I have done this BASK trip on the Russian River for many years now. This year the notice about the trip was accidentally dropped from the newsletter for the two months before. Hardly anybody signed up to go and no new people this year. A few of the regulars got sick and in the final analysis only 3 people showed up besides me.
As usual, I headed out early to reserve the best campsites. Since this was not a Memorial Day weekend I figured Friday noon would be early enough to do this. I left work at noon and got to the campground by 1:00. The large campground number 9 had somebody in it who had been there for days, and the beautiful secluded campground 11 on the end had just been taken an hour before I arrived! I settled for campsite number 7 which is back from the water a ways but has a private beach. With only 4 or 5 people coming this spot was the right size.
I set my tent up and went back to work. In the evening I came out and slept in the tent to hold down the campsite. The next morning I lazed around camp and caught up on reading magazines until people started to arrive around 10:00 AM. When all 4 of us had settled in we went for a paddle for our lunch.
I had advertised this as a trip where you could "live off the land". Four miles downstream was the Sea Gull Deli in Jenner where we stopped for lunch. We paddled back to camp and lazed around until dinner time. Two miles downstream was the Sizzling Tandoor Indian Restaurant where we had reservations for dinner, then paddled back to camp by moonlight. The next morning we paddled 4 miles upstream to the Gold Coast Coffee shop with a new bakery next door. This was where we had breakfast. Then we paddled back to camp and took our gear back to our cars. We congratulated ourselves on upholding the BASK tradition of being "An eating club with a kayaking disorder"!