Mt. Tam

About a month ago, we went on a camp out to Mt. Tamalpais, or Mt. Tam for short. Brother Spencer, Brother Jackson, Randall Diamond, Brother Carver, Alec Viera, Chase Carver, Rick Patterson, Dallin Earl, Jaren Garff, Jeremy Glenn, and I left on Friday, June 26, 2009. Dallin, Rick, and I went in Brent Spencer's car, and we got a little lost around Richmond. We had to go across several bridges, including the Richmond Bridge. Finally, we got to Larkspur, where we became reunited with everyone else at a Togo's, where we had dinner.

Then we drove up to Mt. Tam. The place we were going to camp at was all taken up, so we camped at a tent/RV place. We then played Hide-and-Go-Seek Tag and told riddles around the fire. Then we went to sleep. Since we only brought, oh, I don't know, about three tents, Dallin, Jeremy, Jaren, and I slept on a tarp. Jaren and I looked at the stars, and saw a big ball of light flash across the sky. It was too big to be a shooting star, and it was faster than a comet (we saw it for about a millisecond). Was it...a UFO?

Then we woke up and made our favorite breakfast, Sunrise Stew. We sauteed it this time, so it was better than last time. Jaren took about 1/3 of the whole pan and had about one normal serving left over! In other words, he learned a valuable lesson on "seconds".

Then we started our hike. We took a wrong turn, so we were hiking downwards instead of up. Then, it started getting hotter. Jeremy and I only packed jeans, so we were really, really hot! The hottest it got was 104 degrees Farenheit! Dallin had brought a squirt bottle so he kept squirting us (and trust me, it felt great in that weather!). When we stopped outside the Westpoint Inn, the hotel on Mt. Tam, Dallin squirted my shirt, my back, even my armpits!

Rick started having, um, some hyperventilation problems, but he didn't complain once! Nice job, Rick! Nice job!

Finally we got to the top! We had frozen pizzas and nectarines. We had an awesome view of the Bay Area. We could see all of San Francisco. We could also see all four bridges Dallin, Rick, Brother Spencer, and I went on!

Then we started our hike down. We stopped at a snack shack near the top and got colorful popsicles called Itzakadoozies. Wow, they were good! Randall became obsessed with them!

When we finished our hike, we were all tired. Dallin, Jaren, Jeremy, and I went in Randall's car. On the way home, we stopped at a 711 and got Slurpees.

This hike was the hardest yet. It was 8 1/2 miles! Usually our hikes are about 5 miles. Also, it was a Rimrover hike!