After the meeting there was a party scheduled at the Kirby Cove campground in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This campground has a beach that I have landed on several times, but I have never camped there or even walked up from the beach to look at the facilities. It is one of the few places around The Bay that you can already camp on, so it was an excellent choice for a place to go after this meeting. Of course I paddled there in my kayak, after stopping at Horseshoe Cove to load up with all my camping gear.
The Kirby Cove campground turns out to be a very nice spot with secluded campsites in a heavily wooded valley above the beach. This is such a nice campsite that it is heavily used by people who can drive their cars here from the huge surrounding metropolitan area and spend a pastoral evening with fantastic views of the Golden Gate Bridge. So getting a reservation to stay here may be very difficult. I was happy to have the opportunity to be there this time.
The full moon rose UNDER the Golden Gate Bridge and put on a spectacular show for us.
Several people who paddled to the campground took the opportunity to have friends drive their boats home the next morning. Despite the discomfort of putting on a cold wet slimy wetsuit first thing in the morning (never quite as bad as you think it is going to be) I insisted on having the complete experience and paddled back to my car.