We combined two nights at Death Valley with a night at Pinnacles National Monument, keen to see the California Condors who inhabit the area. It was a spectacular trip…there’s nothing better that California in the springtime! But, as Uncle Steve reminds me, “Really, the wildflowers are crap and the animals will bite and kill you. It’s best if you stay out of Death Valley, readers!”

And we even saw the condors at Pinnacles. Here’s my photos from the trip:

You can also browse Steve’s photos.

This trip was made possible by Therm-a-rest. We decided to spend the money we might have used on a hotel room in Death Valley on new Therm-a-Rest DreamTime sleeping pads, which have renewed my interest in camping. I also had trouble sitting in one position for a long car ride, and the Therm-a-Rest Lite Seat came to the rescue there. Kids, listen to Aunt T and get out there to enjoy the days when you can sleep or sit anywhere, before your bones get old and creaky like mine!

Saturday was the first day of our hawk watch season. I really enjoying seeing our teammates after the long break (click on the photo of Steve to see more photos from the day)! And we saw some good birds.

We also got to review landmarks. Here’s the outline of Elvis we made a couple years ago:

Before we started counting, three Red-tails floated up next to the hill, close in to us. It was a nice welcome.

I don’t see anything obvious in the way of major equipment, but it makes me think that our detailed car camping checklist might be helpful to someone. Here’s a PDF version, here’s a link for it as a your own copy of a google spreadsheet, and here it is in the original Excel format).

We do love our gear! But the checklist has helped us remember critical things like coffee making equipment, and luxuries like our tent stake mallet. The list has evolved from the excellent car camping and backpacking lists that our friend Joe Dyson shared with us years ago. I usually edit the list to fit whatever’s going on in our life at the time; this was the first list created with taking a dog along, for stays in both campgrounds and homes of relatives. And I’ve also tried to create it for a couple, so there’s columns for each of us to check off our own personal items.

In terms of buying equipment, I’ve developed one rule of thumb…you don’t really have to waste a lot of time pouring over gear reviews (although that can be an enjoyable experience in itself). When you need gear, just go to REI and buy whatever middle-of-the-road version they have…they already do a good job of choosing inventory that strikes a good balance between cost and features. The exception I’d make to this is for gear you plan to use for backpacking, and then I think it’s worth it to buy the lightest version an object you can possibly afford. If I ever get into backpacking again, I think I’m going to check out something like the GoLite tarps instead of hauling around a tent.

The most important thing is to get out there and have fun. Luxuries are nice, but obsessing over gear or being squashed in your car can ruin a trip…finding a balance takes some practice.