A Windy Start on the Road to Death Valley.

We are planners but we are also impulsive. We planned on taking off early Friday morning after getting a good night sleep, but as we so often do we decided to grab our gear and head out as soon as possible

We had been ready to go for the past few days. Everything was in order, we just needed to pack up our sleeping bags, pillows and sleeping pads, then grab the dog and go. In the rush though we forgot our pillows. On a nine day camping trip good pillows are important.

The goal for the first day was our easy to get to on a Friday night after work campsite of Haystack Reservoir. We had discovered this convent stopping spot a few years earlier. It is a US Forest Service campground which we prefer because they cost half that of a state campground and are typically not congested 200 site campground parking lots.

We rolled in with enough light to easily pitch the tent, cook a nice dinner and drink a well deserved beer. The wind picked up and some drizzle started so it was an early night for us.