Angel Island Backpack Trip 2005
Outpost 193 of Southpointe Christian Center in Sacramento went on a
backpack trip to Angel Island State Park Friday through Monday, May 27th to
May 30th. Angel Island is the largest island in San Francisco Bay and is a
short one-mile ferry ride from the bayside hamlet of Tiburon. It has a
view of the Golden Gate, Alcatraz Island, the East Bay, Sausalito, Tiburon,
San Quentin Prison and the San Francisco Skyline. From the top of Mt.
Livermore, which is 788 feet above sea level, you can see all of the above
sights all at once if you simply turn in a circle. On this trip, there
were two commanders, one Expedition Ranger, three Adventure Rangers and
three Discover Rangers. First of all, we gathered at the church, packed
our vehicles and drove two hours to get to the Tiburon waterfront. We
walked a couple of blocks from our cars to the Angel Island/Tiburon Ferry
with all our food, water, tents, sleeping bags and clothes in our
backpacks. We caught the Ferry to Angel Island and watched a couple of sea
lions cavorting in the water next to us. While we waited on board, one of
the larger ferries loaded up and took several hundred people off the
island. Every day at 5:00 PM, the island virtually empties as everyone
catches the last ferry out. Since there are only 11 campsites on the
entire island, it gets really quiet and peaceful after 5:00. All the
critters come out to see what was left behind! After disembarking, we
walked to the Kayak Camp on the Western Shore of Angel Island. The hike to
our campsite from the ferry terminal was a short walk of 1.2 miles. The
island itself is not that large: The perimeter road is about 5 miles
around. We set up our tents, ate dinner and played at the beach until it
was too dark to see.
After breakfast Saturday morning, we walked two miles around the North side
of the island to visit Fort McDowell on the East Side of the island and
took a brief guided tour of the guardhouse and museum. Thousands of
soldiers passed through Fort McDowell on their way to and from the Pacific
from the 1890's through the 1960's. It had the biggest single mess hall in
the US Army. There was also a chapel, a large hospital, a gym, a bowling
alley and a baseball field with concrete bleachers. The baseball field and
bleachers are still there and so is home plate! The East Bay View Trail
wanders along the eastern side of the island about 100 feet up a sheer drop
to the bay and took us to the Immigration Center, where thousands of people
from the Orient saw the United States for the first time. Some folks were
held there for various periods for quarantine purposes. The West Coast
version of Ellis Island! We met Commander Ralph's wife there and had a
nice lunch in the shade while the boys explored the beach and we looked at
the buildings.
============================================================
Kenneth Komoto, Commander mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Adventure Rangers Outpost 193 Phone: (530)752-7197
Southpointe Christian Center Fax : (530)752-0329
Sacramento, Ca 95828 Cell : (530)867-6158
_______________________________________________
The Golden Rule is my daily rule.
To send mail to everyone on the RangerNet mailing list, send it to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Only list members may post.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit
http://lists.rangernet.org/mailman/listinfo/rangernet
