Hume Lake Campground
Camp Review
We stayed at site 62, while the Saitos were in site 61 and the Prives were in site 60.
The campground was an upgrade from Princess Campground that is a few miles away, as the lake is just a minute walk away.
Each campsite was large, but most of the campsites were not level and were sloped. Each site had a bear box, a picnic table, and a fire ring.
Because it’s a national forest campground, we were able to gather firewood from trees which were already dead.
There was running potable water and flush bathrooms, but no showers.
At night, it would have been quiet, except for the obnoxious music that played from across the lake (the Christian camp). They kept the music going past 11:30pm.
There was no wifi available across T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T networks.
What I Learned
The Hume Lake Christian Camp is right across the lake and they played music at a deafening (for them) volume until late into the night. The music was unrecognizable to me and was pretty annoying for us while we tried to go to sleep.
The girls had a great time cutting firewood with my Silky saw and splitting the logs with Ryo and my hatchet. They loved it so much that they got in line for each of these activities and we must have sawed and split wood for at least two hours.
Ryo and Seri took the girls fishing while Dave, Florence, and I cleaned up around camp. When we got to the pier, it turned out that they had already caught one fish by using lures that a friendly fisherman had given them. With the real and fake lures that the fisherman gave us, the girls were able to catch 2-3 fish each (or more) using the two fishing poles that Ryo and Seri brought. Ryo also ended up making 3 or 4 additional fishing poles using sticks that we found next to the pier. Mona caught the largest fish with one of these makeshift fishing poles—a rainbow trout!
We kept two fish that we thought were large enough for consumption and cooked it over the campfire. I thought the fish was delicious, but some of the girls didn’t think so. Still, it was super fun to cook the fish that had been speared as it was my first time doing so!
I brought my rice cooker and it used about 35% of the battery to cook 5 cups of rice. I could have cooked it on a gas stove, but it just worked so much better with a rice cooker.
Friends
The Saitos (Ryo, Seri, Luna, and Mona) and well as the Prives (Dave, Florence, Amelia, and Olivia) joined us. We cooked one major meal for each other, and it was a great way to cook food for each other, bond, and just have more fun.
What Happened?
Florence, Seri, and I planned this trip and booked these sites back at the beginning of the year. We had planned one last year too, but I couldn’t make it with my girls as Anna had gotten sick. This year though, there was no sickness and we made it to camp—though there was plenty of drama.
We all decided to leave San Jose right after school on Friday, but it turned out that there was a massive traffic accident near Gilroy that blocked all traffic on Highway 152. Due to a dental appointment, I had to leave late, but Seri and Florence ran into the traffic head-on. Florence had gotten stuck on 152 and her car did not move for an hour, and the Prives turned around to try again the next morning. Luckily, the Saitos made it through with lots of traffic and I ended up taking the same path that they did. The drive took 1 hr longer than without traffic, which wasn’t too bad, but it sure was an un-ideal start. The girls were able to sleep in the car though, which was nice (I think Anna slept almost the entire way there).
When we got there, we got the truck camper ready for sleep, put all the food in the bear locker, and brushed our teeth. We then went to sleep, but were woken up multiple times at night as heavy (but short duration) rains pelted the car.
The next morning, the Saitos and we had a warm breakfast, then drove out to the visitor center after breakfast. We attempted to contact the Prives but could not see them nor get in touch via cellphone. So we drove on to Cat Haven.
After Cat Haven, we drove back to the campground to find the Prives walking out to the lake, so we quickly changed and joined them. After the lake, I cooked a bulgogi-centered dinner, which was well received by everyone. We then had a nice campfire, where we cooked marshmallows and extra long and thin beef sticks.
The next day, we woke up to breakfast that the Saitos prepared—a chicken stock base soup with mochi and fish cake it. It was delicious and a great start to a chilly day. Afterwards, we hiked around the lake, cut up firewood, and went fishing.
After fishing, we came back to camp, had a belly-bursting hamburger meal that the Prives cooked for everyone. It was pretty cute how the girls chatted away at dinner at the picnic table while the adults congregated around the firepit having adult conversations.
With our bellies full, we walked over to the Saitos campsite where we started a campfire and cooked the fish that we had caught earlier in the day. As soon as the fish was cooked, however, the girls and I had to start driving home as I had work the next day. We said our goodbyes to the Saitos and the Prives and started the long drive home.
Thanks to Florence for the first four photos above and Seri for the last four photos.