Bike Camping

A few weeks back I endeavored to go camping by bike, alone.

I loaded up my bicycle with two panniers (sleeping bag, sleeping pad & tent), and a handlebar bag with a headlamp, water, etc.

I first stopped at the bank ATM to pickup cash:

bike at bank atm

I continued on my journey to Millbrae BART station, to ride to a reasonable starting point:

millbrae bart with bike

The BART ride led through San Francisco and to the east bay, passing West Oakland and the immense Port of Oakland:

west oakland

I got off of BART at Orinda station and noticed wayfinding signage I had not seen before:

orinda bart wayfinding signage

I passed the Orinda library where I was very impressed to see a vibrant scene of seniors socializing and a Saturday farmers market:

seniors at orinda library

orinda farmers market

I picked up my father along the way, who would join me as far as the Richmond-San Rafael bridge before returning home:

father son bicycling

We rode up Wildcat Canyon, climbing ~600 feet:

wildcat canyon ascent wildcat canyon descent selfie

We passed Lake Anza, a public swimming lake I went to when I was much younger:

lake anza

Some of the Berkeley residents high up in the hills had protest signs against bike lanes, which presumably harm them as they contest for free parking in the neighborhood where the bike lanes were proposed:

anti-bike lane signage

Coming down from the Berkeley hills there were some nice sights, including this bench:

random bench

The smelly Sake factory:

sake factory berkeley

An Amtrak train:

amtrak in berkeley

And the Berkeley Aquatic Park:

berkeley aquatic park

We crossed highway 80 via a very nice ped/bike overpass:

ped bike overpass university ave berkeley

We also saw the new Gilman overpass, though we did not try it out:

gilman ped bike overpass

Going north along the bay trail had some nice sights as well:

fuck cars bay skyline bay skyline

At the lead up to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, my father and I split ways:

father son selfie

And my crossing of the bridge commenced:

Once across the bridge, I stopped in San Rafael to pick up a burrito and was impressed at how brief a ride it was to reach China Camp State Park:

It was a quick check-in at the ranger station (moderately easy to find), and I located where to setup camp:

china camp campsite china camp campsite

I sat and ate my burrito with great appetite:

burrito at campsite

Before sunset I tried hiking up into the hills above the campsite but could not locate a truly unobstructed view:

china camp state park view china camp state park view china camp state park view

I did see a cute deer:

deer

The next morning I accepted one of the campground ranger’s offers to have a coffee.

We had ~1 hour of conversation–wide-reaching around the availability of campsites in the bay area, the policies policing them, the homelessness crisis in the region, the transit options, those who aim to obstruct new developments, and the land-use politics of California.

I regrettably cut the conversation short in order to make a specific ferry in Larkspur bound for San Francisco, and I made the short(er) ride back in time to make my desired ferry departure, bagel and banana in hand:

There was excellent separated bike path infrastructure, but I had stop to take in a comically long list of financing agencies involved in creating the trail:

The ferry ride was comparatively short and luxurious (though crowded):

Once in San Francisco, I met friends for a coffee and a heartier breakfast before taking BART back to Millbrae from Embarcadero:

All-in-all, a very eventful bike camping trip. Would do again.

· micromobility, parks, transportation, bicycles