this was what camping outside was supposed to be like. No, we replied. We found a concrete picnic area and laid down.

The next morning a member of our group made it and I got a tow truck with my AAA card to have my wagon towed to Fresno.

We made it to the site and shortly after we set up our tent two men in the group finally arrived. They looked exhausted. They said they had followed the map as it was drawn. In their opinion, it had directed them to Yosemite and they were looking for us at the wrong national park. The round trip cost them a night of sleep and nearly a couple of hundred extra miles.

But since the entire group was now together, several of us decided to go hiking and explore the woods. Clouds gathered as we started and by the time we had been gone for nearly an hour, rain started to fall steadily. We made it back to our tents and we waited for the rain to pass. But it fell, and the longer it fell the harder it pounded. Groups huddled in the various tents and the rain kept pouring on in to the afternoon.

Condensation appeared in the fabric of our tent along the seams and then it started dripping. Even though we had built a trench around our base water began seeping in. The rain kept falling and no one could stop it.

That evening, as the rain fell fog began to engulf our group. There were enough wet campers, soaked jeans and drenched sleeping bags that someone suggested we drive down to Fresno to a conference facility where they knew a staff member.

We took down our tents, loaded our bags in the glare of headlights and flashlights and began the descent down to the valley. The driving was slow and tedious through a thick fog and then it cleared as we made back down the mountain and past the bar where my wife and I, the couple with us, and the two kids whom we brought on their first camping trip all had spent the night.

"Is this what camping is supposed to be like," the kids asked. No, we told them, this was unusual.

That night, we piled into a few different rooms at the conference center, slept as we could and then the next morning pulled out soaked down filled sleeping bags, wet tents and muddy tarps and hung them around on the facility to dry.

In the meantime, we pulled out propane grills to supplement the kitchen facilities and made a large pancake breakfast.

Everyone's attitude held up during the rain, poorly drawn maps and broken down cars as we laughed about camping in Sequoia National Park. As the Sunday morning discussion ensued, the camaraderie that overcame the obstacles made me realize "this is what camping is supposed to be like."